The CEO Who Wants Us to Care More About the Humanity Behind Our Food

12.07.2024 - 20:51 / modernfarmer.com

At first glance, the offerings from the Washington, DC-based soup company Soupergirl seem pretty straightforward. The company specializes in vegan and kosher soup and gazpacho, as well as soup toppers that customers can mix and match. There’s the classic tomato soup, a beet gazpacho available in a portable container and even vegan “cheesy” croutons. 

Sara Polon founded the company with her mother in 2008, with the goal of making good food and sourcing local ingredients from farms surrounding the DC metro area. From there, the company grew, getting on the shelves at Whole Foods in 2016, followed by Costco, Kroger and other stores across the country. As the company grew, it began looking further afield to source its expanding ingredient needs. 

Then, everything changed. In 2020, Polon was faced with new supply issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As she looked into solving them, she learned more about the food chain from which she sourced her own ingredients and the farmworkers who were suffering under extreme labor conditions. She vowed to change. 

Modern Farmer caught up with Polon to talk about her own commitments to sourcing ingredients equitably and why she wants to bring other companies on board as well.

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Modern Farmer: There are a lot of steps to get a vegetable from the field to your bowl of soup. As the purchaser and decision-maker, what do you prioritize?

Sara Polon: You know, we always used to talk about the story of our food. That was one of the phrases we turned to a lot when it came to staying focused as a company. But we were really looking at growing practices, like ensuring things were sustainable, and we hadn’t paid enough attention