SARATOGA SPRINGS — Julia Van Zandt, also known as Julia the Soup Lady, started her own homemade soup business two years ago when she became fed up with feeding her kids unhealthy take out every night.

“My kids are very active,” Van Zandt said. “I was spending a tremendous amount of time driving to and from sports, music lessons and so on so I didn’t have time to cook and I was so tired of eating of boxes.”

Inspired by a cookbook she read about a man who created his own soup company in Austin T.X., Van Zandt and friend Lauren started their own endeavor with the Saratoga Soup Company.

After two years renting a kitchen space at Temple Sinai where Van Zandt could only cook once a week, the company is finally moving to their own space on Geyser Road where they will be able to stew soup as many days per week as needed to meet the company’s orders.

“We were selling out that’s why we needed to move,” Van Zandt said. “We loved being downtown, but we needed to put more people in the kitchen for more days to feed more people.”

The Saratoga Soup Co. is still on its summer hiatus (meaning no orders just yet everyone) until soup season kicks off in late September once Van Zandt has completed the finishing touches on her new kitchen. The company sells soup by order only, but Van Zandt said retail may be in their future. For more information visit www.saratogasoup.com and stay tuned for a special Saratoga Soup “In the Biz” column later in the month!