Tomato Soup Prices Largely Stable at Elevated Level

The price of an iconic can of Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup remained largely stable during the past three months. The trailing twelve month average unit price for the 10.75 fluid ounce can held steady at $1.28. That’s the same average price per can as we recorded in July 2024.

Unfortunately, outside of a brief example at Meijer’s in September 2024 when the price was marked down to a dollar per can, we’re finding few notable sales of Campbell’s tomato soup as soup season in the United States gets under way. Prices are substantially higher than they were four years earlier and are nearly double what they were in 2010.

For this edition of our ongoing series on Campbell’s Tomato Soup prices, we find that Meijer’s sale has ended with the price returning to its regular $1.35 per can level. Here’s the rundown of prices and how they’ve changed since July 2024 from our survey of ten major grocery-selling retailers across the U.S.

• Walmart: $1.26/each, unchanged
• Amazon: $1.99/each, increase of $0.70 (+54.3%)
• Kroger: $1.39/each, unchanged
• Walgreens: $1.99/each, unchanged
• Target: $1.39/each, unchanged
• CVS: $2.49/each, unchanged
• Albertsons: $1.49/each, decrease of $0.20 (-11.8%)
• Food Lion: $1.25/each, unchanged
• H-E-B: $1.31/each, unchanged
• Meijer: $1.35/each, unchanged

The following chart shows how the price of a can of Campbell’s Tomato Soup has evolved during the 2000s:

Perhaps the biggest news from the Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB) since our last update is the revelation of its plan to remove “Soup” from the company’s name! Here’s the story from 11 September 2024:

Campbell Soup Co. announced its intention to change its name at an annual meeting of investors on Tuesday. The 155-year-old food seller, which is most famous for its namesake canned soups, says it would now like to be known as Campbell’s Co.

CEO Mark Clouse said in a statement that this “subtle yet important change” will retain the company’s iconic name “while better reflecting the full breadth” of its portfolio today.

Campbell hasn’t been exclusive to the soup business for some time. The company also owns brands like Prego sauce and Goldfish crackers — and completed a $2.7 billion acquisition of Sovos Brands, the maker of Rao’s pasta sauces, just earlier this year.

Campbell’s roots date back to 1869, as a modest operation out of New Jersey that later grew. The current Campbell Soup name was adopted in 1922, according to the company’s website.

Since the news article omits it, here’s the link to the company’s website, which identifies the name “Campbell Soup Company” being used in November 1922. Here’s a public domain image of 1920′s era advertising for Campbell’s Tomato Soup that shows it being used on the can:

That’s quite different from the company name that appeared on the label applied to the first cans of Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup when it was introduced in 1897. We should also note the label on the Joseph Campbell Preserve Co.’s cans of soup was itself very different, featuring colors more at home with the arrival of soup season than the much more familiar red and white design the company rolled out in 1898.

Image credits: A can of tomato soup on a yellow background photo by Anastasiya Badun on Unsplash. The public domain image of the vintage 1920′s era advertisement for Campbell’s Tomato Soup was posted online by Halloween HJB on Flickr. The original 1897 label for Campbell’s original condensed tomato soup cans is likewise in the public domain and was featured at Modern Farmer in an article about the company’s role in developing its own unique tomatoes.