CAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY

The roots of the Campbell Soup Company can be traced back to 1860, when Abraham Anderson opened a small canning factory in Camden, New Jersey. In 1869 Philadelphia produce merchant Joseph Campbell became Anderson's partner, forming Anderson and Campbell. The company canned vegetables, mincemeat, jams and jellies, and a variety of soups. In 1876 Anderson and Campbell dissolved their partnership and Campbell bought Anderson's share of the business, changing the business name to the Joseph A. Campbell Preserve Company. In 1882 a partnership was formed between Campbell's son-in-law, Walter S. Spackman; Campbell's nephew, Joseph S. Campbell; and Arthur Dorrance, Spackman's personal friend, who brought more cash to the partnership. At this time, the company was renamed the Joseph Campbell Preserving Company.

In 1896 the company built a large factory in Camden and expanded its product line to include prepared meats, sauces, canned fruits, ketchup, and plum pudding. In 1897 Arthur Dorrance hired his nephew, John Thompson Dorrance, a chemical engineer and organic chemist who invented a method of successfully canning condensed soup. This innovation helped Campbell surpass its competitors. While others were still shipping heavy, uncondensed soup, Campbell was able to ship and sell its product at one-third the cost. As the company began increasing the variety of soups it offered, it canned fewer produce products. John Dorrance became director of the company in 1900 and soon after, the company was renamed the Joseph Campbell Company.

With the help of advertising that featured the Campbell Kids, Campbell's soup began finding its way into more and more American kitchens at a time when the prepared-food industry was growing rapidly. By 1904 the company sold 16 million cans of soup a year; and with 21 varieties of soup produced by 1905, Campbell began to eye a bigger market. In 1911 Campbell expanded its business into California, and became one of the first companies to serve the entire nation. Campbell's soup also had an impact on the way Americans prepared meals; as early as 1916, recipes using condensed soup as an ingredient appeared in cookbooks.

The company was incorporated as the Campbell Soup Company in 1922. Although Campbell diversified into other food categories during the remainder of the twentieth century, soup remained the company's core product. By the late 1990s, Campbell accounted for 75 percent of all soup sold in the United States.

CAMPBELL SOUP COMPANY

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