UNITED STATES – MAY 21: Loaves of Pepperidge Farm bread sit on display in an Associated Supermarket, Monday, May 21, 2007, in New York. Campbell Soup Co. said third-quarter profit rose more than analysts estimated after extra advertising spurred sales of lower-salt soups and organic broths that commanded higher prices. Shares of Campbell, which also makes Godiva chocolates, Pepperidge Farm breads and Arnott’s crackers, climbed 87 cents to $40.37 at 11:11 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. (Photo by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Campbell’s Soup Co. plans to spend about $50 million to upgrade its headquarters in New Jersey as it consolidates the central offices of snacks businesses from North Carolina and Norwalk, Connecticut.
The company announced Wednesday it will add about 330 positions at the site in Camden, NJ, bringing the total jobs there to about 1,600. It said the move will drive greater creativity, collaboration and career development at the company.
The jobs are moving from a Snyder’s-Lance plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the Pepperidge Farm headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut.
A Snyder's pretzel bakery and other operations in Hanover, Pennsylvania, will not be affected by the changes, and the company will continue to operate its Pepperidge Farm bakery in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
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A statement from a representative from the company said the Bloomfield bakery, which opened in 2002, employs more than 400 people and makes Pepperidge Farm bread, buns, rolls and stuffing.
They said the bakery is hiring, it will add capacity this year to produce more buns and rolls and there are plans to grow the Bloomfield bakery.
Campbell’s also said Charlotte will remain a key manufacturing and distribution center for the company.
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The headquarters upgrade and expansion, aided by unspecified tax incentives from New Jersey, will start in March and should take about three years to complete. Campbell’s plans to upgrade existing space and construct new buildings, including a campus center and a snacks research and development center and pilot plant.
Having one snacks headquarters is expected to save Campbell $10 million within a few years, the company said. The savings will be partially reinvested in the business and are included in the company’s plan to increase margins in the snacks division. No commercial roles are being eliminated related to the closing of the Charlotte and Norwalk buildings, officials said.
The roots of Pepperidge Farm have been in Connecticut for decades and the story is documented on the Pepperidge Farm website.
Here are some of the highlights of that history:
The founder, Margaret Rudkin, was the mother of three young sons and they lived in Fairfield on a property called Pepperidge Farm, according to the company’s history.
Margaret and Henry Rudkin’s youngest son had severe allergies and asthma and couldn't eat most commercially processed food, So, Margaret initially put him on a diet of fruits and vegetables and minimally processed foods, but then decided to bake him some all-natural stone ground whole wheat bread.
She later approached a local grocer to see if he would sell her “Pepperidge Farm” bread and Henry Rudkin brought the bread to New York City, according to the company history.
The company grew and Margaret Rudkin’s operation grew too much for her kitchen and moved to her garage, then the company moved into its first real factory in 1940.
Within seven years, on July 4, 1947, Pepperidge Farm cut the ribbon on a “new state-of-the-art bakery” in Norwalk.
In 1961, Margaret Rudkin sold Pepperidge Farm to Campbell Soup and became the first woman to serve on the Campbell Soup Board, the company history says.
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