Soup It Up owners announce future plans

We would like to use this opportunity to clear up some public confusion regarding our business plans for Soup It Up. In Aug. 2016, we closed our doors to our downtown location because of the physical limitations of the building and poor working conditions.

We began our search for a new location for our blossoming business. Over the past six months we have seriously considered several possible locations throughout Ritzville, only to be let down with financial issues, building issues or the like.

It has been a very difficult time for us to put so much energy into a project, several times in fact, only to see it fail, or be put on hold.

We thought our last hope to keep our business in Ritzville was to get into the golf course clubhouse, which City Council approved our proposal the first meeting of Jan. 2017.

However, we did not see the location prior to our proposal submission so it was a real shock to see it for the first time.

We were led to believe that the kitchen was a full commercial kitchen with all of the necessary amenities to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner menus.

However, once we were in there we realized that was not the case. Without elaborating on the issues, our project came to a screeching halt and we decided to withdraw our proposal for the clubhouse.

In addition to the building issues we have also faced serious financial hardship over the last six months that we have been out of work.

What most people don’t realize is, that it takes several thousand dollars to start a new business and we just cannot afford it. We are a young family trying to survive one of the roughest winters this area has seen in several years.

We really struggled with the fact that we may not be able to reopen our business in this town, but we have hit so many roadblocks over time, that we are tired of the disappointment. We need to work and we need to provide for our family.

So, we have decided to accept a job at the Ritzville Pastime running the kitchen.

We will no longer be using our Soup It Up name, but we are the same hard working, food loving people that just happen to be working the kitchen at the Pastime.

We plan to recreate their menu and merge our ideas with theirs to make one great business for all to enjoy.

We are disappointed that we can’t bring back the great business that we started and dedicated our lives to for three years, but we are happy to be accepted into the Pastime family and to be given the opportunity to keep serving this community our great food.

We hope the community agrees and shows their support to keep another small business alive in Ritzville.

Buck and Janis Rountree, Lind