Here in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Soup Company’s 15 locations do brisk bisque business every day of the week, as office workers pile into the establishment’s simple, cafeteria-style settings to spoon up everything from chilled gazpacho to minestrone, tomato-basil, chicken noodle, and turkey chili. New York, meanwhile, is home to the higher-end La Bonne Soupe in Midtown, which features mushroom and barley soup with lamb, tomato-based cream of vegetable, French onion soup topped with melted cheese, and other classic varieties. Several other cities have their own versions of these basic approaches.

Quick-serves have every opportunity to get in on some of this action if they can simply solve the packaging quandary. Packaged-foods giants have managed to produce some satisfying soups served in specially made, microwavable containers capable of going where we go; quick-serves can do the same.

Replacing the spoon is no mean feat, of course. Few implements do as good a job of allowing us humans to portion out the perfect ratio of liquid-to-solid. But surely, some clever packaging company is capable of devising a sort of sippy cup for soups, one that would contain some sort of miniature trough to capture just the right amount of broth, as well as a channel through which particulates of meats, vegetables, and starches can slip through in appropriate quantities. Given the high potential margins associated with a successful line of soup offerings, I can’t imagine that the one-time expense of commissioning a novel, portable, spill-proof cup or bowl would be prohibitive.

Typically in these columns, I try to take a look at an existing fast-food phenomenon, menu category, or culinary trend and pose the question, “What’s new and different here?” In the case of soups and stews, the answer, quite honestly, is that there is nothing particularly new going on; and that’s precisely what makes the prospect of a quick-serve line of soups and stews so exciting. The warmth, comfort, varied texture, and pleasing taste of the best soups offers timeless appeal and, like salads, a potentially healthy menu alternative to more traditional quick-service fare. So in my view, it’s time to stir the pot.