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The popular "The Soup Man" episode of "Seinfeld," in which customers tolerate a controlling restaurateur who sells New York's most delicious soup, left a lasting impression on Prince George's native Athena Hernandez.
"[I thought] the next time I'm in New York, I want to make sure I know where that place is, because I love soup," she said.
Hernandez, who now lives in Woodbridge, and her father, James Ware of Clinton, dove into the restaurant world two years ago when they attended a franchise conference and tasted the SoupMan's creations.
"We wanted to venture into a business that could be a part of our family, something we could grow," Hernandez said. "And we thought the best place for one would be Prince George's County."
Hernandez grew up in various Prince George's communities and graduated from Suitland High School. She works fulltime as a communications specialist for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Ware is a retired Verizon employee with a real estate background.
Hernandez said the restaurant's menu was appealing to her family. The soups range from black bean to lobster bisque, and will all be accompanied by a piece of fresh bread, fruit and chocolate.
"My father is a vegetarian and we're all a fairly healthy family," she said. "It was important to us that if we're venturing out into the food industry, that we'd be offering the community a healthy alternative."
The Hyattsville restaurant will be the company's 35th franchise, and the first outside of New York to be minority-owned. Family friend Michael Turner is the franchise's third partner, but Ware will be the store's manager during the week and Hernandez will be on hand during nights and weekends.
The real-life soup man, Al Yeganeh, has been in the soup business for more than 30 years and is the company' executive chef, developing all of the soup recipes, said company spokesman Damiano DeMonte. Yeganeh learned to cook from his family, and perfected the skill for hordes of hungry New Yorkers.
Yeganeh closed his original New York location to embark upon opening the franchise and the first store opened in 2005.
The "Seinfeld" episode portrays Yeganeh as a controlling chef, dubbing him "The Soup Nazi" who yelled "No soup for you!" when customers disobeyed his rules: Have your money out and your soup selection ready.
The original restaurant inspired that characterization, although Damiano said Yeganeh never yelled those four famous words.
"He had to feed all of those people, everyone in Manhattan, who wanted his soup between noon and 1," Damiano said. "The reason he came up with the rules was to be efficient."
But the need for the same kind of control will be a little different in the Hyattsville restaurant.
"Athena's not going to say, ‘No soup for you!'" Damiano said. "They're going to be kind and courteous."
