One Company That is Looking MMMM...MMM...Good

This morning I sat down with Douglas R. Conant, Campbell Soup's president and CEO, and we discussed how the company is weathering the economic turmoil.

He had a lot to say about steps he is taking to make sure his company maintains a healthy balance sheet and what consumers can expect from the soup giant in the near future. 

The Camden, N.J.-based company is seeing growth in many of its categories and is working to expand its reach globally. "Soup is a foundational food in basically every country in the world once they would kill the wooly mammoth they would boil the bones and make soup," he said.

The company, which also own V8 and Pepperidge Farm, is looking to acquire businesses to strengthen its position in the food industry.

"We have a strong balance sheet, we have good cash flow, we have the ability to acquire small to mid-sized companies that fit within our core categories and the growth opportunities are substantial."  The company recently handed out a dividend of 25 cents--so it's been able to continue to shine through the economic clouds.

His company’s Web site has exploded recently as cash-strapped families look for ways to prepare less-costly meals.

“Well, consumers are looking for value, and they are finding value in cooking at home, so our Web site has, as you said, seen an enormous amount of activity. We have 12 million consumers that have been hitting out Web site in the last nine months -- That's a significant increase.”

More than 4 million users printed recipes off the site—many of them adding up less than $10 for contents of the meal.  

Conant told me the company is continuing to grow and is in a better position now than it was a year ago. 

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