Progresso facts for kids
Progresso logo
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| Industry | Food processing |
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| Founded | New Orleans, Louisiana (1925) |
| Founder | Vincent Taormina, and Joseph Uddo |
| Parent | General Mills |
Progresso is a popular American brand of food owned by General Mills. You might have seen their products in the grocery store! They are famous for making canned soups, canned beans, broths, chili, and other food products.
Contents
The Story of Progresso
How It All Began
The Progresso story starts in New Orleans, Louisiana, way back in 1925. It began when two businesses that brought Italian food to America decided to join together. The founders were two men named Vincent Taormina and Joseph Uddo.
At first, they focused on selling canned tomatoes. They were so good at it that they got more orders than they could handle! They needed to build a bigger factory to can more tomatoes. Joseph Uddo already had a large canning business, so he helped the Taormina family expand.
Creating the Progresso Brand
Together, they formed a new company and created the Progresso brand. The word "progresso" means "progress" in Italian. They started selling all kinds of canned Italian foods like soup, olive oil, tomatoes, and beans.
Over the years, the company was bought and sold a few times. In 1995, it became part of the Pillsbury Company. Then, in 2001, General Mills bought Pillsbury, and Progresso has been part of General Mills ever since.
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Competing with Campbell's
For a long time, Progresso soup was seen as a fancier choice compared to its main competitor, the Campbell's brand.
There were two big differences. First, Progresso cans were larger. Second, the soup was "ready-to-heat," meaning you could just pour it in a pot and warm it up. Many Campbell's soups were condensed, which means you had to add water or milk to them first.
Because of these differences, Progresso became very popular. To compete, Campbell's later released its own line of ready-to-eat soups, called "Chunky."
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