Hale & Hearty Soups was founded in the summer of 1995, some time before the soup craze began in NYC. Our first store was located at 64th Street and Lexington Avenue.

We chose a name for our store that would convey what we are all about. Hale & Hearty is a phrase from Shakespeare that means "healthy and well nourished".

From the start, we were committed to making soups of the highest quality, full of fresh ingredients that are hearty enough to be a meal. Many of our soups are so thick you can eat them with a fork! We make all our soups from scratch. We even make our own stocks. Our chefs use only the freshest ingredients, diced and chopped in our kitchen. In fact, we go to great lengths to do so. For example, instead of using frozen corn, we start with fresh corn, on the cob; we actually remove the husks and kernels by hand. This is one of the reasons our corn soups are so delicious.

We soon developed a reputation for offering a range of outstanding soups and decided to open more stores in other parts of New York. Within three years, we had eight stores. We then decided to introduce a line of tossed to order salads and sandwiches with the same dedication to quality and freshness that we brought to soups.

The key to a great salad is the dressing. We scoured the market to find the best salad dressings available and soon realized that nothing lived up to our standards! So, we decided to make each of our salad dressings from scratch. Not only do our delicious homemade dressings make our salads unique, but they have become so popular that we are often asked why we don't sell them by themselves. Maybe one day!

You can't make a great sandwich without fabulous bread. We went to the leading New York City bakery which supplies many of New York's finest restaurants, and together created Hale & Hearty's signature Tuscan flatbread, which we use for a number of our most popular sandwiches.

We believe that New Yorkers have recognized and come to love the high quality of our food. Year after year, the company has received great reviews in the New York media and in the annual Zagat guide.

Although we lost our World Trade Center location in 2001, we have grown to 17 restaurants and plan to open many more in the years to come.

As our menu evolved, we have always retained our single-minded focus on using only the highest quality, freshest ingredients to ensure we offer our customers the most delicious and flavorful foods.

We always welcome customer feedback. If there is something you'd like us to improve, or if you've had a disappointing experience, please tell us. If we don't know, we can't fix it! Please send us your comments by clicking on the "Talk to Us" link or by e-mailing me at the addresses below. I guarantee that every comment will be read by me personally.

September 2005