Small Town, Big Flavor: Souper Salad To Go Offers Unique Salads and Weekly Soups Served With a Personal Touch in Downtown Lock Haven
By Emily Wright
LOCK HAVEN– Nestled inside The Simon Building’s Penny Lane in downtown Lock Haven is a restaurant featuring unique salads and a rotating soup menu that’s become a hit since its opening in late January of this year. With a range of options to choose from for a nutritious mid-day meal, Souper Salad To Go may just become your new favorite place to grab lunch.
Owner Michelle Hanley is a Clinton County native currently residing in Beech Creek. She graduated from the former Williamsport School of Business and then went on to work in healthcare. Although she enjoyed working in the lab at a Geisinger facility and loved her coworkers, she felt a strong pull to dedicate more time to her family because of the demanding nature and long hours required of healthcare workers.
Though Michelle describes herself as an amateur restaurant owner, the positive feedback she has received on the Souper Salad To Go Facebook page suggests that the business has already become a favorite amongst locals.
When it comes to the inspiration behind opening Souper Salad To Go, Michelle says that cooking and testing out new recipes has always been something she’s enjoyed doing as a hobby, and before opening her restaurant, she would often spend her days off doing just that.
Although she says opening a restaurant wasn’t something she’d necessarily planned to do, it all came together when she began to brainstorm ways to do something she loves and generate revenue in the process. “When I thought about what I enjoy doing and what is profitable, I started thinking back to my days off when I would try out new recipes. I find it very therapeutic to turn on some music, chop vegetables, and cook,” Michelle shared. Suddenly, it became her mission to open a business that would allow her to not only cook but also involve her kids. So far, she’s been able to involve them in her day-to-day operations, and her nephews and parents have also played a key role along the way.
Michelle describes the menu options and the Souper Salad To Go concept as the perfect place to grab a light lunch. “It’s definitely a lunch selection; I personally would eat soup and salad for dinner, but I think most people think of lunch when they think of soup or salads.” The salads on her menu stay the same, while her soups rotate on a weekly basis. She occasionally adds a sandwich or dessert for the week, which she routinely updates on the Souper Salad To Go Facebook page. Michelle streamlined her menu by keeping every salad the same price: a large salad is $12.00, and a half-size is $6.00.
So far, one of the most popular items on the menu at Souper Salad To Go is the açaí bowls, which Michelle added to the menu earlier this spring after being inspired by a similar salad she had while she was out of town. Michelle offers two versions of açaí bowls: The Chocolate Strawberry Açaí Bowl, which features frozen açaí sorbet topped with bananas, strawberries, granola, and chocolate hazelnut drizzle, and the Tropical Açaí Bowl, also featuring frozen açaí sorbet, and incorporates bananas, pineapple, coconut flakes, granola, and a honey drizzle.
Not anticipating high demand for her açaí bowls, Michelle purchased three gallons of açaí berries to start, thinking she’d have more than enough to launch the new menu item, but it turned out to be so popular that within the first two days, she sold out. Staying true to her desire to offer food made with wholesome ingredients, Michelle set out to find a vendor to purchase açaí berries from but couldn’t find a local source. She’s managed to keep the popular item on the menu by ordering through a company that ships the ingredient to her overnight on dry ice. “You can find mixes and powders nearby that make something similar, but it doesn’t compare to the real thing,” she said.
Besides her açaí bowls, Michelle says the best-selling items on her menu are the apple pecan, turkey bacon ranch, and raspberry jalapeño salads.
The apple pecan salad features lettuce, fresh spinach, feta cheese, pecans, craisins, diced apples, tomatoes, and homemade croutons topped with a house-made apple cider vinaigrette that is slightly sweet and tangy. The turkey bacon ranch salad, which Michelle recommends topping off with ranch dressing, features roast turkey breast, lettuce, fresh spinach, onion, tomato, bacon, and homemade croutons.
The raspberry jalapeno salad was inspired by Arby’s jalapeno poppers paired with raspberry dipping sauce. Michelle and her sister brainstormed ideas for a salad that combined the same flavors. Together, they came up with the idea of combining ham and cream cheese roll-ups, bacon, sliced jalapenos, tomatoes, and a raspberry vinaigrette dressing with a bit of jalapeno juice to create a robust and flavorful salad. Michelle describes this salad as “a heavenly mix of sweet and spicy with a little bit of tang.”
In terms of the dressings offered on the menu, Michelle says she loves to draw inspiration from vintage cookbooks. Recently, she discovered a recipe for a creamy lemon dressing in an old cookbook that her son stumbled on at the Ross Library book sale. She decided to make a batch and give it a shot, and it has since become a popular choice amongst her customers. Michelle’s housemade apple cider vinaigrette has also become a highly requested choice.
Michelle added a note at the top of the Souper Salad To Go menu advising customers that their orders can usually be customized to their specific dietary needs, restrictions, or preferences. She wanted to offer an inclusive menu for those with dietary limitations because of her experiences with her children, who have dietary restrictions that make it difficult to find a restaurant that serves food they can safely eat. She also prioritizes providing nutritional and ingredient information to customers upon request.
When asked what the most rewarding aspect of owning a restaurant is, Michelle said that getting the chance to talk to her new and returning customers throughout the day is something she finds very rewarding. “I’m a talker by nature, so I really enjoy talking to and meeting new people,” she said. “It’s been a lot of fun to meet people in a restaurant environment to chat as opposed to in a lab or emergency room,” she added. Since opening in January, Michelle said she’s made many new friends and has even reconnected with old friends. While these aspects of owning Souper Salad To Go have been very rewarding for Michelle, she emphasized that the most rewarding part by far is that she gets to involve her kids in the business and that she’s found a better work-life balance now that she has more time to spend with her family.
The Record asked Michelle what the future holds for Souper Salad To Go, and she reported that she plans to offer food delivery in the future. Nothing is set in stone yet, but she plans to deliver to customers without employing a third-party company that would charge hefty fees for the service so that she can keep costs low for her customers.
In addition to offering food delivery, the idea of expanding has crossed Michelle’s mind. “I think the goal, as much as I love my space here, is to maybe expand and get a bigger space with more tables,” she shared. “Starting out, I didn’t think I wanted to have tables and a dine-in experience, but then there were customers who wanted to be able to sit down and enjoy their food, so we added a few tables to our space and then the Gundy’s at Hangar 9 generously gave me chairs to go with them. It’s been great to be able to have conversations with people when they come in,” she said.
In closing, Michelle shared that it was never her dream to open a restaurant, but it all seemed to come together after she resigned from her job position in healthcare, and she’s enjoyed every minute of being a restaurant owner. “Owning a restaurant was never part of the plan for me, but I absolutely love doing it,” she shared.
Michelle invites the community to stop in and try Souper Salad To Go during its regular business hours, Monday through Friday, from 11:00 a.m. until 5 p.m. She plans to offer some extended hours this summer while certain events are taking place in downtown Lock Haven and will announce those hours on the Souper Salad To Go Facebook page.
Customers can view the menu and order online through the link at the top of the Souper Salad To Go Facebook page. The online ordering platform includes a section where customers can add a note if they want to specify dietary restrictions or preferences to their order. Orders can be placed by making a phone call to the restaurant as well.
Visit Souper Salad To Go at 130 East Main Street in Lock Haven inside The Simon Building (Penny Lane). Customers can enter through the front entrance and head towards the back of the building on the first floor or enter through the rear entrance along Willards Alley.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/souper.salad23
To place an order by phone, call: (570) 295-3531
To order online: https://souper-salads-to-go.square.site/
Hours of operation:
Monday – Friday: 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: Closed
