I can tell you a little about us, I guess.   In October of 2005, our friend Joe Martin dragged Kathy and I (kicking and screaming, at least on Kathy's part) into finally opening our own restaurant.  Kathy and I had been in the business all our lives, and I had worked with Joe when he was the Director of Catering and I was the Catering Chef at TrimB's. 

     Briefly, I started cooking soups while working at a place called "The Eating Establishment", in a little mining town in Utah called Park City.  Steve Lloyd showed me how to make a roux, and to make what they called Rocky Mountain Clam Chowder (Don't be gauche, the menu said, and ask if it's New England or Manhattan.  It's neither.)  We also made a very tasty chili during the winter months.

      A few months later I was back in New London and making soups for the new lunch business at Don's Supper Club.  I worked around New London for a while, and met Kathy while working together at the Lamplighter.  We were married in the spring of 1981.  We have 2 childeren, Ben and Jessica, who work with us when they can.

     At home with the Traugers you would typically find Tim cooking, and Kathy doing the baking.  We've pretty much stuck with that arrangement at CSI, too, but many of the lines get a little blurred.

     Many stops later, meandering around the Valley (I was a Chef in Training at the Paper Valley, Night Sous Chef and Banquet boy at the Valley Inn, Chef at the New London Country Club, Banquet Chef for Ron and Carol Trimberger, and more) here we are.

     We do things that usually don't happen in restaurants these days.  Too often, the soup you get comes out of a bag from the freezer.  While these are sometimes very good products, they often contain additional "ingredients" that help the product last longer in the freezer, or extend shelf life.  What ever the reasons may be, you don't find these things in our soups or cookies. 

     And you can taste the difference.  We call it "Slow Food".  We don't even own a microwave, and we are proud of it.

Some other things we are proud of:

     We have made friends with many, many people.  We have gotten to know people in all walks of life, and we are better for it.

     Through December of 2009 CSI Appleton has donated about 3500 gallons of soup, plus assorted cookies, breads, desserts, and ingredients to the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley. 

     Plus we have given thousands of dollars worth of Gift Cards to various civic and charitable organizations and will participate in the SOUPS ON Benefit for the Red Cross for the 5th year in a row in January of 2010.

     And how about this?  Rather than sending vegetable scraps to the landfill, we have composted over 2000 pounds of waste since opening in 2005.