100 Bowls Of Soup Continues Nourishing Herndon During Coronavirus

HERNDON, VA — It's been over a month since the coronavirus pandemic forced many Herndon businesses to close down or adapt to new ways of doing things.

Katharine Mardirosian, owner and founder of 100 Bowls of Soup, is thinking about her business in a completely different way due to the pandemic.

"It's heartbreaking to see the number of small businesses who have had to shut their doors," she said.

Located in Sunset Business Park, 100 Bowls of Soup is surrounded by of a lot of other small businesses, including restaurants, yoga studios, dance studios, a co-working space and gyms.

"It's a ghost town right now," she said. "It's really hard to see all of these businesses. They're trying their best to adapt. I think that's an inspiring message from what I've seen is the way with which many of these businesses have adapted, put their offerings online, tried to offer some semblance of a menu, even if it's a carryout/curbside order."

Within that context, Mardirosian considers 100 Bowls of Soup to be very lucky. As a food business, it's deemed essential, so it's been able to stay open during the pandemic.

"We were never a restaurant," she said. "We were primarily a very small-scale production kitchen, so our business model was basically making nourishing soup in small batches. Our whole mission has been to nourish people."

Mardirosian opened her business 10 years ago because she was passionate about making healthy, nourishing soup.

"It didn't think there was great soup out there," she said. "It was filled with a lot of additives, unwanted ingredients, very salty. I really wanted to get back to basics, very simple soups made from whole ingredients, whole foods."

Originally, Mardirosian started out selling soup at the Reston Farmers Market, where she began building a customer base. When Mom's Organic Market opened in Herndon, she was able to get her soups sold there, which led to the wholesale side of the business growing.

Mardirosian went from preparing soup in a church kitchen to a slightly larger kitchen and then building out the business's current space at 279 Sunset Park Drive, #5220, in Herndon, six years ago.

"Our business is a combination of selling wholesale and then also selling retail," she said. "We have somewhat of a — I wouldn't call it as a grocery store — but we categorize as a small retail store where we offer our soups, our broths, and then some items from fellow local artisans that we support."

When the coronavirus pandemic began over a month ago, 100 Bowls of Soup closed for a week to give Mardirosian and her staff a chance to reorient themselves and figure out how to reopen and conduct business safely. When they did open their doors again, it was on a smaller scale.

"Relatively speaking, compared to other restaurants and stores and small businesses in our area, we've been able to retain the majority of our business, our revenue stream," she said. "We've just had to make some adaptations going forward, and we're continuing to be incredibly vigilant in terms of what we do, how to conduct our operations."

For the time being, 100 Bowls of Soup is not letting anyone inside its business and is instead providing curbside service to its customers. In addition, 100 Bowls of Soup has cut back its production schedule and is now only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., for customers to pick up soup. Soup can be ordered ahead of time online or by calling 703-466-5130.

According to Mardirosian, part of 100 Bowls of Soup's mission is to give back to the community. So, the business also donates 100 bowls of soup a week to area food banks and charities. This week, it's donating soup to Cornerstones, a Reston-based nonprofit that helps people in need.

While Mardirosian recognizes that some businesses models might not be able to bounce back after the pandemic, she believes those that have built a relationship with their customers and continue to offer value have a better chance at surviving.

"Whether it's taking their store online or offering Zoom yoga lessons, and keeping that community engaged and nourished, because that's what we all need sitting at home, we need to be connected even in a virtual way, I think that's the most important thing," she said.

Also see ...

• Reston Gallery Takes Heroic Step To Honor Coronavirus Heroes
• Tea And Sympathy In The Time Of Coronavirus
• Reston Clothing Shop Donating Dresses To Coronavirus Responders
• Herndon's Weird Brothers Coffee Adapts To Coronavirus
• Small Business Owners Band Together During Time Of Coronavirus

This is one in a series of articles Patch is writing about small businesses in the area are responding to the coronavirus pandemic. Small business owners can also add their the name of their business to our list of open businesses in Herndon and Reston.