Some people say it with flowers, but now you can say it with soup.
A new Utah company, Spoonful of Comfort, sends a care package of homemade chicken noodle soup to anywhere in the United States, with a tag that reads, "Made and sent with love to warm your heart."
Founded in January 2009 in Bradenton, Fla., Spoonful of Comfort's founder, Marti Wymer, moved her business to Salt Lake City this past month.
"There's something special about homemade, hearty chicken noodle soup," Wymer said. "We receive calls every day from those who want something different than flowers, candy or a fruit basket. Soup tells people that you care enough to send a nutritious meal."
In fact, Spoonful of Comfort was recently highlighted in Entrepreneur magazine's 2010 "100 Brilliant Ideas" issue.
That "brilliant idea" was born on a very sad afternoon in October 2007. Wymer had returned home from visiting her mother in New Brunswick, Canada, just the day before. Her mother, Mona, called with the news that she had just been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Wymer's first panicked reaction was to get right back on the plane to be with her mother. But with two young children in school, she realized she couldn't do that. She wanted to immediately send something to show caring and comfort. She thought of flowers and fruit baskets, but they didn't seem appropriate.
The thought of homemade chicken noodle soup kept coming to her. That's what her mom had always given her to offer comfort, but Wymer didn't know how it could be done.
"I wanted to show her that I cared, in the same way she cared for me so many times in the past when I was ill," Wymer said.
She was able to be with her mother when she passed away a mere six weeks later. "But through all the grieving and mourning, this idea sat there in the back of my head and wouldn't go away," she said in a telephone interview. A psychology major who was involved with Internet marketing and advertising, Wymer said, "I kept thinking, I don't know the food industry; this isn't my background. But everything just fell into place."
Today, Wymer's company sends 64-ounce jars of soup, enough for four to six servings. The cost is $32 plus shipping. Made-from-scratch cookies or rolls can be added for $6.
In January of 2009, she tested the market with an e-mail to family and friends announcing the company's launch. She was able to get her initial chicken soup recipe and employees to make the soup from a nearby Amish community.
Her friends and family began placing orders, and their recipients were often impressed with the idea and in turn, ordered soup the next time they wanted to send some type of condolences. So, the effort snowballed.
"Things just took off, and have continued to grow ever since," she said.
To honor her mother, Spoonful of Comfort donates $1 of every sale to the American Cancer Society.
"As things took off, we decided to take on a partner to help us with the business and navigate and grow the business," Wymer said. So she and her husband, Steve, turned to Scott Gustafson, who was already a partner with Steve in other business ventures.
Since Gustafson is already in Salt Lake City, the Wymers and their two children recently uprooted from Florida and moved to Jeremy Ranch.
Under their new system, Wymer said, the soup is cooked in small batches in Fort Worth, Texas, using all-natural broth, large white-meat chunks of free range chicken, fresh organic vegetables and thick noodles.
It's hot-packed, then quickly frozen to maintain freshness and shipped to the company facility in South Jordan.
When an order is placed, either by phone (941- 538-7070) or online at www.spoonfulofcomfort.com, the jar is decorated with a large bow, placed on iced gel packs and tightly wrapped in temperature-control material to ensure that the soup will arrive at its destination still cold and intact.
Gustafson estimates that the company has placed 5,000-6,000 orders of chicken soup since the company began.
"With the move to Utah, it's given us the ability to really scale up," he said. "We're projecting to double that number. With every transaction, we gain two new customers. People who receive it, the next time they think of sending something, they will send soup."
Chicken soup has long been regarded as a cure-all. University of Nebraska Medical Center physician/researcher Stephen Rennard challenged this age-old folk remedy, taking his wife's chicken soup recipe from the kitchen to the laboratory.
Under controlled conditions, chicken soup proved to modestly, but measurably, inhibit inflammation of the cells in the nasal passage, reducing the symptoms of a cold. Since the results of his original 1993 study were published in the International Journal Chest — the Cardioplumonary and Critical Care Journal — the research has been featured in thousands of news articles and TV spots. He even has a YouTube video, "Cooking With the Rennards," showing his wife, Barbara, making her chicken soup recipe handed down from her Lithuanian grandmother. It contains chicken, onions, sweet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, carrots, celery stems, parsley, salt and pepper.
The researchers were not able to identify the exact ingredients in the soup that made it effective against fighting colds, but they theorize it may be a combination of ingredients that work together to have beneficial effects.
"All vegetables and the soup had activity," Rennard said. "I think it's the concoction."
While chicken soup isn't a cure-all for every ailment, it nevertheless can add some comfort when a person is sick.
And that's what Spoonful of Comfort is all about.
e-mail: vphillips@desnews.com