Just after 11 a.m. Thursday, a steady line of college students and Bloomington residents grew inside The Chocolate Moose, each customer excitedly awaiting their first taste of Darn Good Soup in over five years.
Jen Richler, a Bloomington resident for 17 years, recalled having Darn Good Soup with her husband almost every week when the original shop was open.
“It was in my regular rotation,” Richler said. “We were really sad when it closed.”
The original Darn Good Soup was located at 107 N. College Ave. but closed during the pandemic due to financial uncertainty. It had been open for nine years before shutting down.
The business has 70 total flavors but rotates through eight to 10 every week. Until Nov. 30, the available flavors are broccoli cheddar, chicken tortilla, chili, corn chowder, lentil spinach, potato poblano, sweet potato coconut and West African chicken peanut.
Earlier this week, The Chocolate Moose announced Darn Good Soup would be returning through an Instagram post, creating a roar of excitement in the comment section.
“This is truly the BEST winter weather news that we needed in 2025,” one commenter said.
Richler said she was skeptical of the rumors of its return at first.
“But I saw the post from Chocolate Moose, and I didn’t realize this was going to be happening so soon,” Richler said.”
Niki Kazahaya has lived in Bloomington for almost eight years. Darn Good Soup used to be one of his favorite places to eat in Bloomington because of the convenience and variety of flavor options.
“My office was right on Sixth Street and Walnut, so it was right across the original location,” Kazahaya said. “It was a pretty big ritual for me to check their Twitter or their app to see what soups they were serving that day.”
Now, he’s excited to get a taste of the soup again after five years.
“Honestly, if I were to close my eyes and eat this, I probably couldn’t tell that it was any different,” Kazahaya said as he ate the chicken tortilla soup. “It’s still just as delicious.”
Jeremy Swindle, a Bloomington resident for almost 15 years and part of the Darn Good Soup employee staff from 2016 until its shutdown in 2020, said he’s happy to see it back in business, although he won’t be working there.
“People just loved that soup and that place so much,” Swindle said. “This soup kept me fed for several years.”
Talks of a partnership between The Chocolate Moose and Darn Good Soup initiated many months ago, Jordan Davis, director of operations at The Chocolate Moose, said.
“We’re already an established brand, and Darn Good Soup is established in its own right,” Davis said. “It just made so much sense to put two seasonal businesses that have different peak seasons together to create what will hopefully be a sustainable business in the long term.”
In store, everything will look as if it’s one storefront, apart from separate signage outside and the respective menus.
“You’ll come to the same register, whether you’re ordering ice cream or soup. It’s the same staff that’s helping serve it,” Davis said.
A big part of Darn Good Soup’s new brand is nostalgia, Davis said, so he wants to “execute it the same way so every bite tastes the same from five years ago.”
Davis compared Darn Good Soup’s reopening to when he took over Chocolate Moose 11 years ago. He said he’s taken “all the precautionary steps” to ensure that the product they’re selling is what customers would’ve gotten from the original store.
“Darn Good Soup means a lot to a lot of people,” Davis said. “They have an idea of what it tastes like, looks like, and it’s been very important to us to hire previous and new workers, work closely with the old owner Nels (Boerner) and use the original recipes.”
A couple years ago, Boerner attempted to sell Darn Good Soup to employees, but the plan didn’t go forward. After current owners Pat and Jamie East reached out earlier this year to purchase the company, they made a deal.
Davis said he hopes this partnership isn’t just a short-term solution, but a long-term collaboration.
“That’s not to say there might not be independent Darn Good Soup stores open, but if it makes financial sense, this partnership will last,” Davis said.
