Campbell's vs. Progresso: Who Makes the Better Canned Soup? (2023)

Campbell's vs. Progresso, find out who's the king of canned soup.

VonChristina Eckert|Up to date1 year ago

Canned soup is the quintessential handy pantry staple. They might not be the healthiest meal, but they can save your life when you have a cold and don't have the energy to make a homemade version. They are also great when you are in a hurry and need food urgently. Other than that, twoincomparable kingsof all canned soups are Campell's and Progresso.

Campbell's and Progresso are without a doubtwell-known namesAs for canned soup. Both have the ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia, perhaps to the simpler days of your youth when you gulped down every salty spoon. From classic chicken pasta to healthier varieties like Tuscan white beans, both Campell's and Progresso have become titans of the quick soup. But how do these two fare against each other in a head-to-head? Does it really outshine its counterpart? To find the answer, we compared each pantry pioneer to determine whether Campell's or Progresso deserved to be called the true king of canned soup.

THE BEGINNING OF THE SOUP

TheFirma Campbell Zupa, as it is officially called, was first founded a good century and a half ago. It was founded in 1869 by New Jersey residents Joseph A. Campbell and Abraham Anderson. They combined their trades to make a variety of preserves, including soups. In 1876, after Anderson left, the company became the Joseph A. Campbell Preserve Company. However, Anderson's son, Campbell Speelman, whose name was a happy coincidence, remained as the company's first creative director. Speelman was the first designer of can labels. However, it was not until 1898, when Herbert Williams presented his design, that the cans received Campbell's distinctive design, which has remained largely unchanged to this day.

In 1896 the company was renamed Joseph Campbell & Co. The following year, in 1897, a key figure in Campbell's story was added to the staff, his name being Joseph T. Dorrance. Dorrance was a chemist who studied at MIT and the University of Göttingen in Germany. Dorrance is responsible for developing the thickened soup method. When he first signed up, he was paid $7.50 a week, which is $257.16 today, adjusted for inflation. He was President of Campbell's from 1914 to 1930.

Campbell achieved measurable success in the decades after its inception. However, when William Beverly Murphy took over as CEO, the brand went from a successful to one of the largest and most famous food companies in the world. During his nearly 20 years as CEO from 1953 to 1972, Murphy expanded Campbell's portfolio of brands to include companies such as Pepperidge Farm, V8, Swanson and Godiva.

Campbell's success and presence in the industry continues to this day, largely due to its continued focus on advertising and a commitment to maintaining its market position by tailoring acquisitions to meet society's ever-changing tastes. Most importantly, they've accomplished this by staying true to the essence of the Campbell's brand - their classic canned soups.

PROGRESSO WAS A PIONEER TOO!

While Progresso's history doesn't stretch as far back as Campbell's, it has been around for an impressive amount of time97 latand is closely linked to the essence of the "American Dream". It all started in 1925 when two Italian immigrants decided to merge their existing companies. Vincent Taormina owned the Taormina Brothers grocery store in New Orleans, Louisiana and Giuseppe Uddo ran a profitable canning business. In 1925, Taormina and Uddo merged two already successful businesses to become the Uddo and Taormina Corporation.

Under their new company, both Uddo and Taormina are committed to making their products using only the highest quality ingredients, many of which are imported directly from Italy. Taormina's Uddo quickly made a fortune selling a range of quality canned products, including their particularly popular canned soups. From1927The company name officially changed to Progresso Italian Food Corporation and began selling its products under the new Progresso brand.

Progresso was acquired by Pillsbury in 1988 and officially became part of the General Mills brand portfolio in 2001. Over the last few decades, particularly the last 30 years, Progresso has established itself as one of Campbell's most prominent competitors, largely due to the appeal that their ready-to-heat soups have over Campbell's condensed soups water needs to be added.

COMPARISON DANCE SOUP

Given Campbell's and Progresso's long histories, it's pretty clear that both companies have solid industry staying power. Over the years both have evolved and improved their brands. Progresso soups come in a variety of flavors, as well as nutritional categories like reduced-sodium or low-calorie. Similarly, Campbell's added new flavors to its condensed soup offering and introduced the Chunky line as a direct competitor to ProgressoAnd!Branding to attract more health-conscious consumers.

Campbell's best-selling soup flavors include staples like their iconic onesPasta with chicken, Tomato Cream Chicken Soup. These classic flavors are truly a trifecta in condensed soup form. The stars of the Progresso "soup" include vegetables, minestrone, chicken noodles andpasta and beanssorted. Its prime contractors are also staples of the soup industry.

With so much diversity in both brands, designed to cater to consumer tastes and, in some cases, food preferences, these two combined soup titans could easily be called. But in an effort to do our job of finding out if Campbell's or Progresso could claim to have the best canned soup, we decided to cut back and compare the soup that was the cornerstone of both companies : Chicken Noodles. We chose Campbell's classic condensed chicken pasta and paired it with Progresso's traditional chicken pasta.

First we broke down the facts, and by facts we mean nutritional information. The numbers below are based on the recommended single serving size. Campbell's recommends a 1/2-cup serving. this partcontains60 calories, 2g fat, 15mg cholesterol, 890mg sodium, 8g carbohydrate and 3g protein. Progresso recommends serving a cup with the soup.A cupTraditional Progresso chicken noodles contain 100 calories, 2.5g fat, 25mg cholesterol, 680mg sodium, 13g carbohydrate and 7g protein.

The taste of a soup burns the soul

While nutritional content is always an important factor to consider, flavor is key to attracting and retaining consumers. How did Progresso and Campbells stack up in terms of flavor profiles? Enjoying Campbell Soup immediately created an aura reminiscent of childhood. Its classic yet salty flavor has something inherently comforting, inexplicably complemented by soft, deep spoonfuls of long egg noodles. But bland was the chicken it contained, if you can call it that. The "chicken" in the soup is essentially small, mysterious pieces of meat. Still, it added little to the general feeling of childhood that the mere taste of the soup evoked.

Progresso chicken noodle soup had a much more complex and rich flavor profile, unlike Campbell's soup. Instead of feeling like I was drinking huge portions of salt (no matter how nostalgic those huge portions might be), there were actually various spices and seasonings that were easy to spot in the broth. The soup was also loaded with wide egg noodles, lots of carrots, and chunks of chicken that looked like chicken. In short, the Progresso Chicken Pasta was more like the homemade version.

THE CROWNED KING OF CANNED SOUPS

Both Campbell's and Progresso have clearly earned their place in the canned soup hall of fame. However, when looking at the basics in terms of nutrition, Progresso is preferred as it contains much less sodium and a healthy dose of protein per serving. Serving, that's twice what Campbell recommends. Additionally, our taste test revealed a large discrepancy between Campbell's more one-dimensional flavor profile and Progresso's much more complex flavor profile, compounded by the use of large chunks of chicken, pasta, and vegetables.

But where Campbell won, there was a pure sense of pure nostalgia that he seemed effortless to evoke. Still, it wasn't enough in this regard to compete with Progresso's other notable strengths. So first place in our canned soup competition goes to none other than Progresso and his traditional chicken noodle soup.