As sweaters, beanies and mittens are returning for the fall and winter months, so is soup. Darn Good Soup returned Thursday after five years with new owners and location, but its 70 recipes are all still the same.
The soups will be available from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day at Chocolate Moose on South Walnut Street, though will be prepared at One World Kitchen Share.
Eight different soups will be initially sold including sweet potato coconut, chicken tortilla and broccoli cheddar, then after a couple weeks other recipes will be alternated in.
Co-owner Pat East, formerly the executive director of the business incubator and co-work space the Mill, said his and his wife’s decision to buy Darn Good Soup has evolved from when his family were customers.
“The soups were always really hearty. They felt like a meal and not like a soup you would get at a normal restaurant,” East said.
East initially told the original owner, Nels Boerner, that if Boerner was interested in opening a second location East would be interested in being involved. Nothing came out of it and then the restaurant closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, East said. A few years later Boerner was thinking of selling Darn Good Soup to employees but that fell through.
When East resigned from the Mill in January he reapproached Boerner again and he was open to selling still.
East and his wife have hired a previous Darn Good Soup chef and have been in contact with Boerner to maintain the original taste of the soups.
“Having the best chili in the world isn't the point. It's having the chili that everybody remembers,” East said. “And so that's why it's so important that we hit the nail on the head with the recipes and get them exactly, exactly how they were.”
He said over the years since Darn Good Soup has been closed, he would hear stories about the impact the restaurant had on people whether it was because of the soups’ taste or the fond memories it brought during the cold, winter times. One time when he and his wife were at a restaurant in town, he heard another customer compare the soup to Darn Good Soup.
“He ordered soup, and when it was served, he tasted it. He leaned back in his chair and kind of put his arms to the side like this and tilted his head back and yelled loud enough for the entire restaurant here, not as good as darn good soup,” East said.
Despite East having experience in building businesses by scratch before, he said he lacks knowledge in food operations, which is why he partnered with Chocolate Moose. Chocolate Moose was already thinking of adding a new food menu and has its established location downtown.
Additionally, the seasonality between Chocolate Moose and Darn Good Soup complement each other with ice cream sales being lower in the winter and soup sales being higher, and vice versa in the summer, he said.
Looking into the future, potentially franchising Darn Good Soup is on East’s mind.