Van Camp's is an American brand of canned bean products currently owned by

ConAgra Foods Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

, Inc. Their products typically consist of beans stewed in a flavored sauce. Van Camp's has for some time been the second-best selling brand of

baked beans Baked beans is a dish traditionally containing white beans that are parboiled and then, in the US, baked in sauce at low temperature for a lengthy period. In the United Kingdom, the dish is sometimes baked, but usually stewed in sauce. Canned ...

in the United States, competing with Bush's Baked Beans.

Founding

The brand traces its roots back to Indianapolis, where in 1861 Gilbert Van Camp and associates Calvin Fletcher and Martin Williams constructed what became the nation's first successful commercial cold storage warehouse. Primarily concerned with the preservation of fruits and vegetables, Van Camp quickly began experimenting with canning. By 1862 he had started to can fruits and vegetables in the summertime for winter consumption. Shortly thereafter, Van Camp secured a lucrative contract to supply Union troops during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. Van Camp's pork and beans quickly became a wartime staple. Following the war, demand for canned food soared as returning veterans were eager to purchase the food that they had become familiar with. In 1882 the Van Camp Packing Company was founded. They started selling

catsup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among oth ...

in 1888. In 1894, his son Frank Van Camp first produced the now-famous recipe for pork and beans in tomato sauce. By 1898 the Van Camp Packing Company had increased annual production to six million cans. By 1909 Indiana, bolstered by the Van Camp family's company, became the nation's leading producer of canned baked beans. Frank Van Camp went on to found Van Camp Seafood.

Company history

The firm is considered to have been a trendsetter in the canned-foods industry. In 1933, it was acquired by James and John Stokely, who operated the Stokely canned

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

company in

Newport, Tennessee Newport is a city in and the county seat of Cocke County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 6,945 at the 2010 census, down from 7,242 at the 2000 census. The estimated population in 2018 was 6,801. It is located along the Pigeon Ri ...

, forming Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. The resultant combined company headquartered in Indianapolis. In the 1940s, the company built two warehouses in Bellingham, Washington. By the 1970s, Stokely-Van Camp agreed to produce, market and distribute a new beverage called Gatorade. This product was the first

sports drink Sports drinks, also known as electrolyte drinks, are functional beverages whose stated purpose is to help athletes replace water, electrolytes, and energy before, during and especially after training or competition. There are many perceived bene ...

, and would eventually generate more in sales than the rest of SVC's other products combined.
The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis
' at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

Sale and brand history

In 1983, the brand passed to the

Quaker Oats Company The Quaker Oats Company, known as Quaker, is an American food conglomerate based in Chicago. It has been owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Precursor miller companies In the 1850s, Ferdinand Schumacher and Robert Stuart founded oat mills. Sc ...

when it purchased Stokely-Van Camp. Quaker Oats sold Van Camp's to

ConAgra Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...

in 1995. Stokely was sold to

Seneca Foods Seneca Foods Corporation is an American food processor and distributor headquartered in Marion, New York, USA. Seneca Foods Corporation conducts its business almost entirely in food packaging, which contributed to about 98% of the company's fisc ...

in 1985 and currently produces canned beans and other canned vegetables. Over the years, a number of foods have been sold under the Van Camp's name, including its popular Tenderoni pasta product. it only sells canned cooked beans, including

pork and beans Pork and beans is a culinary dish that uses pork and beans as its main ingredients. Numerous variations exist, usually with a more specific name, such as Fabada Asturiana, Olla podrida, or American canned pork and beans. American canned por ...

kidney beans The kidney bean is a variety of the common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''). It resembles a human kidney and thus is named after such. Red kidney beans should not be confused with other red beans, such as adzuki beans. Classification There are ...

, a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

variant of its pork and bean recipe, Chili and ''" Beanee Weenee"''—a mixture of beans with slices of frankfurter made of beef and chicken in tomato sauce.

References

External links

* {{ConAgra Conagra Brands brands 1861 introductions Indiana in the American Civil War Baked beans

Founding

Company history

Sale and brand history

See also

References

External links