Finding potential in pretzels

The snacks portfolio at Campbell Soup Co. offers many opportunities, from Goldfish crackers to Kettle chips to Milano cookies.

Speaking to analysts and investors as part of the company’s Investor Day on June 13, Carlos Abrams-Rivera, senior vice-president and president of Campbell Snacks, said pretzels are another area that the company plans to 'unleash growth' as it moves through 2019 and beyond.

Carlos Abrams-Rivera, senior vice-president and president of Campbell Snacks:

“We think that there’s opportunity for us to leverage our `real’ food ingredients, which bring permissible indulgence, go into new formats and bring a fully-integrated marketing in-store program.”

“It’s the idea that we’re going to bring savory snacks that have the credentials and credibility of real food into those areas in which we can compete.”

“We’re taking our know-how about great chocolate understanding and culinary experiences, combining with the understanding of textures and pretzels in order to come up with something like this, a unique product that is a completely new innovation that we just launched this summer.”

Mr. Abrams-Rivera said Campbell Soup already has begun to leverage real food ingredients. In the past few months the company has introduced Snyder’s of Hanover Braided Twists in a garden vegetable variety, and in the coming months intends to launch Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps in a garden vegetable variety.

Campbell Soup also is finding ways to differentiate through innovation. Mr. Abrams-Rivera pointed to the company’s Snack Factory Pretzel Crisps Drizzlers as an example. Drizzlers are crispy Pretzel Crisps drizzled with toppings such as milk chocolate and caramel.

Mr. Abrams-Rivera said Campbell Soup also plans to expand its pretzel business by expanding into new formats to make sure it’s delivering “the right format for the right consumer for the right moment,” as well as by executing strong communication.