Longtime Soup Restaurant to Close
The Soup Kitchen will shut down its three locations later this month, following eviction notice.
The Soup Market at 2207-2211 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
After a 22-year run across several Milwaukee-area locations, The Soup Market will cease operations later this month, owner Dave Jurena announced Friday morning.
“The final straw for us was an eviction notice,” Jurena shared in an online post, noting that the action followed two months of unpaid rent at 2211 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. “I had asked the landlord to replace our HVAC system … and his response was an eviction notice.”
According to Jurena, the Bay View building has not had air conditioning since last summer and reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit indoors this week. “It was my only way to try and get his attention,” he said.
Without a production kitchen, Jurena said the business is unable to continue. Restaurants at 5330 W. Vliet St. and 5300 S. 108th St. in Hales Corners will also close, an employee confirmed.
Moving, said Jurena, is not an option for The Soup Market, which has invested more than $200,000 into the location over the past two decades and “doesn’t have the resources” to relocate.
Jurena said the restaurants will remain open for another seven to 10 days to deplete inventory before the shutdown. The business is also willing to give away ingredients to those in need.
“I’d like one good thing to come from our misfortune,” Jurena wrote. Inquiries should be directed to davej@thesoupmarket.com.
For the next two weekends, The Soup Market will continue its regular appearances at farmers markets in Brookfield and South Shore Park, where it sells pints of chilled soup to go, flavored rice krispie treats, French bread, cookies and cornbread.
Founders Jurena and the late Tim Talsky first opened the business under its former name, The Soup Kitchen, in 2004. Its flagship Bay View location operated primarily as a production kitchen, making slow-simmered stocks and soups for local cafes.
In 2005, The Soup Market joined Milwaukee Public Market as one of its original vendors. It remained at the site until 2021, when market leadership opted not to renew the lease. “I am extremely disappointed about this, but it was not up for discussion,” Jurena shared in an online post at the time.
At its peak, The Soup Market operated five locations. Jurena said the business now produces up to 200 gallons of soup daily, up from roughly 20 gallons in its early years.
The business sparked controversy in 2016 when it was featured on the CNBC reality show “The Profit,” which yielded a viral hashtag and one of the show’s most infamous storylines. Both the original episode and a follow-up filmed several years later are available to stream online.
In November 2025, the State of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Department of Agriculture filed a complaint against the company alleging a violation of Wisconsin’s meat establishment licensing law, according to online court records. The case was settled before trial, and the company agreed to pay a forfeiture.
Sk2 LLC, with registered agent Michael Olson, owns the S. Kinnickinnic Avenue building.
Jurena did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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