Crackers Now, Crackers Tomorrow, Crackers Forever, Vows Campbell
These are treacherous times to be a cracker.
From the moment the first great ship teeming with British crackers made landfall on America's rocky coastline, crackers have played a crucial role in shaping American culture. Crackers were famously present at the first Thanksgiving, held in Plymouth in 1621. When the Declaration of Independence was drafted in 1776, crackers were there. Throughout the early-to-mid 1940s, America sent millions of her crackers overseas to assist in Allied war efforts. These were golden days for the cracker; centuries of sunrises.
But in 2014, the sunset of the cracker reign has finally arrived. America has turned her back on the proud cracker, shunning him in favor of exotic novelties.
Not on the watch of the the Campbell Soup Co.
On an earnings call last week with financial analysts—portions of which were published on FoodBusinessWatch.net—Campbell's president and chief executive officer, Denise Morrison, shared her lament about the casualties of an ungrateful nation's War on Crackers.
"Our main challenge in this business is to restore growth in crackers," said Morrison, an avowal that thundered back across the decades, all the way to the Reconstruction era South, or any decade at all, no reason that time was chosen in particular. "It is important to examine the total cracker category," she added; not only the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills of crackers (Carr's) but the Vanderpump Rules type of cracker as well (Original Premium saltine).
Despite posting market share gains in the first quarter, sales for Campbell's Goldfish crackers declined. Morrison blames Puffs, all puffed up with their own self-importance, and Mega Cheese.
