Snacks are a star for Campbell Soup Company, led by Goldfish

The Campbell Soup Company's portfolio goes beyond the iconic red and white cans. In fact, it includes a number of recognizable snack brands like Goldfish, Lance and Kettle. After a revamp over the last several years, these snacks provided a big boost for the CPG company in its most recent quarter, which ended January 29.

Across the snacks category, revenue was up 15%, in-market consumption was up 17%, and the company’s power brands were growing at 20%.

CEO Mark Clouse called the performance of the category “a significant step in our journey.”

“In Q2, we had the strongest share growth in both cookie cracker and salty snacks among all major branded players, even more impressive as we are among the very few who compete in both of these critical categories,” Clouse told analysts on an earnings call, adding that margin improved, as well. “Although benefiting from pricing, we also drove favorable volume mix.”

Goldfish is the “star of the snack business,” and is approaching $1 billion in annual sales, Clouse said. It posted 21% consumption growth in the quarter.

“This was the second consecutive quarter of Goldfish being the largest driver of growth for the entire cracker category,” Clouse said. “And our strategy to expand our consumer target has been even more successful than expected with growth versus prior year in both buy rates and repeat rates among households without children about equal to households with children.”

While Goldfish is recognizable, Campbell is also taking steps to keep the brand fresh. In each of the last six quarters, it rolled out a limited edition-only launch to add new flavors and colors. Consumers are eating it up, as they are twice as likely to buy limited-edition offerings as the standard products.

The company is also innovating on the product itself. Kettle recently rolled out air fried potato chips that takes the home cooking phenomenon and applies it to mass manufacturing through a patented process.

Over the last two years, Campbell Soup has worked to revamp the portfolio to drive growth across all of the brands.

“It really is a combination of great marketing support, the right innovation and then a supply chain that's stepping up to meet that growing and expanding demand,” Clouse said.

The team behind snacks is also set to make moves. With the company closing offices in Norwalk, Connecticut and Charlotte, North Carolina, the snacks leadership team is relocating to the company’s headquarters in Camden, New Jersey.