CHESTER — It smelled like autumn in the kitchen at Chester Town Hall last Friday afternoon. Two women dressed in colorful aprons and kerchiefs stirred curried pumpkin soup, and baked apple muffins and corn bread.
Meet the Souper Moms — Angel Smith of Derry and Jenifer Hever of Newton.
They were busy preparing five different soups for the Exeter Harvest Festival that took place on Saturday. In business for their second season, Souper Moms served up their soup at the Ioka Cafe during the fair. They will continue to provide soup to the cafe during the winter.
The women met while working at Newton Memorial School. Smith was a fifth-grade teacher and Hever a paraprofessional.
"Jen was always bringing in great things for her lunches," Smith said, "and someone said how nice it would be if Jen brought us all lunch."
An idea was born and after the two moms decided to stay home with their youngest children, they often talked of starting a soup company.
In December 2009, they got their food service license and found the kitchen at Chester Town Hall, which used to house Chester Elementary School before Chester Academy was built.
"We cooked every Sunday last winter," Smith said. "Things started slowing down over the summer, but now we're starting our second season with more customers."
Customers order soup though the Souper Moms' website each week. It's delivered the following week by Smith, Hever and their friends.
"We tried to cook more during weekdays, but it was too much," Smith said. "We're not 'super moms.'"
Smith has three children, ages 15, 14 and 5. Hever has four, ages 21, 18, 6 and 4.
They only cook on another day if there is a special event like the Exeter fair last week. In addition to the curried pumpkin soup, the Souper Moms were making butternut squash soup, chicken noodle soup, vegetarian chili and Southwest chicken soup.
A usual delivery order is a pint of soup with sides, and bread or a muffin. Sides for the southwest chicken soup are green onions and Monterey jack cheese. The cost is $6.
"We deliver in all of Rockingham County," Hever said. "We have several local businesses and school employees who order from us."
Each week, the Souper Moms make a little extra for their freezer list items on their website. Visit them at soupermoms.net.
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