Hale and Hearty has been a well-known brand name of soups over the last 60 years, with retail outlets in New York City and surrounding areas. The attraction was a tasty and healthy product that busy office workers and homemakers could always count on. When the pandemic hit, the stores closed and the brand all but disappeared. In 2023, Moishe Gubin, who owns Main Event Mauzone Caterers, said people he knew at the company suggested he buy it when it became available. He knew the brand’s reputation, and the people making the soup. That gave him the confidence to purchase the company. “We took great recipes and modified them to be kosher so they could be enjoyed by the widest range of customers,” he said. “This is real quality soup that you could only get otherwise homemade or from specialty restaurant chefs. Even then, you would only have one or two choices, not the hundreds we have.” The production facility is under the supervision of the Orthodox Union.
While Hale and Hearty soups are being sold wholesale to stores and facilities, Gubin talked to his friend Jonathan Speiser, owner of Dougie’s in Teaneck, about serving the soups in the restaurant and online. “It is an interesting, successful concept so we thought it would be good to offer,” said Speiser. He has been selling the product now for a few weeks. “Word of mouth is getting around. People are calling and asking, ‘What Hale and Hearty soups do you have today?’”
Dougie’s is carrying about 10-12 varieties, rotating the selections. People order while dining in, by asking their server for the Hale and Hearty options, or purchase online at the Dougie’s website through Door Dash. Some of the soups are meat based and others are vegetarian but produced on meat equipment. Speiser said the most popular meat flavors are cream of tomato, chicken and orzo, chicken pot pie, chicken sausage jambalaya and Italian-style wedding soup with meatballs. The most popular vegetarian soups are minestrone, corn chowder and pasta fagioli.
We held a staff taste test at The Jewish Link in which we each voted for our favorite flavor. We didn’t have a runaway winner; several flavors had two or three votes, and some of us went back and forth trying to name a favorite. The most popular were pasta fagioli, Italian-style wedding soup, minestrone and chicken sausage jambalaya. I also liked the cream of tomato and corn chowder. The consistency of the brand concept was evident in the way people made different choices but expressed the same explanation: delicious flavor; lots of good, healthy ingredients; and great texture.
Gubin said his favorite is the chicken sausage jambalaya—he gets several cases shipped to his home in Florida. His wife’s favorite is the cream of tomato with chicken and orzo.
“Our soup is more than a first course—it’s a meal in itself,” Gubin said. “It’s full of quality ingredients, not just liquid with a few pieces in it. If you’re a soup person, you have to try our product. And right now, the only way to get it in your area is through Dougie’s.”
Visit Dougie’s BBQ at 184 West Englewood Avenue or order online at https://dougiesbbq.com/ and follow prompts for Hale and Hearty soups.
