Chapter 2. Grandma's Soup House

The lunch line moved quickly, and before long they were ordering from a cute young lady who stood behind the counter. It was one of those fast, casual places where you place your order, receive a number, and wait at your table for someone to bring the food. The good news was that the place was clean, the people were nice, and the smell was amazing. The bad news for Nancy, however, was that they didn't serve sandwiches, wraps, or salads. In fact, they didn't serve anything except soup and bread.

Just great, Nancy thought, as she and Brenda ordered their soup and were handed an empty plastic soup bowl with their order number on it. The person working at the cash register told them to simply place the soup bowl at the edge of the table, with the number facing outward, and someone would bring their soup shortly.

In most restaurants, when they say the food will be out "shortly," it usually means a wait of 15 to 20 minutes. But in this case, the register person meant it. Within two minutes, a good-looking twentysomething with dark hair and blue eyes delivered their soup and bread with a big smile and a warm welcome.

"Have you been to Grandma's Soup House before? You look very familiar," he said as he stared at Nancy. He knew he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place where.

"No, this is our first time," Brenda answered. "We sort of found it by accident."

"Well, I'm glad you did. My name is Peter. Just let me know if you need anything. I ...

Get Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.