A mum who started selling her children’s favourite soups on a market stall has turned it into a million-pound business – now stocked in Tesco and Waitrose.
Marketing worker Amanda Argent, 58, was inspired by her family, after devoting herself to making healthy meals without any artificial extras while her kids were growing up.
Now she has her very own Tesco product range and her soups are sold everywhere from Costco to Ocado.
And this year her £1.2million turnover is set to almost triple at £3million.
“Ten years ago it seemed that the soup sector was made up of soups that were full of artificial thickeners, salt and flavourings, with very little in the way of actual vegetables and goodness,” the mum-of-four from London told The Mirror.
“Having four children, homemade soup had always been a great way of getting lots of vegetables and nutrition into them without them realising, so I thought why not sell soup that’s like ours at home.
“I started selling on market stalls with my husband for about six months and got people’s feedback, and everyone loved the soups so much, we thought let’s see if we can set this up as a business.”
Amanda’s research found a gap in the market for vegan allergen-free soups that were low in fat, sugar and salt.
“We did crowd funding and set the business up with around £50,000 initially,” she said.
By selling their products on market stalls, Amanda says they began to understand what people were looking for in a soup – and they focussed their product on that.
“In 2012 we started supplying local independent food shops. Orders grew and grew and we never had any returns.
“By the end of 2012 our soups were being sold in Planet Organic and Whole Foods Market.”
In 2014, the brand made it onto the Ocado website.
By 2017, Soupologie had signed a deal to be stocked in all Waitrose stores nationwide.
“At the time we were working on creating our unique five-a-day soups that provide all the recommended five portions of vegetables and fruit in one pot of soup,” she said.
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It was a success and in 2018, the product launched in Waitrose and on Ocado.
Since then, the business has gone from strength to strength, with Amanda even asked to sign a recipe book deal.
In 2020, the brand expanded into ready meals under the brand name Foodologie at Tesco.
“These ready meals, just like all our soups, are free from the 14 main allergens. They’re vegan, low in fat, sugar and salt and contain all five of the recommended five-a-day,” she said.
“Last year we launched our five-a-day soups in Tesco and Costco and our ready meals in WH Smith’s NHS hospital and travel shops.”
Next up they’re hoping to launch the ‘soup cube’ concept.
“Souper Cubes are cubes of fresh soup that have been flash frozen and packaged in compostable bags, eliminating food waste and plastic packaging,” Amanda explains.
Despite its success, she says one of the biggest struggles the business has faced had been trying to encourage people to ‘take a chance’.
“I wish we had known how hard it is to be pioneers and convince people to take a chance on new ideas,” Amanda said.
“If you believe that you have a product that is better than everyone else’s, can make improvements to people’s lives and can really make a difference, then you have to keep on pushing forward until the doors finally open for you.”
The company now have a small team of six and are aiming for a £3million turnover this year.
“Seeing someone choose our soup off the shelf and put it in their basket still makes us jump up and down with joy,” Amanda explained.
Soupologie’s soups and meals retail for around £2.45 - £2.99.
