“Salad dressing is something we really thought we could do. People asked for it a lot,” Kasey Christensen, co-owner of Süp, said.
Their website expresses the Süp concept: “Süp is a labor of love coming from the heart and dreams of Christian and Kasey Christensen. Their desire is to work with their staff, creating healthy, fresh soups in MidTown Reno. Being a part of such a wonderful community is truly key within their concept. So their tradition of ‘Soup Sundays’ can continue and be enjoyed by everyone.”
Süp recently took first prize in the Level Up competition, which included a cash prize, a VAST strategic growth package and more.
Level Up was looking at already established businesses and how they were looking to grow their business. Christensen indicated the process to be reflective as they looked at their business with different eyes to present their plan to Level Up.
The Christensen’s had looked into bottling salad dressing before but the opportunity, at the time, did not work out.
It was something they really wanted to pursue, and eventually came back around to the idea.
“George and Susie Kapahee from Mr G’s Hawaiian Teriyaki Sauce sold us their distributor and have been our mentors!” Kasey Christensen said in an email.
Salad dressing will provide a new unique opportunity for Süp to continue to build a stronger base and brand recognition.
They have the dressing distributor machine, but are still waiting for the dressing to come back from nutritional content testing. Once they have those results they will be able to finish their labels. They hope to have the results in the next month or two.
“We want to grow, but in a smart way,” Christensen said.
They are not ready for a second location just yet. Until very recently, Kasey and Chris have been very hands on in the day-to-day operations of their current location.
“We don’t own this building, yet,” Christensen added as part of their reservations for a second location.
“We are hoping for a second location in the next two to three years,” she said, “We ended up in business because we are passionate for what we do.”
Süp opened their doors in 2007 a couple blocks south of their current location.
“The move to our current location was a game changer,” Christensen said in regards to the livelihood of their business.
“We started here in 2011, so five years.” She added, “the staff makes us who we are here, too.”
Their staff of 24 employees allows for two full shifts to operate in the restaurant every day they are open and the Christensen’s are happy to have managers in place now and a staff that matches Süp’s mentality.
For now, the plan for the salad dressing is to bottle it at Süp on Sundays, when they are closed. Christensen thought they would probably continue that process for the next six months to a year and see how things grow. Eventually, they think they will rent out another location to just handle salad dressing. The possibility of a co-packer exists as well, but that is if, or when, they start selling too much to handle the bottling internally.
“We want to see Midtown grow, but not lose its character,” Christensen said.
One of the concerns Süp has at their 669 South Virginia Street location is huge rent increases in the area.
“We help each other grow, but hope to maintain our character and not loose some of that,” she added in reference to Midtown and the area growing organically.
“Christian and I are forever entrepreneurs,” Kasey said. “If this year doesn’t mean a second location, what else can we do? (Bottle salad dressing)”
Their white balsamic vinaigrette will be their first salad dressing to be bottled.
To learn more about Süp, visit www.stockpotinc.com.
