Poring Over Soup Sales

Soup’s on—and new upscale flavors, healthier formulations, varied price points, and grab-and-go options have made the category hotter than ever. Sales of canned soup alone rose 5% to $3.2 billion in food, drug, and mass channels including Wal-Mart (FDMW) for Y/E 8/16/07, according to Information Resources Inc. (IRI) data cited in Times & Trends, September 2007. In an October 2007 National Restaurant Assn. survey, one-third of American Culinary Assn. chefs cited soup as a hot trend for 2008.

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