As grocery prices rise, so do bean sales
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Camellia Beans makes a point to work with American farmers, CEO Vince Hayward says. Photo: Courtesy of Camellia Beans
As grocery store prices continue to rattle U.S. families, there's at least one New Orleans company seeing a growth in sales: Camellia Beans.
Why it matters: As American consumers make day-to-day decisions with an eye on affordability, Camellia is creating one-and-done bean seasonings and even experimenting with Depression-era recipes.
The big picture: President Trump on Saturday issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to investigate price-fixing on imported foods.
- The results of that investigation will take months to come together, Axios' Ben Berkowitz reports.
- Meanwhile, U.S. families have already been making changes to their grocery habits with prices up 29.2% since February 2020 and the cost of staple items up higher on average.
Zoom in: Protein appears to be an easy place to make some swaps.
- A pound of beef hit a historic high in September at $6.32 per pound, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
- On the other hand, a pound of dried beans was just $1.63.
What they're saying: "As the economy goes down, bean consumption goes up," says Camellia Beans CEO Vince Hayward. "You eat more beans when you have less money. That's a life imperative."
- Though Camellia declined to share specific sales numbers, the company typically sees bumps during colder months and ahead of New Year's Day because of the South's tradition of cooking up batches of black-eyed peas. But Hayward says 2025 still stands out.
- "Consumers are really stretched, really stressed, really hit hard, and especially those who are on the border of making their bills every month or not," he says.
State of play: The century-old company, which has sold packaged beans since 1940, aims to sell only U.S.-grown beans "whenever humanly possible," Hayward says.
- That's made it a little easier to work through any tariff-related price changes, he notes, and even recently dropped some prices.
- "It's a tough challenge. We're not a big corporation ... so there's no ivory tower here," he says. "We're face-to-face with everything, so we're very aware of how our consumers are really feeling it."
As wallets have tightened this year, Camellia has responded by looking for ways to make it easier to use its products.
- The company introduced its new "Infusions" line, a single seasoning packet to make "a great pot of beans," Hayward says, and his team developed new recipes inspired by Depression-era cooking strategies.
What's next: Hoppin' john on the stovetop for New Years.
- "We literally have to prepare six months out in order to accommodate the [black-eyed pea] sales that happen in a very short period of time," Hayward says. "Our black-eyed peas go ... across the whole country."