Newest Manhattan Eatery Will Run Hot And Cold

Soup and ice cream might seem like an unlikely pair, but not to consumers who love them both. Recent Penn State graduate Daniel Petryszyn will open a co-branded restaurant and retail store in Manhattan next month that will feature both Soup Kitchen International's The Original SoupMan's soups and Cold Stone Creamery's premium ice cream.

The co-branded store, located at 2 Astor Place, opens early November, and rely mostly on word-of-mouth marketing and foot traffic to promote the menu filled with ice cream and soup.

During the grand opening, one customer will win a free cup of soup every day for life; and another, a daily free cup of ice cream for life. The giveaways are part of the "Soup/Ice Cream for Life" drawing. The first 100 customers will receive a gift bag stuffed with goodies, such as T-shirts, mugs and coupons.

New York-based food mission City Harvest will benefit, too. The Original SoupMan restaurant, founded by Al Yeganeh, plans to donate $1,500 to City Harvest on behalf of his charity, Al's Feed the Hungry Foundation, which Baseball Hall of Fame legend Reggie Jackson chairs.

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Al's Feed the Hungry Foundation donates money to a local charity each time a new Original SoupMan location opens.

Soup Kitchen International President Bob Bertrand says the soup company doesn't have a co-branded SoupMan and Cold Store Creamery marketing plan, but the companies will work together to support entrepreneurs who co-locate the brands. "We have a company that distributes between 10,000 and 20,000 menus with $1 coupons at locations and homes around restaurants," he says. "We tried buying local advertising and radio spots, but didn't get much bang for our buck. The best marketing campaign really is word of mouth."

Soup Kitchen International has an ad fund to market and advertise its 36 store franchises throughout the United States. The budget allocates about $500,000 from corporate revenue and 1% of annual retail sales from each SoupMan location. Eight more locations are expected to open by year's end.

The SoupMan restaurant gained national notoriety after a comedy writer for "Seinfeld" wrote an episode after his real-life experience waiting in long lines for soup at Yeganeh's original soup restaurant at 55th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. Bertrand says the store, located near the Ed Sullivan Theater where "The Late Show With David Letterman" is taped, draws large crowds.

Soup Kitchen International's packaged soup sells in fresh cases at Sam's Club, Costco, Super Target, as well as select Shoppers, and Albertsons. The markets stock eight varieties, while restaurants offer 50.

As for Cold Stone Creamery, fast-food company Kahala bought the ice cream maker in May to form a holding company. Restaurants under the Kahala Cold Stone brand include submarine sandwich shop Blimpie, cheese steak chain The Great Steak & Potato Co., grilled chicken sandwich maker Ranch 1, Mexican fast-food chain Taco Time, and teriyaki grill Samurai Sam's, among others.

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