What can you do to differentiate yourself when you make or sell a traditional product? You will have to innovate in another way. One solution is rethinking how you present and market your product. To illustrate my point, take an old-fashioned, comfy soup recipe. With a little bit of imagination, you can turn a simple mushroom soup into a more desirable mushroom cappuccino. Suddenly, you don’t sell the same thing than the restaurant next door.

About the recipe

Serving soup in a small quantity at a dinner soup is better because it is less filling. I pour mine in espresso cups because an espresso cup is cuter than a cappuccino cup. I account for that fact that my guests will take a second cup. A spoon of non-sugar loose whipped cream simulates the foamed milk. Last weekend, we topped it with freshly grounded pepper since we were out of mushroom powder.

If you bring it to a self-serve pot luck event, bring a large heat-resistant pitcher. I use a nice white porcelain water pitcher. This way, people can pour the soup into the cup without utensils. It doesn’t have to be complicated to serve food in style.

credits: A special thank to Suzanne Lortie for introducing me to this cute and delicious soup. Suzanne learned it from Josée Di Stasio (recipe in French).