Getting our shhh together

We're feeling inspired, growing up, and eating gazpacho!

Monthly Musings

For better or worse, Good Soup has taken up a lot of my mental space lately. Particularly, I’ve really been struggling to scope and define our vision. As a program manager by day, I know these are the key ingredients to ensuring a successful project or outcome, and yet, I constantly find myself revisiting my favorite mental cul-de-sac —  Analysis Paralysis lane. What is our end goal? How does one actually start a food business? What does it actually look like for two working moms to start a business when living across the country from one another? (Quick catch up - Emmy lives in CA, Sie lives in NC, but we met remotely working for a company based in Austin, TX). Is monopoly money an acceptable form of funding for this venture 😅? 

These thoughts replay on and on almost every single day in the shower or while I feed my infant at 3am. 

However, in order to keep moving forward, we have taken a leaf out of our day-job’s book and applied the OKR framework to help us hone in Good Soup. 

For those of you familiar with the OKR framework, I can already feel your noses scrunching and your stomach’s turning at the thought of corporate speak in a soup newsletter, but stick with me LOL! For those of you not familiar with OKRs, here’s the quick and dirty:

• OKRs stand for Objectives and Key Results

• It’s a goal-setting framework used to define and track objectives and their outcomes.

• Objectives are typically qualitative goals that can help provide direction and focus. Key Results are specific, measurable outcomes that indicate progress toward the objective

Currently (lol and I do mean that because knowing me this could change at any time 🙃), here’s our foundation.

• Our ultimate goal: to be the Jeni’s Ice Cream of soup. We’ll be that reliable product in a cool shop and in your favorite grocery store that’s consistently tasty and solves the problem of ‘How will I nourish myself/ family today?’

• Part of our mission: use our platform to do some ‘good’. Why? Because we feel that choosing to be generous with one’s time, talent or resources can feel pretty nourishing for the giver and receiver. 

Given our north star, the objectives and key results  (or “indicators of progress”) we are embarking on for the next 3ish months are as shown. 

• Objective 1: Become legit 💅🏾 - the sooner we achieve the below, the sooner Good Soup can grow 🌱

  • Key result of progress: Have a registered business

  • Key result of progress: Get a food permit

  • Key result of progress: Make our first sale! 

• Objective 2 : Feed more people 🍲

  • Key result of progress: Distribute 100 soups! (This one is super fun because we’ll get to test out a few different ways of getting soup to the people. WSNC fam, stay tuned for more details)

• Objective 3: Build Community 👯

  • Key result of progress: Elevate a philanthropy we love

  • Key result of progress: Launch guest writers! (Don’t be surprised if GS is in your DMs asking what’s on your mind, what you’ve been cooking lately and/or what’s on your hot list 😉) 

With all of that being said, I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you. Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. Thank you for cheering us on. Thank you for eating our soups. We’re so flattered and deeply honored to be on this journey will y’all!

Xx,

Sie

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Share the Good - Soup of the Month

We’re changing things up!

1. Going forward you’ll find a link or call to action to support an organization we care about in our footer. This is just one of hopefully many ways we’ll provide opportunities for our community to exercise generosity. 

2. Our Share the Good section is now dedicated to sharing soups loved by us as well as our readers! 

This month, instead of sharing a recipe I’d like to shout out a killer english pea gazpacho from Kindred, a beautiful restaurant in Davidson, NC. I’ve never been a gazpacho gal (in fact I’ve brazenly adopted the political stance that gazpacho is essentially a smoothie), but y’all, I’ve been changed. Cheers  to Kindred for a 10/10 anniversary dinner, and cheers to my personal growth 😆 🥂

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Hot Stuff

Last month Emmy shared a list of items in her shopping cart— which got us thinking, What are the meals that our kitchens always have on repeat?

Sie’s Top Meals

1. Spaghetti - this was the first dish I learned to make as a kid. Now it’s a weekly staple with various twists (different veggies, meat, no meat, lentils, etc etc!)

2. Tacos - I never not want something spicy in a tortilla.

3. Soup! Such a convenient option - simple ingredients, minimal monitoring and there’s always left overs!

Emmy’s Top Meals

1. Buttered Noodles - what can I say? A bowl of hot, buttery noodles has never not hit the spot.

2. Tofu Teriyaki - this one is so easy to pull together, and I can use up the produce that’s about to go bad in my fridge. I love to use the frozen rice you can get at Trader Joe’s because nothing ruins my night like mushy stovetop rice.

3. Homemade Pizza - my children love adding toppings to create pizza masterpieces and I just love pizza. This one is always a win in our house.

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📧 We want to hear from you! Please email us at hellogoodsoup@gmail.com to share a monthly musing or a soup recipe to be featured in this newsletter.

📷 To keep with Good Soup can also find us on Instagram @itsgoodsoup or coming soon to TikTok @hello_goodsoup.

🚨 If you’re local to Winston Salem keep an eye for our next free soup drop. Turn on your Instagram notifications to be alerted that sign-ups are open or send us a DM to claim a bowl!

🫶 Feel like doing some good? Consider donating to World Central Kitchen today. WCK was founded in 2010 by legendary Chef José Andrés. It is a nonprofit organization that is first to the frontlines providing fresh meals in response to crises.