Comfort Lines
Pumpkin Bisque is part of a new line of ShopRite Kitchen fresh soups from Wakefern Foods.
It’s not just tomato soup any more, at least not unless it’s also got basil. Refrigerated, aseptic pack or traditionally canned, retailers are offering more and more options.
Pumpkin bisque? It’s one of the refrigerated fresh soups just launched under the ShopRite Kitchen brand from Wakefern Foods, Keasbey, NJ. Roasted Red Pepper soup? It’s part of an aseptic line at Wegmans, Rochester, NY. Light vegetable rice soup? Check it out at Harris Teeter, Matthews, NC.
There are more ways to serve up soup these days, and retailers are offering new options. At Target, Minneapolis, MN, there are even two lines of soup mixes – one under the Archer Farms brand for items like Chili Con Queso, the other under the Giada de Laurentiis for Target signature brand for varieties like White Bean Fire-Roasted Garlic.
Canned condensed soup is still the largest segment in the category, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago, IL, with sales of $187.8 million for the 52 weeks ended 9/4/2001 – but that marked a decrease of 1.9%. Ready-to-serve canned soups slipped 1.7% to $78.5 million. Private label ready to serve broths showed a 12.9% jump to $145 million, while fresh soup sales in store brands were up 7.7% to $114 million, IRI reported.
Private label broths in aseptic packs have become common at supermarket chains like Wegmans, which offers beef, chicken, vegetable and Thai “Culinary Stock” versions; but they have also turned up under the Kendale Farm brand at Dollar Tree, Chesapeake, VA. Aseptic soups at Wegmans include Butternut Squash, Creamy Mushroom, Creamy Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper – all bisque style.
Trader Joe’s, Monrovia, CA, specializes in organic aseptic soups and broths, including Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper soup and free-range chicken broth, both in 32-oz sizes. Of the latter, Trader Joe’s stresses that it is made from scratch “with organic chickens that are grown and nurtured without the use of antibiotics, growth stimulants or other animal by-products [and] raised on pesticide-free organic feed consisting of corn and soybean flakes.”
Wegmans offers fresh soups in Chicken & Dumpling, Chicken & Sausage Gumbo, Chicken Noodle, Italian Style Wedding, Lobster Bisque, New England Clam Chowder, Spicy Red Lentil, Hearty Chicken & Beans, Caribbean Black Bean, Broccoli and Vermont Red Cheddar, Mushroom Bisque, Tomato Basil with Orzo, Moroccan Lentil with Chick Peas, and Gazpacho. That last, a traditional Spanish specialty, has a long list of ingredients:
Vine-Ripened Fresh Peeled Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Tomato Juice, Salt, Vitamin C, Sweet Red Bell Peppers, Onions, Sherry Wine Vinegar, Canola Oil, Evaporated Cane Juice, Garlic, Jalapeno Peppers, Fresh Lime Juice, Cilantro, Salt, Natural Olive Oil Flavor, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate as Preservatives, Hot Sauce (Cayenne Peppers, Vinegar, Water, Salt, Natural Flavor and Garlic Powder), Spice, Xanthan Gum and Guar Gum.
Bisque, defined by Wikipedia as a “smooth, creamy, highly-seasoned soup of French origin,” seems to be a popular model for ready-to-eat soups, whether in aseptic or refrigerated cups. Wakefern describes its Pumpkin Bisque as “Delicately puréed pumpkin, sweet potatoes and chicken stock with tempered light cream brown sugar and a pinch of nutmeg,” while Safeway, Pleasanton, CA, bills its Tomato Basil Bisque as being made with “sun-ripe tomatoes, flavorful basil, with accents of red pepper.”
Target offers not one but two lines of upscale soup mixes under Archer Farms and Giada di Laurentiis brands.
Among Safeway’s other Signature Café soups are Asian Style Chicken Noodle, Rosemary Chicken & White Bean, Cravin’ Crab & Sweet Corn Chowder, Fiesta Chicken Tortilla and Cajun-style Jambalaya. Being promoted for a “limited time only” last month were Vegetarian Pumpkin and Smokey Cheddar Ale. Wakefern’s ShopRite Kitchen line, besides Pumpkin Bisque, features Lobster Bisque, Cream of Broccoli with Cheese, Minestrone, New England Clam Chowder and Butternut Squash with Apple.
Walmart, Bentonville, AR, got into fresh soups early last year under the Marketside brand. Of one of its entries, Fire-Roasted Corn Chowder, Walmart boasts on the cup: “We’ve handcrafted a rich blend of potatoes, corn, and peppers, with cream and jalapeños for homestyle flavor.” Among other fresh soup varieties there are Tomato, Chicken Vegetable Pasta, Chic-ken Tortilla and Loaded Baked Potato. That last was recently replicated in a club pack at Sam’s Club under the Artisan Fresh brand, which contains two bowls in a sleeve pack; among other Artisan Fresh entries is Spinach & Asiago Cheese Chicken Sausage.
Dry mixes used to be the bottom feeders of the soup category, but now they’re getting a touch of class. Classic minestrone is another example of the Giada De Laurentiis line at Target; others under the Archer Farms brand include Baked Potato, Southwestern Black Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Asparagus. Both lines come in boxes.
Beyond Target, there are examples like the Eating Right line at Safeway, with specialties like Spicy Thai noodle soup in cups. Under the Nature’s Place brand from Delhaize America, Salisbury, NC, there are pouch packs of gluten-free Cowboy Soup Mix with white rice and dehydrated vegetables and spices – but you have to add hamburger.
In canned soup, Kroger, Cincinnati, OH, has come out with family size (26 oz., “about six servings”) versions of basics like condensed tomato, as well as ready-to-serve items like Chicken & Dumplings. At Giant Eagle, Pittsburgh, PA, there are organic items like Nature’s Basket black bean soup.
Generally speaking, there has been far less innovation in gravies than in soups; Culinary Stock gravies in aseptic packs at Wegmans are a rare exception. But Topco Associates, Skokie, IL, is trying to add luster to its Food Club line with homestyle canned chicken gravy, “made with real stock,” that is “seasoned with sage & black pepper.”
Kroger offers a homestyle bottle beef gravy, but without any hype. Meijer was offering BOGO deals on its beef, chicken and turkey gravies at press time.
Gravy mixes still seem to get more attention than gravies at Safeway; for that matter, gravy mixes under the Food Club brand at Topco far outnumber the ready-to-heat gravies, and include varieties like Onion, Country with Sausage Flavor and Au Jus.
