New product development for soup ingredients
form a business unit aimed at finding new uses and markets for
existing products such as using soups as ingredients in
convenience-oriented meals.
US soup maker Campbell Soup announced on Tuesday that it is to form a business unit aimed at finding new uses and markets for existing products such as using soups as ingredients in convenience-oriented meals, Reuters reports.
Campbell, which since July has been working to restructure its overall business through additional spending in marketing, research and operational improvements, is seeking new ways to jump-start sales growth.
"We're finding that there are places for Campbell to compete where we're not naturally organised to go, so if it's not in soup and it's not in cookies and crackers, we don't have anybody to work on it," chief executiveDouglas Conant told reporters following a presentation to analysts in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Campbell last week reported a 25 per cent drop in its fiscal second quarter earnings from a year ago due to lower soup shipments, higher marketing costs and softness in its Godiva chocolates business.
The group will also look at developing soup products that do not naturally fit in the soup category but are more meal oriented, Conant said.
In addition, the business unit will look at ways some of the company's international products, such as biscuits, sauces, and snack products, could be marketed and sold in the United States, he said.
"We're creating this business development group that works in what we call the 'white space'." Conant said. "You need a group like this to catch the things that don't naturally have a home, to nurture them and find a place to put them in the larger organisation,'' he added.
Campbell also said it had formed a joint venture with US baking company Interstate Bakeries that will allow Campbell to distribute its baked goods in the west. Campbell said the relationship is in a test phase.
