“We’ve always seen fine-dining food trickling down,” Calladonato says. “Now it’s no longer trickling down, it’s pouring down. It’s no longer taking years to get down, it’s taking months.”
As examples, he cites the continuing influence of Latin flavors, concoctions from Asia or India and, more recently, the increasing use of fruits in both salads and soups. “America likes bold,” Calladonato says. “But don’t burn me. If it burns you, it’s not a fun experience, but if it’s bold and full of flavors, it’s good.”
Campbell’s four most popular soup categories are: nouveau Latin (creamy jalapeño, corn chowder, Mexican-style roasted garlic soup, adobo pork and white-bean chili); pan Asian (noodle bowls, wonton, or chicken pho); Mediterranean (artichoke and leek or Tuscan-style bread soup) and what Calladonato calls traditional Americana.
“But the American mainstream has changed,” Calladonato is quick to point out. “People still want the hearty item like chicken pot pie soup, but on the finer side, they also want squash blossom, sweet corn, butternut squash, and lobster bisque. They can find them now at fast-casual and quick-service restaurants.”
A large part of Campbell’s business, in fact, is providing signature soups to fast-casual and quick-service restaurants, though the company won’t say which ones. “Most of them want something they’re known for so we wouldn’t brand it,” company spokeswoman Suzanne Cohen says. “You want to give it a great presentation, whether it’s the bowl or the topping. You want to garnish it with contrast, color, and flavor and give it an enticing name. ... Give customers a lot of sensory experience, have it taste fresh, and it can be a signature item.”
Based in Dallas, la Madeleine operates 63 bakeries, cafés, and bistros in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C., where it serves its signature soup, tomato basil, as well as French onion, country potato, and cream of mushroom soups.
“I really know good soup,” Chief Operating Officer Phil Costner says, “and this soup is good. We have a cult following. We’re very careful with our ingredients. The tomato basil is pulpy with a deep rich basil flavor, our French onion is to die for, and the country potato makes people go nuts.”
In addition to selling its signature soup at its restaurants, la Madeleine goes a step further. The soups, packaged in jars, are available at 100 H-E-B supermarkets, 30 Kroger stores, and six Market Street stores in Texas; 100 Sam’s Club outlets in Texas and Georgia; Wal-Mart stores throughout the Texas region; and 30 Rouses stores in Louisiana.
You can also find it at Costco lunch counters Texas wide.
“It’s a great brand extension for us,” Costner says. “It’s like fresh-baked bread, it helps introduce the brand to a lot more people. Soup is like the tip of the iceberg. It’s a great retail product as brand halos go. It gets people into the store where they taste the exact same thing.”
Other restaurant companies have adopted the same strategy. Original Soup Man products, produced by Al Yeganeh (better known as the Soup Nazi in Jerry Seinfeld’s popular TV series) are available frozen in a wide array of supermarkets. At one time they could only be obtained at his International Soup Kitchen in New York City, known for its long lines and sometimes-curt service.
On the wholesale side, Hope & Tim’s Fresh Soup, produced by Atlantis, comes in more than 30 frozen all-natural varieties with long market shelf lives due to some cutting-edge food-processing techniques. And Kettle Cuisine, based in Chelsea, Massachusetts, sells its soups to hundreds of restaurants and markets along the East Coast. “We have our most success in the fast-casual arena,” says Brian McGinnis, the company’s director of marketing. “As that trend grows at places like Chipotle and Panera, our business too has grown.”
In particular demand these days, McGinnis says, are ethnic soups and those made with natural, healthy ingredients.
“All our soups are natural,” McGinnis says. “We don’t use any additives or preservatives. There’s no MSG or yeast extracts, no hydrogenated oils or modified food starches. We use naturally raised meats and natural bones to make our homemade stocks. We use fresh vegetables whenever possible, prepared right here in house.”