Soup (Man) in the skyway
By Mike Mitchelson

Chances are, you’ve heard about this soup and its creator. Michael Barr hopes you have, but if not, try it anyway.

The downtown Minneapolis skyway is home for many restaurants serving the weekday lunch crowd. Yet in May, there was a restaurant—not yet open and boarded up—that attracted much attention from passersby. People gathered near a poster in the Two Two Five South Sixth building, which depicted a proud, but not-entirely friendly-looking, man staring off into the distance, with the phrase, “Yes, that soup man.”

A woman in the group said. “That’s him. That’s the Soup Nazi.”

The observation brought a smile to the face of Michael Barr, the owner—and first Minnesota franchisee—of that restaurant, which formally opened in July. “You can’t buy that (marketing),” he said. True. The marketing for the restaurant began more than a decade ago, without anyone’s knowledge.

For fans of the television show Seinfeld, two words bring a knowing smile. In one episode, Jerry Seinfeld and friends joined a legion’s worth of people waiting in line for a cup of soup from a man they called the “Soup Nazi.” His soups were delicious, but he had strict rules in his restaurant. Breaking them would result in no service, and a possible lifetime ban.

The episode fit well into the series’ overall absurd observational humor, but, in fact, was less a parody to those in the know. The “Soup Nazi” was based on Al Yeganeh, who owned and operated a small soup restaurant in Manhattan, Soup Kitchen International. He had strict rules in the restaurant, and breaking them could result in no service, or possible banishment. Yeganeh also became well known for his humanitarian side—he fed the homeless who came to his restaurant for free.

It was Yeganeh’s soups and his empathy for those less fortunate that made people tolerate his idiosyncrasies, and in 2004 compel a group of investors—headed by John Bello, founder of SoBe Beverages—to approach Yeganeh about developing a chain concept.

Fast forward to 2008, and enter Mr. Barr. It’s been Barr’s job to recognize good things and sell them. In the ten years since he graduated from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, he worked for Target Corp. and plowed through their executive training program before hooking up with Alco Electronics, a Hong Kong-based private-label electronics manufacturer, to become their local representative. He had no restaurant experience and wasn’t looking to get any. But during a visit to New York City—taking his mother to a Broadway show—he saw Yeganeh’s original store, and recalled pieces of the Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” episode. The store was closed (Yeganeh was working to build the concept) but a sign advertised franchise opportunities. “I thought, ‘That would do well in Minneapolis,’” he said. “There’s not a lot of options for really good soup—there’s no super-premium soup like Al (Yeganeh) has done.”

He called the number on the sign. As the company researched him, he researched the company. Was it a gimmick, or merely a piece of pop culture tacked onto a restaurant concept, a la Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.? He didn’t find a gimmick, however. Yeganeh is in charge of the soups and their development for the chain. “And he doesn’t care what you think of him, either,” Barr said.

And, of course, Barr sampled the product. “It was the best I’d had, and I said I’d do it. The mulagatani was amazing, and the butternut squash soup, I was literally licking the bowl.” And then there was the lobster bisque, the gumbos and goulashes—Barr couldn’t stop raving.


Company rules

Having enthusiasm for a product is great, but there are expectations that go with a brand. The Original Soup Man—corporate—isn’t just looking for any franchisee, said Original Soup Man CFO Robert Bertrand. “We have sold single units, we would like to do an area development, but the main thrust is to get an owner operator. We don’t want some banker that just wants to buy six of them—you’ve got to own the zone, you’ve got to be hands on. …It’s a higher-end product line, higher cost, and you’ve got to make people feel like they’re being taken care of, and they’re trading up. Like (buying coffee) at Starbucks.”

Barr understands that—among the options for customers to pair with their soup at his Original Soup Man are high-quality deli meats for the sandwich offerings, and the local favorite Sebastian Joe’s ice cream.

He plans to be in the store as often as he can, and use his marketing skills and business connections to build the business. Barr also said his location is a good fit—the building is filled with lawyers, accountants and brokers. “They work really hard, and they know what they want (for lunch),” he said. “Price is not an issue. They are willing to pay the price for good food.”

There’s still mindfulness to price point, of course—a lunch for about $6 is part of the menu plan—and once he gets his system down, Barr said he’d look to open more stores. “I think the downtown area could support several, but we’ll take the conservative approach.”

Barr hired an experienced restaurateur and chef—Parasole veteran Wayne Skjulstad—to be the restaurant’s general manager. Barr is also using his Target connection to bring Original Soup Man soups to Super Targets.

Retail sales is often a touchy subject between franchisee and franchisor—they can infringe upon and undermine a franchisee’s sales. Yes, some franchisees “don’t like having it in a supermarket near them,” Bertrand said, but defended the practice by adding that only eight soups are sold retail—none of them the premium soups, like a lobster bisque—compared to the 50 rotated through the restaurants. “We think it helps the franchisees by building the brand.”

That “brand-building” effort is significant—compared with 33 restaurant locations, the retail outlets, including regional Costcos and Sam’s Clubs, number in the hundreds. Barr doesn’t have a problem with retail sales of the product, and believes it lends to brand awareness, citing Consumer Reports ranking the Original Soup Man’s chicken vegetable soup as best in the country. “That’s due to the grocery sales,” he said. “From a marketing standpoint, it’s a different decision tree. You go to the retail store, buy the frozen soup, take it home, and you prepare it. It’s a different experience for the customer.”

But it’s the experience at his restaurant that Barr is concerned about. The chain has expanded on Yeganeh’s original menu of a cup of soup, a piece of bread, piece of fruit and a chocolate. You can still order that for nostalgia’s sake, but on the menu are also sandwiches, paninis, wraps and salads. But soup is still the centerpiece. “For most restaurants, soup is the accessory,” Barr said. “For us, it’s the center-of-the-plate, …and nine months out of the year in Minnesota, it really makes sense.”