{"id":166555,"date":"2025-08-14T11:24:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T15:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/?p=166555"},"modified":"2025-09-29T09:58:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T13:58:09","slug":"the-secret-ingredient-to-success-at-herndons-favorite-soup-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/the-secret-ingredient-to-success-at-herndons-favorite-soup-shop\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Ingredient to Success at Herndon&#8217;s Favorite Soup Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"custom_featured_image\" style=\"display:none;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/TLG_Featured-Image_FFX-4-800x533.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium wp-post-image\" alt=\"the exterior of 100 bowls of soup\" style=\"margin-bottom: 15px;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/TLG_Featured-Image_FFX-4-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/TLG_Featured-Image_FFX-4-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/TLG_Featured-Image_FFX-4-640x426.jpg 640w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/TLG_Featured-Image_FFX-4-585x390.jpg 585w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/TLG_Featured-Image_FFX-4-263x175.jpg 263w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/TLG_Featured-Image_FFX-4.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/div><div id=\"custom_category\" style=\"display:none;\">Soup Shop<\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two classic ingredients make the Herndon-based business 100 Bowls of Soup what it is. First, delicious and nourishing soup. Second, a deep commitment to the community. This soup shop, located at 279 Sunset Park Drive in Herndon,\u00a0 started as a stand at the farmers market and is celebrating its 16th year in business. We chatted with founder Katharine Mardirosian to learn more about the secret sauce to 100 Bowls of Soup\u2019s success. <strong>Read on for more about Katharine and 100 Bowls of Soup.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>About 100 Bowls of Soup<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Katharine Mardirosian started 100 Bowls of Soup in 2009. She sold soup at local farmers markets, scaling up from her home kitchen to a church kitchen and finally a commercial kitchen before landing in Herndon in 2015. The space, located at 279 Sunset Park Drive, has commercial kitchen space and a small retail space in the front of the store. Visitors can shop soup and peek into the kitchen during a visit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Selling at the farmers market creates a natural feedback loop, Katharine said. \u201cSomeone will come the next week and tell us what they thought of the soup,\u201d she said. \u201cBest way to start out. Have to engage with your customers, explain what you\u2019re doing. Can watch them taste it.\u201d The store is a little different, but customers will still come in and talk about the soups.<\/p>\n<p>Every week there are dozens of soups available. \u00a0There are always options for those following a special diet such as vegan soups, vegetarian, gluten-free, low FODMAP, etc.\u00a0 <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The soups change with the seasons but some staples are nearly always available, such as chicken noodle soup.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The inspiration for new soup flavors comes from all over the place, Katharine said. \u201cSometimes the farmer will give us extra of a certain crop, or one of the chefs will be inspired by something she made at home,\u201d she said. \u201cOr we\u2019ll look on the shelf and see if a flavor or texture is missing, or we need to make sure a certain diet is covered in the soups. Sometimes the chefs will take home an ingredient or spice and just play around with it. That\u2019s the fun part!\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>The Special Sauce<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Katharine describes it, the community created by 100 Bowls of Soup has two parts: the customers and the chefs. She feels grateful for both, especially after making it through COVID. \u201cI consider myself and our business very grateful that we\u2019re still around,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of small businesses, food businesses, didn\u2019t make it through.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Katharine said that a series of small decisions led to the business\u2019s success through COVID. \u201cWe decided to focus exclusively on retail sales, and we made our kitchen into two teams to keep schedules separate. We wanted to take care of our staff and keep up with local suppliers. Those, plus a bunch of other decisions, really served us well in the long run,\u201d she said. \u201cWe focused on what we do best, what can the staff do safely, and what do customers need. Which is really good soup.\u201d<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Katharine and the team learned a lot from that time, she said. \u201cAfter COVID, we increased our variety, and switched to an online store so people can see what we have and order online. We wanted to connect back to the local customer base.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DBG9d44xJuz\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DBG9d44xJuz\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by 100 Bowls of Soup (@100bowls)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have an open kitchen so you can see everything we do. We want to show off our ingredients,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe have amazing chefs and great recipes. We\u2019ve had the same team for close to five to seven years, some of us even longer. We\u2019ve stuck together through COVID. The chefs are just amazing in their creativity and ability to juggle a lot in the kitchen. I can&#8217;t say enough good things about them &#8211; they\u2019re what makes this place tick. Their hands are all over the product\u00a0 &#8211; everything made by hand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other part of the community is the customers. \u201cWe have a wonderful customer base that supports and understands what we do,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a lot of customers who are really supportive and curious.