After more than two decades ladling chicken dumpling and African peanut, beer cheese and more comforting soups to the Milwaukee area, The Soup Market is closing.
Owner Dave Jurena announced the news on social media the morning of July 17.
“Yesterday was one of my most difficult days professionally. I had to tell a dozen awesome people that their jobs will be coming to an end in the very near future,” Jurena posted. “After 22 years, we have decided to close The Soup Market. It wasn’t an easy decision, or one that was made lightly.”
In the post, Jurena shared that he received an eviction notice from the landlord of the restaurant’s Bay View location after “non-payment of rent for the last two months.” Jurena said the notice came after he’d asked for an HVAC system replacement. He added that the facility, which is the production hub for all Soup Market locations, had been operating without air conditioning since the summer of 2026.
The property at 2211 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. is owned by SK2, LLC, listed under agent Michael Olson.
Neither Jurena nor Olson could be reached for comment.
Jurena said relocating the business is out of the question after he invested $200,000 in the Bay View space over 20 years.
Though the eviction notice was only posted at the Bay View location, The Soup Market’s Hales Corners and Vliet Street locations will close, as well.
Jurena did not specify a closing date, but that it would remain open “another week or week and a half” as the business works to go through its inventory.
He added that he will be offering free ingredients to people “truly in need.” Those interested should emaildavej@thesoupmarket.com.
“I’d like one good thing to come of this,” he wrote in the post.
While the business winds down, The Soup Market will vend at both the South Shore and Brookfield farmers markets the weekends of July 18 and July 24.
The Soup Market served comfort for 22 years
Jurena and business partner Tim Talsky, who died in 2015, opened The Soup Market in 2004 at its first location in Bay View, first operating under its former name, The Soup Kitchen. Over the years, it expanded to locations in Oak Creek, the Milwaukee Public Market, Hales Corners and Vliet Street. It left the Public Market in 2021 after the market did not renew its lease. The Oak Creek location closed in 2023.
In 2018, Jurena told the Journal Sentinel he got the idea to start a soup business two months before the famous “No soup for you” episode of hit TV series “Seinfeld” in the late ’90s. He was working as a private chef and cafe manager when the idea hit, then began selling soups wholesale, at farmers markets and by delivery in 1998.
The soup market was popular for its rotating soups of the day, including fan favorites like African peanut, chicken noodle, Indonesian chicken satay, tomato bisque and vegan gazpacho. It also sold deli sandwiches, salads, grilled sandwiches and desserts.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After 22 years, The Soup Market to close all Milwaukee-area locations
Reporting by Rachel Bernhard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rachel Bernhard, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
