Seinfeld SoupMan adds ice cream in Astoria

The infamous “Seinfeld” SoupMan is now adding ice cream to his bill of fare.
The Original SoupMan, an offshoot of the popular gourmet Manhattan restaurant Soup Kitchen International, has teamed with Cold Stone Creamery to provide customers with contrasting seasonal cuisine at an Astoria location.
Mike Belvedere is the current manager for The Original SoupMan and Cold Stone Creamery located at 10-17 37th Street. It was originally a Cold Stone Creamery, and he has re-opened as a co-branded store. Customers are curious, Belvedere said.
“They walk in and they try to figure out why the two go together.”
Damiano DeMonte, public relations coordinator for The Original SoupMan, said the co-branded store is part of a marketing experiment. The concept is to entice customers to eat off-season food year-round.
The store will celebrate its re-opening at noon on February 10. During the ceremony, there will be a raffle for a lifetime supply of soup or ice cream. The first 50 customers will receive a gift bag of complimentary merchandise.
Donating to charity when a franchise opens has become a tradition for The Original SoupMan. They will contribute $1,500 to Al’s Feed the Hungry Foundation - the charity of Al Yeganeh, the original soup man who the Seinfeld character was based on. The foundation will then give the money to a city charity.
This will be the second co-branded store. There is another The Original SoupMan and Cold Stone Creamery combination in Manhattan on Astor Place and Broadway. Luis Green, the store manager, said business has been successful and that the concept was a good idea.
Green said many Cold Stone Creameries have closed recently because business is poor during the winter. Pairing The Original SoupMan with Cold Stone Creamery makes customers more inclined to buy ice cream in the winter and soup in the summer.