Jeremy's Soups was started in 2002 by me, Jeremy Kent & my wife Helen. In the mid 1990's, we owned a pub in a tiny little hamlet called Blencogo in North Cumbria. We ran it for six years mainly serving meals where I did the cooking and Helen worked front of house. When we started to get special requests for my soup, we wondered what all the fuss was about. When people then started to ask if they could take any left over soup home, we really wondered what was going on. We realised that people loved soup, but didn't have the time to make it, or simply didn't know how. So we decided to have a look at what was available for people to buy in the shops.
After quite a bit of research, we decided to start making and selling soup over the bar at our pub, so that people could take it away and have it at home whenever they wanted it. Pretty soon, we were spending more time making soup than anything else, which was quite a challenge in our little kitchen! When Helen started to complain about working until 3am sticking labels on the tubs, we decided that maybe we should take this idea further. So, we sold our pub, and spent a year looking for just the right place to start 'Jeremy's Soups'. We found a unit which was available in the old dairy at Appleby in Westmorland. It used to be a staff canteen, and so it was already set up as a kitchen, which we thought was perfect. After some much needed work, we had a 1000 sq feet of space to start our adventure.
Since then we have gone from strength to strength, and now employ five very hard working members of staff. We have won fourteen medals at the Great Taste Awards, and recently won the ‘Best Soup in the North West’ from the North West Food awards, achievements of which I and my team are immensely proud.
Our soups are made with the environment in mind and we have taken active steps over the past few years to reduce our environmental impact, only natural when you consider that we live and make soups in one of the most beautiful places in the country. To date this has included a proactive approach to waste management and recycling, reducing the impact of our deliveries and working hard with our staff to make sure that out use of resources is minimised.
We make a range of twelve delicious soups, including old favourites such as Leek & Potato and Tomato & Basil, and some modern flavours including Curried Sweet Potato. Large pans and ladles are used to fill all of the tubs by hand. The labels are designed by my twin sister Stephanie who is an extremely talented artist. She also helps me to come up with the silly names we give to each different flavour.
The soups are available in quality delicatessens, farm shops, cafes and tea rooms all around the country. Limited flavours are also available at Booths supermarkets in Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire, and at selected Morrisons supermarkets in the north west.
