ANAHEIM, CALIF. – Kevin McCray, president of Stockton, Calif.-based Kevin’s Natural Foods, admits to being “asleep at the wheel” when it came to the gourmet soup category in grocery deli.

There was Panera, private label and little else, McCray said.

Kevin’s got busy and rolled out a Thai-Style Coconut Chicken Soup for Costco. It was a huge hit, and McCray knew they were onto something.

At IDDBA ’23, Kevin’s formally introduced four soups for sale in instore delis. In addition to Thai-Style Coconut Chicken, there’s Chicken Gumbo, Chicken Queso and Tuscan-Style Chicken.

The soups come in pouches, which is very common in Europe but not in the US. The pouches have a smaller carbon footprint, McCray said. 

The soups are paleo and gluten-free with no refined sugar, grains or artificial ingredients. The chickens used in the soups are raised without antibiotics or hormones.