Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former Swanson Company was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner business is currently owned by Conagra Brands, while the broth business is currently owned by the Campbell Soup Company. TV dinner products currently sold under the brand include Swanson's Classics TV dinners and pot pies, and the current broth lineup includes chicken broth and beef broth.
History
thumb|Swanson chicken pot pie
Carl A. Swanson (1879–1949) was a Swedish immigrant who worked on a farm in Blair, Nebraska, until he moved to Omaha. There, he worked in a grocery store where he came into contact with John O. Jerpe, who owned a small commission company, in which Swanson would become a partner in 1899.
World War II
The frozen food industry began to dramatically change surrounding the time of World War II. As men were required on the battlefield, women became more needed in the workforce. This limited the amount of available time women could spend preparing meals for their children. Women began to rely on frozen meals post-war for greater convenience, and to save time.
TV dinner brand
thumb|A Swanson "Hungry-Man Country Fried Chicken" TV dinner
The Swanson & Sons' TV dinner branded frozen meal sold 5,000 units when it was introduced in 1953; just one year later, the company had sold over 10,000,000 TV dinners. The company discontinued its successful butter and margarine business to concentrate on a poultry-based line of canned and frozen products. In April 1955, Swanson's 4,000 employees and 20 plants were acquired by the Campbell Soup Company for a large block of Campbell's stock to the Swanson brothers. By 1956, the Swanson brothers were selling 13 million TV dinners annually.
In March 1998, Campbell Soup spun-off the Swanson frozen meal business along with several other brands, including Vlasic, to a company called Vlasic Foods International; In 2001, Vlasic Foods International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and the company was re-branded Pinnacle Foods in 2001. In the spin-off, Campbell Soup granted Pinnacle a ten-year license to use the Swanson name on frozen meals and pot pies. That agreement expired in mid-2009, just before Pinnacle purchased Birds Eye Foods. Pinnacle continued to produce frozen meals, but it discontinued the use of the Swanson name in favor of the Hungry-Man brand; however, it remained in use for pot pies. Swanson's frozen breakfast line was re-branded Aunt Jemima several years before. On June 27, 2018, Conagra Brands announced the acquisition of Pinnacle Foods for $8.1 billion. The acquisition closed on October 26, 2018.
International operations
thumb|A bus advertising Swanson broth in Hong Kong in 2008
Adolf Ho Ping-yau, managing director for the Campbell Soup Company in Hong Kong, introduced the Swanson brand to Hong Kong in 1987. Ho introduced Swanson chicken broth to the Hong Kong market following a visit to a Campbell's factory in the United States, in which he saw excess chicken soup created during the production of TV dinners going to waste due to a lack of demand for chicken broth in the US. As of 2004, Swanson chicken broth is Campbell's best-selling product in Hong Kong, and the Swanson line of soup products have a market share of 90% in Hong Kong.
Tributes
A branch of the Omaha Public Library is named for W. Clarke Swanson.
See also
- Mrs. Wagner's Pies