Infinite Soups – which celebrated its second anniversary in February - will open its second location Monday in the Sanford & Son building at 744 Commerce. They’re calling it the Infinite Soups Lunch Counter at Sanford & Son.

The second soup location will be a smaller version of the “mother ship” -- the nickname owner Wendy Clapp gives the original Infinite Soups location at 445 Tacoma Ave. S. The Tacoma Avenue location will continue to operate, emphasized Clapp, who runs Infinite Soups with husband Todd DeShazo and Clapp’s daughter Laura Adams. Some customers thought Clapp and crew were moving the business to the Sanford and Son building. Not so.

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The original Infinite Soups stays put, and the Sanford location is just a second outpost of the small cafe that micro specializes in soup.

Expect to see Infinite Soup’s top 10 selling soups on the menu at the new Sanford location. But don’t ask Clapp just yet what those soups will be. She’s not sure. “We’re still working out all the details,” she said with a laugh. “It took us six months to figure out how to run this place, it’ll take us time to figure out the new place,” she said.

The soups will be made at the main kitchen at the Tacoma Avenue Infinite Soups, then shuttled to and served up at the new Sanford location. Beyond the 10 soups, Clapp will offer a few other menu items, including fruit, beverages, breads and cookies. That’s something new for Infinite Soups, which has never offered anything beyond rolls and crackers to go with their revolving menu of two dozen (or more) daily soup specials. At the new Sanford location, expect to find cookies and fresh-baked bread. For cookies, Clapp said she will carry lavender shortbread and molasses cookies, among others, made by Corina Bakery. For bread, she’ll sell Corina’s baguettes, whole wheat rolls, nine-grain rolls and more.

Also something new: seating. Unlike the cramped original Infinite Soups location --where customers order at the counter, then take their soup to go-- the Sanford location has room for seating. But Clapp isn’t sure how many seats will be standard. The tables and chairs that make up the seating area will be furniture that’s also for sale (it is an antiques business, after all). There’s room for about 25 chairs, but Clapp said if someone goes on a buying binge – they may lose a table or two (so don’t be surprised if someone buys the table out from underneath you while downing a cup of tomato-basil. You’ve been warned).

Monday is opening day, with lunch service starting at 11 a.m. and closing up at 2 p.m. Soup will be served at the Sanford location Monday-Friday, but they may open on weekends in the future.

Infinite Soups (mother ship location)
Where: 445 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma
Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays
Contact: 253-274-0232

Infinite Soups Lunch Counter at Sanford & Son
Where: 744 Commerce, Tacoma
Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Fridays
Contact: No phone yet, but they’re working on it