Soup on the House · Askıda Çorba
Leave a bowl behind.
You can add a bowl of soup to your order for someone who needs it. No pressure, no guilt — warmth is simply better when shared.
The tradition
Askıda ekmek: bread left on the hook.
In many Turkish towns a customer can pay for an extra loaf and ask the baker to leave it askıda — “on the hook”. Later, anyone who needs it can ask whether there is bread on the hook and take it. The giver never learns who received it. The receiver never has to explain themselves.
It is a quiet custom, and the quietness is the point: it protects dignity on both sides. Soup on the House is the same custom applied to a bowl of tarhana.
Warmth is better when shared
- My soup
- $9.00
- Shared soup× 1
- +$6.00
- Total
- $15.00
Prices shown are indicative while we prepare to open. Shared bowls are held in a community pool and served during our evening hours; contributions are not tax-deductible donations.
The community pool
Your shared bowl becomes community warmth.
Shared bowls are not sent anywhere. They stay here, tracked separately from ordinary sales, and are served in this shop during our evening hours.
- 01CustomerAdds a shared bowl to their order.
- 02Soup & SmileRecords the contribution against the pool.
- 03Community PoolShared bowls are held until they are served.
- 04Warm Evening MealServed during our evening hours.
- 05ConversationA seat, a bowl, and time to talk.
- 06OpportunityPractical next steps, where someone wants them.
We do not claim that each purchase automatically funds a complete meal — the operating rules and costs are still being finalised. When they are fixed, the exact mechanism and any published ratios will appear on this page. Shared bowls are purchases, not tax-deductible donations, and Soup & Smile is not a registered charity.
The evening table
When the day gets hard, there will be a place to sit.
- A bowl of tarhana and bread
- A seat at a real table
- A conversation, if it's wanted
- A human connection, above all
Evening hours will be published here before we open. The experience is designed to be simple and dignified: the same counter, the same room and the same bowl.
Transparency
Good intentions need transparency.
Here is the path a dollar takes. The structure is fixed; the figures will be published as soon as we have real ones to publish.
- 01Customer purchaseWhat you pay at the counter or online.
- 02Food + operationsIngredients, baking, rent, wages, packaging.
- 03Community poolShared-bowl contributions, tracked separately.
- 04SoupBowls served during evening hours.
- 05SupportPractical help arranged with community partners.
- 06OutcomeReported once we have verified figures to report.