Soupologie was established by husband and wife team Stephen and Amanda Argent in 2012 with the aim of becoming the leading, go-to brand for deliciously free-from, nutritious plant-based food. The inspiration for the brand came shortly after Stephen, an accountant by training, decided to take over the family cooking when Amanda’s attempts too often ended in disaster. After he started making vegetable soups for their four daughters, he was encouraged by friends and family to take his delicious home-made soups to a local Christmas Fair and was overwhelmed by how quickly the soups sold, and the lovely compliments he received about the flavours. We caught up with couple to talk about how free from soups have been received during the vegan boom and what life is like running a business as a family.
Amanda and Stephen Argent
We understand Stephen's soups were a result of some culinary disasters?! Please can you tell us a bit more about this!
Amanda:
I’m really not very good at cooking- I try hard but things don’t work out the way I intended! As our daughters were growing up Stephen, probably out of desperation, became more and more interested in cooking, and a couple of the girls enjoyed getting involved too. It soon became a lovely bonding time for them all with a delightful end result of delicious meals!
Why were soups your go to food for your daughters after this Stephen?
Stephen:
It was just a natural way to easily include a variety of vegetables into their diets. Prior to that, there would either be a fuss made as to which vegetables they would or wouldn’t agree to eat or if they did agree, they would smother everything with tomato ketchup. Whereas I found that they would scrape the bowl clean with the soups and were happy to eat every and all combinations. They were happy and mealtimes became pleasurable.
Your brand was established well before the vegan boom, so how has the recent plant-based revolution helped your business?
Amanda:
Yes, we were considered very niche at the time but our market research has always involved getting out and meeting people and listening to what they tell us. In that way, we knew that people wanted soups stripped back of everything other than the vegetables.
The plant based revolution has helped us grow enormously but there is more to be done. Plant based doesn’t mean that it’s free from gluten or other allergens like soy or nuts. Or that it’s good for you. There are many plant based products out there now that contain all manner of weird ingredients, and are high in fat and salt. And of course, ‘free from’ doesn’t mean a product is vegan.
So now our mission is that we want our reach to go further still. All our products are plant based and they are also low in fat, sugar and salt. In addition, they are all free from the 14 main allergens. It’s really important to us that people see our products as healthy, trustworthy, safe for all the family and, of course, super tasty!
Are you both vegan? If so why/why not?
Stephen:
Between us we have various allergies and food intolerances, so we are mainly vegan as that seems to be the diet that keeps us most out of trouble!
When and why did you want to branch out into meals as well as soups?
Stephen:
We branched out into meals in 2020 as we realised that, at the height of the pandemic, people were looking for healthy food they could easily eat from home. From there it’s grown into supplying Tesco’s and WH Smith travel stores and I think that giving people an easy way to achieve their 5 a day fruit and veg is very appealing.
How does it feel to have your daughter on board with the brand now and how do you strike the balance as a family who also have a business together?
Amanda:
It’s lovely having Anastasia on board with us. She was one of our daughters who would sit up on a stool and help Stephen with the cooking in the early days. Since then she has gone on to learn the craft properly and hone her skills and she is instrumental in much of our new product development. She is very much the next generation in terms of what she is looking for from a food product. Food is much more of a lifestyle choice now and ingredients and packaging really matter.
Stephen:
I’m not sure that we’re very good at striking any sort of balance at all between personal life and the business, as the business is all-consuming and we talk about little else! Fortunately we love what we do, so it’s mostly very enjoyable.
Are soups an easy way to get your five a day if you are struggling otherwise?
Stephen:
They are but it took us a year to develop our five a day soups so it’s not quite as easy as throwing a load of vegetables in a pot if you want to do it yourself. There is much advice around how you get your recommended five a day and it can be tricky to achieve that at home. That’s why it took us so long to get the recipes right! Having said that, of course making your own soups with whatever veggies you have around is always going to be good for you. But if you don’t have the time then our soups definitely hit the spot!
Why did you decide to share your recipes in your cookbook? Don't you want them to remain a closely guarded family secret?!
Amanda:
Haha, well as Stephen has said, coming up with five a day recipes, that meet the recommendations and that taste nice, is not easy. On top of that, our recipes have to be capable of being scaled up so that we can meet our customers’ demands.
When Anastasia was approached to write a Soupologie Five a Day soup recipe book, she had many recipes that she had created that could never be made commercially but that people would really enjoy making at home. She leapt at the chance to collate the recipes into a book and explain how people can easily achieve their 5 a day with the right guidance. She loved creating the recipes and testing them out and we’re delighted that the book is doing well and people are enjoying making the delicious soups and meals!
We are moving out of the colder months and into the warmer ones- so do soups have a place in spring and summer?
Amanda:
They definitely do, in fact May can often be one of our busiest months, especially as our soups and meals are low fat or fat free and people enjoy them as a tasty way of getting fit and healthy before their summer holidays! Also our summers often don’t live up to all our hopes and expectations, so there are many days that a good bowl of soup is most welcome
What is next for you and the brand?
Stephen:
We are very excited to be about to launch a new concept called Soupologie Souper Cubes. We have taken our fresh soups and frozen them into cubes that can be quickly heated up. They work perfectly in a microwave or on the hob and are great for both you and the planet as they massively reduce food waste. We are also excited to be using compostable packaging so that reduces our use of plastic too. They will be available from February/March.
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