Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't expect to see soup pop up — there are plenty of pop up pastries and pop up waffles, but no pop up minestrone.
The words “pop-up” and “soup” have become perfect partners thanks to Petaluma-based Amy's Kitchen Co., as the food manufacturer hosted a “Pop-Up Soup” event outside its headquarters at the corner of Kentucky Street and Western Avenue.
The two-hour “First Taste” event took place on July 13 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The tasting event, with soups handed out in small paper cups at tables in front of the building, gave the public a chance to try three new soup flavors set to be released in the fall: a meatless gumbo made with organic black-eyed peas, kale and rice; traditional Italian pasta farioli; and a veggie jambalaya with red beans.
“This is where the magic happens,” said Jared Larkins, regional sales manager for Amy's Kitchen, as he invited passersby to try the soup. “This is where our team imagines and dreams up delicious dishes. Events like this give us the opportunity to meet the community, which has been so welcoming since we moved our headquarters here last year.”
The company officially moved to its downtown headquarters in October 2023. While Amy's operates several drive-thru retail food restaurants, the building at 109 KFC is not open to the public and has no retail component. For this year's Butter & Egg Days event, the company opened a sidewalk burger stand selling meatless sandwiches and Amy's staples.
Saturday's event was a bit of an experiment, building pre-buzz for the three new soups while answering questions about Amy's other products.
Throughout the morning, there was a steady stream of pedestrians sampling the soup. Amy's Kitchen was founded in 1987 by Andy and Rachel Berliner and originally produced and sold frozen pot pies. Today, the company makes and sells dozens of products, from frozen main dishes like macaroni and cheese and mole enchiladas to popular soups.
“We had the idea to start doing community tastings,” Larkins says, “which would be a great way to get the word out about what we're doing. We plan to do these more frequently in the future.”
