Soup Club Year Two: Andy Said “No Soup”…Then Soup Happened
Jeff
4/14/20262 min read
Alright…so today was the first official Soup Club meeting of Year Two. Big moment. New chapter. Fresh energy. And who better to kick it off than Andy Yavello…founding member, day-one guy, the man who made the very first Soup Club soup ever. Full circle stuff.
Except…yesterday didn’t exactly scream “prepared.” I hit Andy with a casual, “Looking forward to Soup Club tomorrow.” He fires back, “Whose turn is it?” I say, “Yours.” Without blinking: “That ain’t gonna happen.”
Cool. Cool cool cool.
Now layer in the rest of the chaos:
Adam had construction going on at his house. Toss-up if he even remembered we exist.
Kevin had appointments but rescheduled like a true Soup Club professional. Respect.
Marketing Mike…coming from Dexter…which basically means we’ll believe it when we see it.
So I roll out of my 7:30am meeting, already on edge, and what do I see? Nothing. No soup. No crockpot. Not even a hint of steam. Just vibes…and not good ones. We get onto the sales meeting and there’s a random bun sitting on my desk. Andy messages me something about pulled pork and coleslaw in the fridge. My response: “What about the soup?” Silence.
At this point I’m about five minutes away from panic-buying ingredients and rage-cooking something at 9:30am just to save Soup Club from complete collapse.
And then…out of nowhere…like a crockpot miracle…A massive pot of soup appears. Dumped in. Fired up. Ready to go.
The mood shift was instantly from chaos to comfort. We’re back.
Now, slight wrinkle…the kitchen is under construction. So the soup gets heated in my cube, then we carry the crockpot into the conference room like a bunch of professionals who absolutely have no idea what we’re doing.
Also…no tablecloths. Missing. Dirty. Stolen? We don’t know. Investigation pending.
Now the soup. Andy rolls in and present us with a sweet potato, black bean, purple carrot situation. Simple. Chop it. Dump it. Cook it. None of my usual 47-step emotional rollercoaster builds. And honestly…I respect it. Topper was nutritional yeast. Solid.
Side was some kind of coleslaw situation that paired perfectly with the pineapple Habanero Harman’s sauce.
Verdict? Legit. Like…really legit.
Scores:
Me: 9.2 (and yes, three bowls like a responsible adult)
Adam: 9.4 (also three bowls, no shame)
Tam: 9.25…That's a high score - does she know nutritional yeast is NOT cheese?
Conlan: "Solid 7.0", because of course he did
Kevin: 7.3…BUT 7.8 with hot sauce, which feels like cheating when we take the little hot sauce flow restrictor off the Habanero Harman’s bottles.
Marketing Mike: “Tethered to my desk…” aka no-show
Final average: 8.53. Very respectable.
Side note: Felton's soup got absolutely nuked with ghost pepper sauce and he dropped an 8.5. He’s built different.
All in all a successful meeting against all odds. I’m up people. Next week? Nobody knows. Tuesday? Thursday? Both? Neither? That’s the beauty of Soup Club. It barely makes sense…and somehow always works.
Until next time…Adios, amigos. (that just may be a hint - not sure)
