Cooking at Home Hasn't Been This Common Since 2020, Campbell's Says
Goldfish and Snyder's of Hanover pretzels performed particularly poorly, while Pepperidge Farm cookies did fairly well, Campbell's executives said Monday.
Other food producers, including Mondelēz International and Conagra Brands, have said in recent months that their snack sales are soft.Home-cooked meals are in, according to Campbell's, and snacks are out.
Executives at Campbell's Co. (CPB), which sells its namesake soups, Prego and Rao's sauces, and a variety of snacks, told analysts Monday that it hasn't seen this much at-home meal prep since the pandemic hit.
Softer consumer sentiment has 'consumers making more deliberate choices with their spending on food" this year, CEO Mick Beekhuizen said on Campbell's third-quarter earnings conference call.
'The key outcome is a growing preference for home-cooked meals, leading to the highest levels of meals prepared at home since early 2020,' he said on the call, according to a transcript made available by AlphaSense.
Americans' interest in saving is helping the company's meal and beverage business but hurting snack sales, executives said. The snack segment's sluggishness prompted CFO Carrie Anderson to say adjusted earnings for the year are expected to come in at the 'low end' of guidance, which stands at $2.95 to $3.05 per share. This outlook, which excludes the impact of tariffs, assumes organic sales will be down 2% to flat.
Campbell's organic sales—results adjusted for the recent sale of Pop Secret and Noosa Yoghurt, and the purchase of Sovos Brands—grew 1% year-over-year for the third quarter, the company said, reflecting a 6% increase in meal and beverage sales and a 5% decline in snacks. Goldfish and Snyder's of Hanover pretzels, in particular, struggled, executives said, while Pepperidge Farm cookies fared better.
Other companies, including Hain Celestial Group (HAIN), General Mills (GIS) and Mondelēz International (MDLZ), have said recently that consumers are cutting back on snacks.
'We see consumers switching to more essentials in grocery, and snacking categories are suffering,' Mondelēz CEO Dirk Van de Put said on an earnings conference call in late April. 'You can see the consumer, not only in food, but across the board really being very, very frugal and very careful,' he said.
Still, some companies say sales of protein and health-focused snacks have taken off.
'Between meat snacks and popcorn, you've got two very on-trend businesses, not to mention our seeds business, which is sometimes overlooked but is a phenomenal, very profitable business,' Conagra (CAG) CEO Sean Connolly said in early April when the company reported third-quarter earnings.
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'It's hard to know what's real,' she said. Like-minded neighbors Most residents just try to not talk about their differences. In a largely Republican county, liberals in the neighborhood said they had learned to look for cues to help them quietly identify their 'people.' 'You find out who's in your camp,' said Barbara Rose, a retired palliative care program manager and astrology enthusiast drawn to the agri-community for its strong 'earth vibe.' At the Fourth of July barbecue, a neighborhood event that drew over 100 people this year, Rose tried to hide her distaste for the premeal prayer delivered by Lauchlan's husband, who thanked God for all the great things happening in the country. 'Lets just put it this way: I know who I'm not going to invite to the Warren County Dems fundraiser,' she said. When Rose's husband, Andrew, was selected for an early trial of the coronavirus vaccine in 2020, the couple decided not to share the news too widely at Aberlin Springs, expecting that some neighbors would likely have something to say about it. While Rose is horrified by mounting vaccine skepticism, she said, 'it's not my job to sway people one way or the other.' Especially in her own neighborhood. 'I live with these people,' Rose said. 'I see them day in and day out.' This article originally appeared in .
