Hey, Soup Sister: Two years of comfort food and counting

By Josh Staloch

Staff Writer

DE PERE – In February 2020, Hey, Soup Sister opened its doors in De Pere.

Less than a month later, they were moving tables out of the dining room and setting up for take-out only as COVID-19 began to take its toll on the service industry nationwide.

Two years later, owner Joell Hill and Hey, Soup Sister are still weathering the storm making her lifelong dream a reality.

Hill said she opened Hey, Soup Sister three years ago after dedicing she needed a career change.

Though not having any formal training in cooking or restaurant ownership, Hill said she knew she wanted to do something involving food.

Working in the health care industry in Oklahoma at the time, she decided to return to Wisconsin, where she grew up, and give it a go.

Why soup?

Hill said the concept for Hey, Soup Sister just sort of happened. 

“I was looking for something healthy,” she said. “My sister and brother-in-law own XO Fitness right next door, and they’ve always had a concept of trying to help their clients eating healthy. We’ve realized, since being open, how many people we’ve helped out with dietary restrictions.”

 

The menu at Hey, Soul Sister is gluten-free and lends itself to vegetarian eating, thanks to her family’s influence, but Hill said carnivores need not be shy, there are plenty of meat options available to throw in the bowl.

How it works

Customers at Hey, Soup Sister are guided through the ordering process by a large chalkboard, which borders the counter arera separating the dining room and the kitchen. 

Written on the board are the options for the six layers that can be added to a bowl.

First, folks pick the bowl size bowl, then they choose from one of three soups of the day, such as beer cheese, mexican street corn or Tuscan chickpea tomato.

Next up is a protein, like shredded chicken or garlic sausage. Then it’s on to veggies, grains and legumes (black beans, mushrooms and a rice mix were on the menu last weekend).

Step five is toppers like cheeses, cilantro, green onion and bacon crumbles.

And lastly, Hey, Soup Sister encourages patrons to top off their creation with a little drizzle. Options include cashew cream, garlic pepper sauce and Sriracha sour cream.

“It lets people customize their bowl as to what they like on it,” Hill said. “It’s designed so that you’re putting all of that into the bowl so you don’t need the sandwich on the side. You really don’t need anything extra with it, it’s a nice hearty bowl.”

A tough start

Her first experience in owning a restaurant beginning just as the pandemic began to take shape, Hill said she was worried about whether or not Hey, Soup Sister would survive.

“I was real worried about making it,” she said. “But soup is a comfort food, and I think that helped a lot.”

Once she got going, Hill said she found she was freezing a lot of leftover soup in large containers.

She said this prompted her to freeze her leftovers in smaller containers and offer them for customers to stock up on, or maybe take them to an elderly family member who isn’t getting out during the pandemic. 

“That’s probably something that saved us,” Hill said. “This little twist that came into play after we opened and were still figuring things out.”

A family affair

Hill’s children, Kahlie and Keegan, are the only other regular faces customers will see at Hey, Soup Sister.

Keegan has been there from the start, doing homework while helping at the cash register during the start of remote learning.

Hill’s daughter, Kahlie, came up from Oklahoma to help this past fall and not a moment too soon, according to Hill, who said Kahlie’s arrival came just as things started to get quite busy at the restaurant.

Hill said her mother, Sharon, moved to the area about a year ago, and helps chops veggies and does whatever she can to help out a couple of days a week.

For more information on Hey, Soup Sister visit the restaurant’s Facebook page.

Hill said she posts the hot soups available, as well as the frozen options each day.