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Cold Emails for Hot Soup 🍅

3 min readJan 26, 2025

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I’ve opened a lot of doors with cold emails. I’ve landed jobs, connected with invaluable mentors, and finagled my way into events/talks. But perhaps my favorite use of cold emails? Uncovering secret recipes.

Last week, I used a cold email to acquire Boston’s best tomato soup recipe.

The Tomato Soup Prologue

I love to cook. Inspired by one of my good college friends, every now and then, I get on a kick where I’m obsessed with perfecting a certain meal. As of late, I’ve been obsessed with tomato soup.

This past fall in Boston, whenever I went out to eat, I made sure to check the menu for tomato soup. If it was on there, I’d order it. I’ll spare you the list, but I tried tomato soup from tons of restaurants, including Cambridge Common, Dave’s Fresh Pasta, and The Foundry on Elm.

These soups were all respectable — they could hold their own. But, nothing compared to the tomato soup from Flour Bakery and Cafe.

If you live in the Boston area and have not yet gone to Flour, stop reading this and go right now. Grab a sticky bun and a coffee; I’ll wait.

Flour’s tomato soup was so good that whenever I’d have relatives or friends come to town, I’d insist that we go visit and purchase at least one bowl of the spicy, creamy delight.

I was convinced by Thanksgiving that it was time for me to replicate Flour’s tomato soup — I needed to find a recipe.

Step 1: Scouring Cookbooks

Luckily for me, Flour’s owner and accomplished chef Joanne Chang has written a few cookbooks. I purchased her first one, enthusiastic to get insight into the secrets behind flour’s delectable creations.

Spoiler: no tomato soup recipe.

Undeterred, I hit the library to browse her other books. Still no luck.

Step 2: A Local Investigation

I wasn’t too upset about the outcome yet — after all, it meant that I should probably take a trip to Flour to get some more tomato soup and inquire with the chefs there.

I ran into a bit of a dead end here, as Flour’s soup was produced at their Breadquarters kitchen across town.

Step 3: Weather Woes

Determined to crack the mystery, I decided to visit Breadquarters. But Boston weather had other plans. With the trains down and snow piling up, my quest was cut short.

To console myself, I made a pit stop at Flour and indulged in a sticky bun.

Step 4: The Cold Email Gambit

While returning from my failed Breadquarters investigation, I sent an email.

I messaged the Flour team. I told them about my journey thus far, gushing about my love for their tomato soup and baked goods. I then kindly asked for the recipe.

This did not work 😔.

I got an ingredient list.

I sent a follow up email.

I got an ingredient list, in descending order of ingredient quantity.

I sent a follow up email.

I got info that the only recipe available was scaled to industrial proportions.

I sent a follow up email.

I got no response. I waited a week. Then, I sent final heartfelt email.

BOOM.

I got the bulk tomato soup recipe. I did some math (divided by four), went to the store, and made the best tomato soup of my life.

Conclusion

Whether it was landing my first ever job (as a scooper at Ben and Jerry’s) or acquiring a closely held tomato soup recipe, cold emails have rarely failed me.

The stakes are so low — you basically expect yourself to fail. So, any success feels beyond satisfying.

Side note: I’d like to formally apologize to all of my friends and family in the Boston area who have heard me talk about little other than tomato soup these past two weeks. As a peace offering, I’m willing to whip up a batch of tomato soup for you anytime.

I feel like I need a new culinary challenge now. What should I perfect next?

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Sydney Runkle
Sydney Runkle

Written by Sydney Runkle

Software Engineer at Pydantic 🤓, coffee lover ☕, running enthusiast 🏃‍♀️, podcast addict 🎧, and pastry aficionado 🥐!

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