Monday, Nov. 28, 1960

Soup the Breadwinner

When Connecticut Housewife Maggie Rudkin started baking her homemade bread for sale to her neighbors in 1937, she used stone-ground flour and only the best ingredients, rightly thought she ought to! get a fancy price for it. She did. By this year her Pepperidge Farm bread had grown into a $32 million business, and when Campbell Soup wanted to buy it. once again she thought she ought to get a good price. She did. Last week Campbell announced that it would exchange 357,413 shares of its common stock, worth some $28,200,000 for the outstanding stock of Pepperidge Farm Inc., owned by Margaret Rudkin, her family and a few friends. For Campbell, with profits last year of $40 million, and Pepperidge with profits of $1,300,000, it was the marriage* of two of the most respected U.S. food makers.

Campbell will take over Maggie Rudkin's stuffing, cookies, brown-and-serve rolls, and frozen pastries. Campbell's President William B. Murphy announced that Pepperidge will continue to make its famed bread, operating as a separate company. For Pepperidge, whose products are known mostly east of the Mississippi, the marriage will open new markets through Campbell's vast outlets. "We'll be able to get more fresh bread to more people more quickly," explained Pepperidge's President Rudkin. Said Murphy happily: "Pepperidge is truly a growth company with a very rosy future."

*Following a courtship that began six months ago after Campbell Soup got its first good look at Pepperidge Farm in TIME, March 21--and liked what it saw.

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