Buy Local, Buy Camden: How we’re supporting our hometown

Camden, New Jersey has been our home for over 155 years, and our commitment to the city and its residents remains as strong as ever. This year, we have a new goal to increase the number of Camden businesses we spend with and to raise the visibility of those businesses with employees.

Connecting employees with local Camden vendors

One of the ways we're supporting this goal is by partnering with Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen's Buy Camden 1st initiative, which encourages and enables local companies to spend more with small businesses in the city.

Hosting small business bazaars

In partnership with the Buy Camden 1^st initiative, we've hosted several small business bazaars during lunch at our headquarters where employees can purchase goods from Camden vendors.

This initiative has been a success for both businesses and employees. Bazaars are held around the holidays, making it easy for employees to buy gifts for friends and loved ones.

During our first two bazaars, employees spent a total of $10,000 with these local entrepreneurs. Other local corporations are now implementing similar events, helping to build even more support for the Camden economy.

Featuring vendors on campus

We're working to find creative ways to establish ongoing vendor partnerships for Camden small businesses at our HQ campus. Here are some examples of what we've piloted this year:

• Flowers at our company store: We've introduced fresh floral bouquets from local Camden florist, Creations by Jenn, with all proceeds directly supporting her business. She has now become a preferred floral vendor for our facilities and special events team.
• Tea towels with Camden PrintWorks: We collaborated with Camden PrintWorks on a limited-edition Campbell's corporate tea towel that was sold over the holidays at our HQ Campus.
• Custom scented candles from The Urban Scent at HQ: Our own signature Since 1869 Tomato Vine scent captures the fresh aroma of garden tomatoes along with other varieties are available for purchase at our company store, with 100% of profit going directly to the vendor.

Supporting local food businesses through loans and technical assistance

Investing in the Camden Food Fund

We are proud to support the Camden Food Fund, a community-driven initiative focusing on driving economic development and food access in the city. The Camden Food Fund provides funding to local entrepreneurs to help grow their food businesses and is managed by the Community Foundation of South Jersey.

Go deeper: Several years ago, the company began exploring new ways to expand access to fresh food in Camden while supporting local food businesses. After extensive planning and community engagement, the Camden Food Fund launched in partnership with the Community Foundation of South Jersey, supported by an operational grant from The Campbell's Foundation to help staff and design the program.

Guided by a resident-led advisory council, the fund provides capital and training support to local food entrepreneurs. Since beginning loan distributions in 2025, eight Camden food businesses have received funding and wraparound support.

Click here to learn more about the Camden Food Fund and check out some of our 2025 recipients:

Supporting our home and reaching our goal

Camden is our home, and it takes companies, government, community partners, and small businesses working together to make the city stronger. As we advance in our goal to support the local economy, we're focused on creating meaningful impact to help our hometown continue to grow and thrive.