You KNEW it just had to happen: the curt New York soup chef mercilessly lampooned in the classic Seinfeld shows as the “Soup Nazi” is going to clone his New York style restaurant so YOU can experience the soup but…he promises, not the New Yawk attitude.
It’s the ultimate in franchising. Well, maybe not quite: Tony Soprano butcher shops would be that…
But this is FOR REAL, the AP reports (and it is not April 1):
Signs will be posted in each of “The Original Soup Man” franchises bearing chef Al Yeganeh’s strict rules for ordering, such as “Have your money ready!” and “Move to the extreme left after ordering!” But a company spokesman said workers will be prohibited from shouting, “No soup for you!” at customers who disobey. Yeganeh and his partners have signed deals for 123 outlets so far, with the first slated to open in the New Jersey town of Ridgewood this summer.
The group hopes to have 1,000 franchises at shopping mall food courts and airports in the United States and Canada within seven years. The partners also plan to sell refrigerated soup in markets.“We really plan to take this whole concept international because Al is world renowned,” said John Bello, chairman of Soup Kitchen International, the five-month-old venture named for Yeganeh’s original storefront restaurant in New York City.
The storefront has been a tourist attraction since the 1995 “Seinfeld” episode in which Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer become frequent visitors to the Soup Nazi’s takeout restaurant before angering him and having their soup orders abruptly cut off.
As in the “Seinfeld” episode, Yeganeh’s real recipes are closely guarded secrets. He and his chefs have been working with experts at Rutgers University to adapt the recipes to preserve taste and freshness when making huge quantities of soup and shipping it across the continent, according to operations manager Linda Gavin.
Hey, someone tell this company: “No preservatives for YOU!” But we’re sure it’ll be fresh (just like the character on the TV show).
PS: There is one teeny-weeny condition the chef has laid down, Entrepreneur reports:
Later this year, the real-life “Soup Nazi” will begin selling his legendary bisques, chowders and gumbos at franchised locations throughout the country–but with one missing ingredient: Mr. Yeganeh plans to bar the franchisees from using the term “Soup Nazi” in their promotional materials. In fact, he doesn’t want his simmering soup empire to have any overt association with the show that helped make him famous. Tie-ins with “Seinfeld” will be “strongly discouraged” among franchisees, the company says.For all the attention and business that the “Seinfeld” publicity has brought him, Mr. Yeganeh is not exactly grateful–in fact he says he loathes the show’s star. He refers to Jerry Seinfeld as quot;Jerry the Clown,” and insists that it was he who helped make Mr. Seinfeld what he is today. The source of the friction is the nickname that the show made famous, the “Soup Nazi,” which he says is offensive.
And, this report notes, he insists he is not franchising for the money:””I don’t need the money,” he says, eyes widening slightly. “I’m already rich. I was rich before ‘Seinfeld.’ “
Then:“No money for YOU!”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.