Campbell's (NASDAQ: CPB) released its fifth annual State of the Sides Report, finding that holiday side dishes have consolidated their grip on the American table — a dynamic with direct implications for foodservice operators and retail grocery buyers managing seasonal soup and sauce demand.
The Numbers
The survey of 5,017 U.S. adults who celebrate Thanksgiving, conducted by independent research firm Reputation Leaders in August and September 2026, puts a hard figure on the trend: 86% of respondents plan to serve at least four sides this year, with a median of five, translating to an estimated 749 million sides nationwide. That's an 11-point jump since 2023 in the share of Americans who say they enjoy cooking sides more than the turkey — now at 80%. Generational skew is pronounced: 65% of Gen Z and 56% of Millennials say they would be satisfied with a side-only holiday meal, a signal that the traditional center-of-plate protein is losing symbolic primacy among younger cohorts.
The top-five side lineup — green bean casserole, mac & cheese, yams/sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and stuffing/dressing — has held constant for three consecutive years, though internal rankings have shifted. For operators building holiday LTOs or catering menus, that stability provides a reliable demand signal.
Soup Volume and SKU Implications
For The Campbell's Company, the consumer sentiment data maps directly to SKU performance. The company sells nearly 40 million cans of Cream of Mushroom soup during the holiday period alone; over the past five holiday seasons, that cumulative figure exceeds 308 million cans. Green bean casserole remains the most nostalgia-anchored item in the survey — 67% associate it with past Thanksgivings, and only 19% say they would alter the recipe, the lowest modification rate of any top-five side. Among those who make the dish, 87% specify Campbell's Soup as their preferred base.
Mac & cheese, powered by Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup, functions differently in the holiday context: 57% of respondents call it the dish "everyone can agree on," Gen Z ranks it as the number-one side for the second consecutive year, and 46% cite ease of preparation as a primary selection driver. The convenience angle is worth noting for foodservice operators — scratch-roux cheese sauce has long been a labor-intensive prep step, and a concentrated soup base addresses that friction directly in high-volume catering and institutional settings.
Operator and Retail Takeaways
The report's broader finding — that consumers are simultaneously honoring established food traditions and experimenting with new inspirations, including AI-assisted recipe discovery — reflects a bifurcated demand environment familiar to chain menu developers. Classic sides remain the lowest-risk holiday daypart play for QSR and fast-casual operators pursuing seasonal LTOs, while the openness to iteration creates space for elevated or regional riffs on familiar formats.
Campbell's generated fiscal 2026 net sales of $9.7 billion across its Meals & Beverages and Snacks divisions. The annual Sides Season push is a key demand-generation vehicle for the Meals & Beverages segment, which houses the soup portfolio at the center of both the green bean casserole and mac & cheese use cases. For ingredient sourcing and menu strategy coverage, the consistency of the top-five side lineup reduces forecasting risk heading into Q4. Operators tracking consumer trend data relevant to holiday menu planning will find the generational splits — particularly Gen Z's side-forward preferences — relevant to daypart and occasion-based menu construction.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
