Donair soup at Souper Duper Soup shop in Dartmouth a big hit
A new Dartmouth, N.S., eatery is serving up a new soup made out of one of the city's favourite snacks.
"My friend Stephen joked that we should make donair soup," said Roz Wilson-Oliver, co-owner of SouperDuper Soup.
"We put it off and we put it off and this week we said: donair soup is up on the list."
That's right, donair soup. Just two days on the menu and so far donair soup is a hit with customers.
Made with many of the same ingredients found in traditional donairs, but without the pita shell, the concoction created quite a stir on social media.
"It sort of hit Twitter and it's been on fire," said Wilson-Oliver.
The soup shop has only been open on Ochterloney Street for two months and each week they try and roll out a new variety of soup.
"All of a sudden we decided, let's go for it," said Jenn Service, co-owner of Souper Duper Soup. "Go for it we did and now we have donair soup on our menu."
Unorthodox marketing working
Service and Wilson-Oliver both have marketing backgrounds and both recently lost their jobs, but they also know their way around the kitchen.
Service is known as the Soup Whisperer. Wilson-Oliver is the Cake Crusader, a dessert specialist.
When they opened the shop, they weren't sure what to expect. Rolling out a soup that was guaranteed to raise a few eyebrows was all part of their plan.
"It was kind of different to find ways to do marketing because we have a very limited budget," said Service.
"Trying to get people through word of mouth and that sort of thing, we've been trying a variety of different ways to get people through the door."
So far the unorthodox marketing is working and the donair soup combo is popular.
For $8, you get soup and a biscuit.
"This soup is delicious," said customer Danielle Skinner. "It tastes like a donair but without the wheat of a pita."
"It's great and it's a nice twist on a Nova Scotia favourite for sure," said Nick Russell.
"It's pretty similar to an actual donair and the biscuit has a really nice taste to it."
