In the Beginning...

Zoup! began as an idea the company’s founders pondered as they were building their first soup-related food service business. 

That original company – which manufactured and distributed wholesale soup and spice products – gave the partners kitchen-door access to some of the top chefs and managers at hundreds of restaurants.  And, it gave them the chance to confirm what they suspected all along.  First, that good soup…really good soup was hard to find.  Second, that soup has powerful intangible qualities that elicit feelings of comfort, warmth and well-being for many people. And, that there was a strong demand in the marketplace for the kind of authentic, hand-crafted, fresh soups that customers love to eat, but seldom cook for themselves.

Encouraged by the enthusiasm of the many chefs they spoke to – and armed with their industry experience (and intense love of soup) – the founders teamed up with a talented chef. Then, they got to work on the careful trial-and-error process that involved hundreds of recipes and scores of tasters who completed formal evaluations of each potential recipe. 

It was this two-year process that, ultimately, yielded Zoup!’s hundreds of exclusive soup recipes, and that made way for the company’s category-defining fast-casual concept.

Zoup! opened its first store in 1998 in Southfield, MI, a suburb of Detroit, and within five years the company added five more Detroit-area locations.  Also during this period, the company built additional infrastructure and grew soup capacity, all with an eye toward making Zoup! the premier fast-casual, soup-differentiated brand.  In January 2004, Zoup! opened its first franchise in Ann Arbor, MI, leading the way to annual system-wide growth.

Since then, Zoup! has awarded numerous franchise units in several additional states. And, with its expanded and experienced leadership team, the company continues to seek strong franchise partners who can help grow the brand in specific U.S. markets.

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