I’ve always been curious about the Soup Peddler. You hear stories about the early days when he would peddle his soups around downtown and south Austin with ice chests in tow. The enterprise has grown since then and they now offer delivery to a much broader territory and in more conventional modes of transportation.
The notion of having dinner waiting for you at your doorstep is kinda nice. Last week I thought I would try the whole process out. I visited the website and learned you have to order your items a week in advance and you must live in one of zip codes that are serviced. Delivery is free on orders over $15. Since most items are in the $10-$14 range you will have to order at least two to take advantage. You always have the option of picking up at the kitchen location as well. They deliver on a particular day dependent on the zip and have a handy chart for you to refer to. Their website is very easy to use and is choc full of information that will answer just about any question you have about the process. The menu on any given week seems to offer up about a dozen selections; some soups, some entrées and sides, with a dessert or two thrown into the mix. I ordered the Chicken Muffuletta and the Shrimp and Grits, ironically –no soup this time around. Once you have made your selections you proceed to the one page ordering process, fill out your info, hit submit and wait for the goods to arrive.
The Friendly Reminder Email
I received a friendly reminder email the day before delivery to leave the cooler out. That was one item I was unsure on. How big of a cooler to leave out? Especially since there were two entrees being delivered. Ended up leaving out a soft sided cooler (12Lx6Wx12D) and had plenty of room to spare, even if it had been summer and you needed to put in an ice pack or two. If you forget to leave your cooler out (or the wind blows it away or the neighborhood dog drags it off) they will leave it in one of their insulated bags and pick it up the next time they deliver. Someone (I believe it was The Peddler himself) even phoned me that morning and asked if there were any special delivery instructions that they could relay to the driver. Customer service was top notch.
Sure enough, dinner was waiting when I got home. The items arrive in metal tins with plastic lids and those are sealed in their own plastic over-wrap. The entrees are not frozen, but are heavily refrigerated. Each tin comes with an instruction label and list of ingredients.
~Lee
