Rooster Soup Co. Lands on Sansom Street


Rooster Soup Company, the Federal Donuts and Broad Street Ministry backed soup restaurant that ran a successful and highly publicized Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2014 has announced its location. The soup and sandwich restaurant will open at 1526 Sansom Street, in the former home of Sansom Street Kabob House.

The concept behind Rooster Soup is to turn Federal Donuts’ unused chicken backs into chicken stock, soup and gravy – transforming what would be food waste into profits that will go directly to Broad Street Ministry, helping the organization to further their work in providing meals and services to vulnerable and homeless Philadelphians.

Rooster Soup’s Kickstarter campaign raised $179,380 for the restaurant. Federal Donuts partner, Steven Cook says Center City was chosen not just for financial considerations, but rather that “it advances a dialogue about how we take care of our most vulnerable citizens. Our location, just a few blocks from City Hall, Rittenhouse Square and the central business district, puts us right in the middle of that conversation.”

The luncheonette will have an 18-seat counter and bar, booths and tables with capacity for 40. The hours are tentatively set as 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

In addition to soup, the restaurant will offer sandwiches, salads and a bar. Expect a rotating selection of classic soups like:

  • Smoked Brisket Fat Matzo Ball
  • Hungarian Goulash
  • Cream of Broccoli
  • Mushroom Barley
  • Portuguese Fisherman Stew
  • Borscht
  • Pozole
  • Yemenite Style Curry with Coconut Milk*
  • Celery Root*
  • Hawaij*
  • Schug*

Not all soups will be chicken stock based. Items marked with an * are vegan or vegetarian.

A half-dozen sandwiches served on house-made white bread will also be on the menu. Sandwiches will include:

  • Corned Beef Cuban
  • Patty Melt with Everything Sauce
  • Fried Mussels with Tabasco Remoulade
  • B.L.T. (smoked beets, lettuce and tomato.)

Salads will include poached tuna with miso-fermented carrots, rice, nori and sesame; and Thai-style kale salad with golden beets and peanuts.

A full bar promises “no-nonsense, wallet-friendly” cocktails like whiskey sours and salty dogs. Bottled and canned beers plus wine will fill out the offerings.

No timeframe has been set for the opening but Rooster Soup promises details on the progress.

Rooster Soup Company [Foobooz]
Broad Street Ministry [Official]