Progresso, a brand of

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

, is an American food company that produces canned soups, canned beans, broths, Chili con carne, chili, and other food products.

History

Progresso emerged from the merging of two prominent Italian importing companies in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. In 1925, Vincent Taormina, who had traveled east to start a tomato importing business, and Giuseppe Uddo merged their companies. Vincent's family owned the "Taormina Brothers Grocery" of New Orleans, Louisiana. Frank had emigrated from Italy and joined his cousin Vincent in the venture. They were so successful selling tomatoes that they sold more orders than they could fill and needed funds to set up the infrastructure for a larger canning operation. Giuseppe Uddo, who had already established a national canning operation, brought the Taorminas on board to form a new merged company. The resultant company was "The Uddo and Taormina Corporation" and they created the ''Progresso'' label,Charles W. Titone, Grandson Frank R. Taormina specializing in canned Italian food products, which became mostly soup, olive oil,

tomatoes The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridg ...

ravioli Ravioli (; singular: ''raviolo'', ) are a type of pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Usually served in broth or with a sauce, they originated as a traditional food in Italian cuisine. Ravioli are commonly square, tho ...

and

beans A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes thr ...

, sold since 1949. The

Pillsbury Company The Pillsbury Company is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company that was one of the world's largest producers of grain and other foodstuffs until it was bought by General Mills in 2001. General Mills brands consist of Annie's, Betty Crocker, Nat ...

acquired Progresso in 1988.

acquired Pillsbury in 2001.

Market strategy

For the last 20 years, Progresso soup has been seen as an upmarket alternative to market leader

Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...

, and as a

meal replacement A meal replacement is a drink, bar, soup, etc. intended as a substitute for a solid food, usually with controlled quantities of calories and nutrients. Some drinks come in powdered form or pre-mixed health shakes that can be cheaper than solid fo ...

. Progresso cans were both larger than Campbell's cans and came "ready-to-heat" rather than being condensed, which helped them attain popularity before Campbell's released the competitive and similar "Chunky" line of products. Campbell's Soup Company has since gone on to produce several lines of ready-to-eat soups in reaction to Progresso's innovations.

References

External links

* General Mills brands Brand name soups American companies established in 1925 Food and drink companies established in 1925 1925 establishments in Louisiana {{food-product-stub