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History In 1869, an icebox maker, Abram Anderson, and a fruit merchant, Joseph Campbell founded a canning and preserving business, unaware that it would someday grow into the top soup company in the United States of America. By 1894, Campbell and Anderson had both retired, leaving the company in the hands of new partner Arthur Dorrance. Three years later, Arthur's nephew, young chemist John Dorrance, discovered a method for condensing soup. Compact, light and well-preserved, this convenient foodstuff quickly filled the shelves of stores everywhere. By 1911, Campbell was one of the first companies with national distribution, and in 1915 it established its industry primacy by buying the original American soup maker, Franco-American. Campbell quickly grew into an unstoppable liquid juggernaut, with sales topping $100 million by 1942. Transformed from simple shelf product to pop-culture icon by Andy Warhol in the 1960's, Campbell continued to expand, moving into frozen foods and chocolate. As the millenium approached, however, Campbell Soup changed its approach. In an effort to remain competitive, in 1997 the company streamlined by spinning off Vlasic Pickles and TV dinner maker Swanson (acquired back in '55). Soups, Sauces, Biscuits, Confectionery As the company's recent history demonstrates, Campbell is increasingly concentrating on its core businesses: soups, sauces, biscuits and confectionery. Of its $6.7 billion in sales in 1998, a full $4.4 billion gushed in from the company's Soups and Sauces division. The leading U.S. brands in Soups and Sauces include the company's flagship Red & White condensed products, Chunky Soup, Simply Home, Swanson broths, Pace picante and salsa, Franco-American SpaghettiOs, Prego spaghetti sauce, and V8. The surprise success that followed Campbell's introduction of V8 Splash in 1997 revealed a new market in fruit-and-vegetable juice, and the company created a beverage division to develop the line. On the crunchier end of the spectrum, Campbell's Biscuits and Confectionery unit brought the company over $1.5 billion in 1998, and features brands such as Godiva Chocolatier and Pepperidge Farm. Product recognition is so strong that in 1999, a court ruled that Nabisco could not market a product containing crackers that resembled Pepperidge Farm's Goldfish crackers. Down under, Aussies snack on Campbell products in the form of Arnott's Shapes crackers, Tim Tam chocolate biscuits, and Kettle Chips. Exploding the Campbell brand Campbell's huge share of the soup market, 77 percent, has one unfortunate consequence - the company is running out of room to grow, especially given its new, streamlined focus on soup products and its sale of Vlasic Foods International. Industry watchers estimate that Campbell soups are now in 85 percent of all American homes. The solution to the "nowhere to run" problem? Get out of the house! In summer 1998, Campbell, eyeballing a $135 billion market for food consumed outside of the house, launched a new unit: Campbell Away From Home. The division will focus on bringing Cambpell's soup to wherever consumers could possibly hide: shopping malls, cafeterias, fast food joints, airports, and even kiosks. The unit, which will include Campbell's foodservice operations and its newly-acquired Stockpot business, will also roll out state-of-the-art soup technology such as heatable soup pouches, and "soup merchandisers": stand-alone, hot-serving units emblazoned with the Campbell logo. Also, in January 2000, the company formed a division to manage its Internet business. Campbell in the community Campbell has launched community programs that have won recognition, notably a 25-year-old "Labels for Education" program that allows U.S. and Canadian kids to exchange Campbell labels for new school equipment such as new computers and sports equipment. Of course, the program's effectiveness as a marketing tool hasn't been lost on many. For its part, Campbell rebuffs naysayers by noting that parents, who already overwhelmingly buy Campbell's soup products, hardly need more convincing from their little darlings to do so. Investors seeing red and white? It was rumored that Philip Morris offered to acquire Campbell through a stock swap, but talks fell through in early 1999. During that time, the company announced that earnings for the year would be lower than expected. Consequently, it laid off approximately 600 workers to prepare for the expected decline in soup sales during summer months. Campbell also sold its 15 Fresh Start Bakeries Inc. to concentrate on more profitable business ventures. Campbell is hoping that by combining its United States and Canadian soup and sauce units the company will be able to cut costs dramatically while seeking out new markets throughout North America. Campbell's recent difficulties and layoffs, in addition to the retirement of CEO Dale Morrison, presage an imminent merger. The takeover of Bestfoods by Unilever revealed a new tendency toward consolidation in the industry, and CEO David Johnson has indicated that he wants to find a company with which to merge.
Campbell Soup accepts resumes at its corporate headquarters, but the company does not post entry-level job openings nationally. Due to the high volume of resumes that Campbell receives, applicants must wait 4 to 6 weeks for any response. While Campbell does hire some undergraduates, one marketing insider in market research estimates that "90 to 95 percent of the people have graduate degrees" and says that "most of those started up after school with other companies." According to another insider, the company "uses outside recruiting agencies a lot." Job-hunters should not be discouraged, but ought to keep a realistic outlook on dropping resumes with Campbell. Bear in mind that the company has been cutting jobs at home while expanding abroad: foreign languages and work experience abroad are eye-catching qualifications. Campbell's hires MBAs into finance, operations and marketing positions for both summer and full-time positions; the company expects to hire 20 full-time MBAs and 10 summer interns in 1998. Insiders say there are "no trick questions or personality tests" when it comes to interviewing, and that the sessions "usually focus on past experience and team attitude." Interviews often take all day, with prospective employees speaking to three or more managers separately.
Slugging it out in the soupy war zone Insiders who have spent over a decade with Campbell Soup are quick to point out that they have "seen a lot of changes ? good and bad." Campbell employees have been made both "anxious" and "angry" by numerous recent restructuring efforts and layoffs. In addition, many employees bemoan the company's old bureaucratic ways, as well as its practice of "going outside for upper management," which frustrates their prospects for advancement. Says one senior financial official: "The company does have a rigid bureaucracy and a sense of paranoia due to the numerous restructurings and job cuts. It seems about twice a year they have a restructuring. This makes it difficult to find anyone who is willing to make a decision." High prestige, no matter what they say Others say they are "proud" to be working for "national brands recognized for their consistent quality." Even one employee down on the company says that, despite a perception that Campbell does not develop its employees, rendering them second rate compared to employees at other consumer goods companies (such as Procter & Gamble and General Mills) "the product has great name recognition as a brand, and so people can relate to the company." Some say the "attitude around Campbell is roll up your sleeves and dig in." Hopefully they aren't digging into anything too messy, because the dress code is "business attire Monday through Thursday, and business casual on Friday ? no jeans or sneakers." Perks in absentia While the pay at Campbell "isn't great" it is "definitely industry standard." The company benefit and pension plans are "very competitive with other industries," according to insiders. However, if you go to work for Campbell, don't expect to get much else. "The bonus is only for high levels of management and is tied to making aggressive earnings targets," according to one insider. "The company is constantly cutting anything that might be perceived as a personal event, including recently making the annual shareholders meeting inaccessible to employees and the end to distributing fee company knick-knacks at shareholders meetings." Campbell's home offices are described as "very plain and sparse. You must be part of very senior management to actually get a walled office." "We have a comprehensive medical plan but do not get much else in the way of perks," reports one contact.
Human Resources, Box 35D Human Resources Campbell Place1 Camden NJ 08103
Soups;Pasta;Pasta Sauces;Chocolate;Biscuits and Crackers;Vegetable Juices
ConAgra;Heinz;Nabisco Holdings;Hormel;General Mills More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
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