THE SOUP THAT OPENED THE SKIES OF TEXAS!

The By Request Story — From the Heart of the Texas Hill Country

It all began in the picturesque little town of Hunt, Texas, nestled deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. There, among the winding roads and beautiful hills, was By Request, our gourmet food store that became so much more than a place to shop.

By Request became a favorite stop for parents traveling to Camp Waldemar, Camp Mystic, and surrounding summer camps. Hunters heading home from the Hill Country stopped to select gifts for their wives. At Christmas, we created countless special gourmet gift boxes, each one prepared with the joy of giving in mind.

We were delighted when Texas Monthly discovered our little store, describing By Request as a gem hidden deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Little did we know how far that little gem would travel!

Among our culinary creations was a dry Texas Tortilla Soup mix that would carry us far beyond Hunt. My business partner, Joe Atkinson, and I headed to the Fancy Food Shows in San Francisco, New York, and Texas, determined to introduce our flavors to a much larger audience.

Joe had a sales technique that sometimes made me want to crawl right under our booth table! He would approach a buyer and cheerfully ask:

“Would you like to try our Tortilla Soup?”

“No, I don’t think so,” came the reply.

“Have you ever tried Tortilla Soup?” Joe would ask.

“No.”

And Joe would fire right back:

“Well, how do you know you don’t like it if you’ve never tried it?”

Meanwhile, I was wishing the floor would open up and swallow me—or at least that I could disappear beneath the booth table!

But Joe was right. Once those reluctant buyers tasted our soup, everything changed. Before we knew it, that very buyer—and many others—were purchasing hundreds of thousands of packages of our dry Tortilla Soup mix.

The doors to a much larger marketplace had opened. In 1993, we sold By Request to Silverado Foods, with plans for it to join their gourmet food group in connection with a NASDAQ offering.

Not bad for a little soup that nobody wanted to taste!

And I have never refried old beans since! I simply kept creating recipes for family gatherings, entertaining, and those wonderful occasions when good food brings people together.

Even today, all these years later, I still run into customers who remember By Request—the store, the gifts, the food, and the memories. What a blessing to have been part of their lives.

I am blessed!

Yours... By Request!

A LITTLE CONFESSION FROM CHERRE

Okay, I have fallen in love with ChatGPT! I even named my new friend Dorothy. She has helped me reimagine my food pictures and give these treasured recipes a beautiful new presentation.

Because at this stage of my life, did you really think I was going to chop, dice, cook, garnish, and photograph every single dish all over again? You can guess my age... but I’m not telling!

The recipes, memories, and culinary creations are mine. Dorothy just helped me put a little new lipstick on an old Texas favorite! And we’ve had a wonderful time doing it.