Why Campbell’s $1B Rao’s brand is winning on sauce

By touting its premium ingredients list and encouraging trial, the fast-growing sauce aims to build consumer awareness and household penetration.

What happened

Even after topping the $1 billion annual sales threshold, Rao’s Homemade is acting more like an upstart brand than a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy food sector.

The premium Rao’s sauce, which The Campbell’s Company purchased in 2024 as part of its $2.7 billion acquisition of Sovos Brands, posted a 14.5% increase in consumption during its most recent quarter, according to the company. Still, consumer awareness and household penetration for Rao’s trails many of the leading mainstream brands, including Campbell’s own Prego sauce, creating plenty of optimism for Rao’s growth prospects.

Why it matters

“It really is about democratizing very high-quality food and making sure it's available and affordable,” said Risa Cretella, president of Campbell’s meals and beverages division. “We know that investing to get people to try just one jar will have ongoing benefits because we have the proof.”

Rao’s, which traces its roots to a small 1890s New York City restaurant, entered retail stores in the 1990s after its owner, Frank Pellegrino, Sr., wanted to make his sauces more widely available. Even today, the restaurant doesn’t take reservations and has just 11 tables that are “owned” by long-time patrons.

Sales of the jarred Rao’s sauce have surged more than 450% during the last seven years by touting the premium aspect of its product, with tomatoes grown in the foothills of Mt. Vesuvius in Italy and the inclusion of clean-label ingredients such as fresh basil, fresh onions and Italian olive oil. It’s been a major beneficiary as more inflation-weary consumers turned to the sauce to make restaurant-style meals at home instead of spending more money to eat out.

This news brief is based on reporting published by Food Dive on 2026-03-25. The original report is linked below.