The Soul Soup Co started from my parent's kitchen in lockdown.
I was a student in my third year of university – sitting my finals online and finding myself with some new found time on my hands. Like a lot of us, I started experimenting with weird and wonderful recipes. For some, it was sourdough and banana bread, but I went down a different path and started dehydrating tomatoes, cauliflower (they stunk!) and other wonderful ingredients to try and make my own homemade instant soup.
Being a farming family where we were lucky enough to have a flourishing kitchen garden
Soup has always been our go-to for a hearty lunch; all sat around the table together and the delicious smell filling the whole house. When mum suddenly found herself with a house full of children again, the old family soup recipes came out again. Spicy tomato, Spinach & Lentil and Thai beetroot are all recipes I’ve grown up cooking and loving. Oh it was good to be home!
I then spent two years immersing myself
... in all aspects of FMCG and start-ups. From joining the sales team for a boutique distributor to account managing for a booming snacking brand and finally working face to face in retail on Regent Street with the most upcoming brands. The founders I met the whole way through were and the advice they shared encouraged me to crack on and launch a brand of my own.
The category of instant soups have always stood out to me
... as an area in need of some serious imagination. I remember as a student that lack of options for something convenient, nutritious AND actually tasty - it simply didn’t exist. And after too many leaky Tupperware of soup in my bag or the library I knew there had to be options!
I learned that working with fresh ingredients was totally transferable
… to using dried ones. In fact, with high-quality freeze-dried vegetables and careful seasoning, the flavour profiles were powerful and delicious! It became even more exciting when I calculated the nutritional values of these nutrient-dense ‘superfoods’ which were just so much more convenient when in powder format (and just as good for you!).
The Soul Soup Co was born
... and I set about developing three recipes all based on soups my mum and I used to make. It really felt like this traditional soup bubbling away on the stove was keeping up with modern-day change and the fast pace of life - just a switch of the kettle and you could have a soup in an instant.
It’s taken almost two years of research, brainstorming, feedback, endless tweaks and the help of some incredibly generous & inspiring people to get me where I am today and can only dream to see Soul Soups on the shelf of your cupboard one day soon.
