About Us

As a culinary marketing director in the corporate and university food service arena, I questioned the foods we offered to our customers and students.  It seemed insane that we compared and modeled our menus with fast food industry chains rather than inspiring people to explore healthier foods and more traditional global fare that’s rooted in regionally sourced foods where the term “locally grown” is the norm and never a mention.  My greatest satisfaction and accomplishments in the 15 years working in the industry were menu and concept development that included organic, fresh local foods ~ transitioning traditional recipes into modern day menus that met the requirements of today’s healthier lifestyles.  We worked hard on sourcing as locally as possible ~ a much easier feat today than it was 20 years ago.  Interestingly, these innovative menus met with little resistance.  Customers loved them!  It was all in the descriptions and informative educational pieces we posted about “where today’s foods are from.”  We packaged our menus in a way that had people turning away from the burger grill and eating more often from exhibition fresh food stations where we offered local and organic foods, along with spices and sauces you would typically see in good restaurants. I still stand wide eyed at the displays of foods offered at some health clubs where health conscious workout maniacs purchase processed, corn syrup filled granola bars and b.s. beverages as pre and post workout foods and hydration. Because we live in a fast paced, overly scheduled world, the industry markets the hell out of grab n’ go and hypes on “healthy energy boosting beverages” that come in the color blue.  We don’t aim to go up against this madness, but rather strive to offer delicious, nutritious, handcrafted alternatives made with local and organic ingredients for a few of your meals each week.

My name is Josie.  I started this little soup gig with a small group of 20 “kettlebell-ers” in a garage studio in Milwaukie, Oregon called The Warrior Room. The soups were designed for pre and post workouts and crafted with an emphasis on super foods that supported their ass-kicking lifestyles and factored in intense training routines, muscle building and repair, weight loss, cleansing, stress reduction and a sense of well being that nourished the warrior in all of them.  Recipes were tested, sampled and customer testimonials established our first “best sellers” list.  Since then we have grown to have over 180 different soup recipes [and growing] that are now enjoyed by a larger community of warriors that include teachers and administrators, a variety of gyms, business owners, naturopaths and nutritionists, yoga instructors and music teachers, dentists and daycares. I continue to add customers to our delivery lists and am extremely proud and touched by my long-time customers who order each and every week.

When this concept of making soups started to develop, I knew I’d have to have a kitchen that included people who were fun and had good ideas – not just about food, but life.  Making soup in quantities that we do is exhausting work, so the pre-requisite for joining the team was to not only have talent and a sense of humor, but to bring energy.  I wanted the kitchen environment to be invigorating and a place we looked forward to coming to.  A place where we laughed a ton, talked incessantly and supported one another.  We did all of the above for sure. I was lucky enough to have had the best most hard working women over the years –  so much talent!

We’ve created some culinary teams that kind of changed the constitution of the kitchen and kept my enthusiasm going.  I owe so much to all these women ~ Vanessa, Susan, Tre, Arden, Katie, Deb, Carla and Maddy.  You are my heroes!  

And, now to my son Eli. No offense to all these women who came before him, because you all know how I feel about you. BUT Eli is killing it in the kitchen! Who would have ever guessed?! What was born out of necessity during the pandemic, has become an amazing partnership with my first born. I am very grateful. He’s been contributing some grueling hours as sous chef extraordinaire to keep this little gig going. Thank you Eli – Love you!

Last, but not least to the guy that puts the canopy up and down, loads our refrigerators, runs errands, gets ice, moves coolers and refrigerators all over town and comes to help clean the kitchen when I am about to collapse ~ thank you.  I couldn’t have done this without you for all these years. Thank you Mac. XOXO

 

Our philosophy is simple :  make it tasty!  make it healthy! make it memorable!

Organizations we support

• Epilepsy Foundation
  • https://www.epilepsy.com/about
• United Cerebral Palsy
  • (https://ucp.org)
• Clackamas Service Center
  • https://www.cscoregon.org
• Dollar For
  • (https://dollarfor.org)
• Laurel Lary Richter Foundation
  • (https://www.positivelylaurel.com)
• Right 2 Dream Too
  • (known as R2DToo)
• Northwest Farmers Union for BIPOC
  • (https://www.northwestfarmersunion.org/bfg)
• Special Olympics of Oregon / Unified Sports
  • (https://www.specialolympics.org/what-we-do/sports/unified-sports)
• Oregon Food Bank
  • (https://www.oregonfoodbank.org)