A new Tucson food venture is bringing comfort and connection to the community one bowl at a time.

From her home kitchen, Natalie Butts has launched The Sonoran Spoon, a small business that delivers homemade soups across the city, blending her passion for cooking with a mission to nourish and connect people.

Butts, 34, is a mother of three and originally from South Carolina. She’s loved to cook ever since she was a young girl.

When she moved to Arizona in 2017, Butts began working as a phlebotomist at Oro Valley Hospital. When COVID-19 hit, she started making soup, driven by the pandemic’s negative social impact.

“I saw the big disconnect,” she said. “I just feel like everybody got shut in. We stopped being as loving and we stopped being a community and we lost that connection.”

After the pandemic, she decided to take a break from the hospital and transitioned to home health care.

“I had a CNA license, so I just helped out my neighbors,” she said. “A lot of them…it’s not that they needed help. I think they just needed the connection.”

Butts’ dedication to helping people is the foundation for The Sonoran Spoon.

“I’d just go a couple times a week,” she said. “I would cook for them. I would chat with them, and yeah, it kind of developed into the Sonoran Spoon.”

Butts said she sees The Sonoran Spoon as simple, local and community-oriented. When she got her permit from the health department, Butts began putting up flyers around town, focusing on RV and retirement communities. She received a call the next day from an older gentleman who wanted to try her chicken noodle soup.

“I took it to him, but we chatted for a long time again and he told me that he doesn’t have a (driver’s) license anymore,” she said. “He relies on people in his community to bring him food or he orders food and it’s difficult sometimes.”

Ever since that first customer, Butts has channeled her passion into improving food accessibility.

“This is kind of who I want to market to: the seniors that are closed in. They can’t drive anymore, they don’t have any family in the area, they don’t want to be a burden,” she said. “I want to find them and market to them, because it makes me feel good, too.”

She’s also hoping to fill a need in the community, pointing out how few local options there are when it comes to soup.

“There’s not (a lot of places) besides Panera Bread locally that sell soups,” she said. “And that’s what you need when you get sick. So you have a sick friend and you’re like, ‘OK, I can’t make soup and I don’t have the time, but I’m going to order you something homemade.’”

The Sonoran Spoon has only been open about a month, but the response has been positive. Butts is also experimenting with specials and seasonal offerings.

“I do have specials on the weekends. I’ll post them on my Instagram or Nextdoor, but I’ve only done that twice,” she said. “They’ve done extremely well, they’ve sold out.”

Even with positive feedback, the biggest challenge has been getting the word out about the business.

“So far, I think it’s explaining to people exactly what I do,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me, ‘Hey, can we meet up to get a soup?’ And I’m like, ‘I actually have to make the soup.’”

Buttsde and her daughters make all the soups in their home kitchen, which is the heart of the operation for now.

“I’m working on the licensing right now, but I want to be at markets soon,” she said. “I’d love to be at farmers markets and all the local markets so I can give something to somebody to take home with them.”

Along with a market presence, Butts hopes to incorporate new ideas into The Sonoran Spoon.

“Another thing I was thinking of doing are care packages,” she said. “I want to get together with several local companies, maybe have a tea that I can offer in this care package, and then loaves of bread with the soup or even bread bowls. But that’s all in the future.”

Katlyn Vargas is a University of Arizona student and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at katlynvargas@arizona.edu.

Tucson Spotlight is a community-based newsroom that provides paid opportunities for students and rising journalists in Southern Arizona. Please consider supporting our work with a tax-deductible donation.