Junk food has been an issue debated for years and years, but despite the discussions regarding the long term effects and consequences on health, people do not seem to want to let go of these food choices. Is it really that impossible to change the eating habits of people, or is it just a myth?
“I know you hate soups, but there is this place which sells soup to go and they are delicious. You have to try it”. A colleague from work told me this during the summer vacation, when the choices were limited in matter of places to eat. Mostly because of the fact that junk food is not the best of ideas for me and fancy restaurants just do not fit my needs.
It was close to our workplace, pretty cheap and it was called… Souper. Thinking to myself that I have absolutely nothing to lose, I asked my colleague to buy me a Toscana tomato soup. And I have to admit it, it was quite a wise choice of name, as the soups provided by them were super, indeed. And this coming from a person who does not really enjoy eating soups, it was quite something.
The ingenious idea belongs to three friends, called Szabo Szabolcs, Kasa Zsolt and Bertoti Lorant. Curiosity was the main asset into opening such a place, as one day, wandering on the street of Budapest, Szabolcs noticed that there was this large crowd sitting in front of a place and waiting. As weird as it may have looked initially, the place was selling soup to go. Intrigued by the fact that people were standing in line in order to buy “a cup of soup”, Szabolcs came up with the idea and along with his friends, decided to start something different from the rest of the fast food places in town.
Souper is not just “any other fast food”. It intends to influence the people from Cluj-Napoca and not only, to eat healthier, thus slowly giving up junk food, as cheap as it may be.
It is also an attempt into educating the people, by showing them that fresh ingredients and wisely chosen condiments can offer an even tastier experience than junk food, and all of this, at a low price. Their attitude towards healthy food might not be that easy to change though, as people seemed rather reticent at the beginning of the Souper business. The whole start was a bit shaky, as the idea almost went bankrupt, but as people started knowing them and consuming their products, Souper slowly became one of the most appreciated places in Cluj.
“We want to offer not only a good price, but also a good quality. If people enjoy what they are eating, they will come back.”
What caught my attention though, was the fact that the selling point is quite a small one, not restaurant like, but which offered the possibility for the guys to reach as many people as possible.
“We have the whole town to serve us as a table, as a restaurant actually”, Lorant declared.
Is it going to be a greasy sandwich the next time, or an interesting combination of pumpkin soup, with orange slices and ginger? Would you rather eat cheap and healthy, or cheap and unhealthy?
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