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re happy and grateful to interact with the customers we do. So many stories of the relationships we have with our customers,\u201d Katharine said. \u201cThey share their health journeys, they\u2019re trying to find something good and nourishing for their families, to buy soup for a sick loved one. Those are things that make us happy &#8211; when we feel like we\u2019re nourishing people or there\u2019s great feedback for the chefs.\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166649\" src=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-600x800.jpg\" alt=\"Katharine of 100 Bowls of Soup\" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-600x800.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-640x853.jpg 640w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-scaled.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-1170x1560.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Katharine_100bowls-585x780.jpg 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">100 Bowls of Soup Founder Katharine Mardirosian<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a food business, it\u2019s kind of an intimate relationship. Feeding someone, it\u2019s like having someone over to your house for dinner. That&#8217;s what I feel like our chefs do. It\u2019s a really special relationship,\u201d Katherine said. \u201cWe\u2019re not a restaurant. But we feel that nurturing piece of it. It\u2019s really important and satisfying. We\u2019re so proud of the soup and grateful that people make our soup part of their lifestyle, and meal plan.\u201d<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps the best example of the community created by 100 Bowls of Soup is the shop\u2019s partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cornerstonesva.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cornerstones<\/a>, a non-profit organization in Northwestern Fairfax County that supports individuals and families in need.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe had been doing a couple of things with them, very early on when we first started at this space. We had a bunch of volunteers in our kitchen who prepared soup for them. All together we prepared soup and roasted vegetables. Whenever we had anything extra we donated it to them,\u201d Katharine said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey were great. They have a shelter we donated to as well. Then we just thought, especially during the pandemic, the need is so great. We should bake this into our business plan. That&#8217;s how it started &#8211; April 2020. Let\u2019s see if we can figure out 100 soups every week. Not leftovers &#8211; deliberate, planning for it. When numbers come in, when we decide what we\u2019re making, orders from our wholesale customers plus retail, we add 100 more so we can donate. Now, we have two volunteers who come every Wednesday to deliver the soup to the shelter. The staff really feels good about being able to do that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visitors to the shop can expect to be bowled over (<em>sorry &#8211; couldn\u2019t resist<\/em>) by the incredible selection of soups available. From hearty to light and refreshing, there is a soup for any diner and any diet. The chefs can be seen in the open kitchen working on their next masterpiece, using colorful and seasonal ingredients. And the smells. The smells! Just a whiff and any visitor knows there is some serious cooking underway. Visitors can also \u2018purchase\u2019 a bowl of soup to donate to Cornerstones. The team offers cooking classes regularly, all of which are posted on the store\u2019s social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-166650\" src=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-600x800.jpg\" alt=\"the kitchen at 100 bowls of soup \" width=\"450\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-600x800.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-640x853.jpg 640w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-scaled.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-1170x1560.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/12\/Kitchen_100Bowls-585x780.jpg 585w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Katharine says her favorite soup is the lemony turmeric soup. \u201cIt has lemon, quinoa, chicken, carrots, kale. It tastes so good and it feels really good,\u201d she said. \u201cIt satisfies on all fronts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Soup ShopTwo classic ingredients make the Herndon-based business 100 Bowls of Soup what it is. First, delicious and nourishing soup. Second, a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":166653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8833,9709,764,9740,9593,9294],"tags":[9761,9747,9743,9731,9788,9735],"class_list":["post-166555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-fairfax-county","category-food-drink","category-herndon","category-local-girl-rss-feed","category-women-owned","tag-food","tag-herndon","tag-northern-virginia","tag-virginia","tag-weekend","tag-women-owned"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Secret Ingredient to Success at Herndon&#039;s Favorite Soup Shop - The Fairfax Girl<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thelocalgirl.com\/fairfax\/the-secret-ingredient-to-success-at-herndons-favorite-soup-shop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Secret Ingredient to Success at Herndon&#039;s Favorite Soup Shop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Soup ShopTwo classic ingredients make the Herndon-based business 100 Bowls of Soup what it is. First, delicious and nourishing soup. 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