Why Soup?

Why did I start a soup business?

First, I love soup… a lot.  It’s what I want to eat all the time, and I’ve been making it all my life and I think I’m pretty good at it.

Second, it’s a healthy comfort food!  You usually have to choose between the two, either an indulgent bad-for-you comfort food, or choke down the healthy food you should eat.  Soup is magically both healthy and comforting, how cool is that!?!

Finally, this is my second food business.  15 years ago I started Cocomels, “The Original Coconut Milk Caramels” in my kitchen and grew it to national distribution (@JJscocomels).  I’m no longer with the brand, but it was an amazing journey with no love lost, and I’m a proud papa as I see my Cocomel baby go out into the world to live it’s life without me.  I learned a lot about the food industry in that time, and while Cocomels remains true to its ethos (a “better-for-you-and-the-planet” product - organic and vegan), I learned why our grocery stores are full of absolute crap.  The American packaged food industry has too many pressures to cheapen the products or extend their shelf life, slowly leading to dubious food-like ingredients and added chemicals.  In addition, distributors and retailers hold most of the power and take much of the value.  It’s hard to bring real food to the people and have it not be too expensive for the brand or the consumer.

SouperStar is my anti-packaged food offering to my community - part packaged food, part restaurant(ish).  With soup, I want to sell real food made the way our ancestors did, directly to our customers, reducing the impact of the food industry middlemen.  My goal is to maximize the nourishment, using local and organic ingredients as much as possible, while keeping it as affordable and as delicious as possible.  I’m always looking for ways to do this, so please keep me posted if you have ideas.

I hope you enjoy my global soup offerings. I’m doing this for us, so I’d always love to hear your thoughts

With love, JJ