Roughly two months after the closure of Walker’s Point staple Soup Bros. (and roughly two days after the closure of Soup Bros.’ sister restaurant, Boo-Boo’s Sandwiches), a new business has announced plans to set up shop at 209 W. Florida St.: Hen’s Deli.

Hen’s Deli is the new name (and first physical location) for Clarke Street Sausage Co., a regular presence at Riverwest farmers markets for the past three years. Clarke Street has specialized in “food made from scratch, from hand-ground and stuffed sausages, traditional boil-baked bagels, fruit filled cookies, to pop-ups consisting of ramen and BBQ dinners.” Hen’s Deli—set to open in 2023—won’t mess with the formula.

“With our new location we will adopt a new identity, but rest assured that our staples and specialties will remain,” reads a statement from the owners, Vivian Sotolongo and Lucas McDonald. “We have no intention of changing, rather, we intend only to improve and offer a little more of our well-honed style of honest artisan cuisine.”

Stickers on the window of the old Soup Bros. / future Hen’s Deli promise sausage sandwiches, gourmet subs, tortas, homemade bagels, cookies, and more.


Hen’s Deli has a GoFundMe set up to “help us push forward through any unforeseen hurdles.” The business is currently looking to raise $10,000.

A full statement reads:

Dear friends, we are pleased to share this exciting news:

After three amazing seasons in the Milwaukee farmer’s market scene, our family business has found our first storefront! We have learned so much through success and folly, through good luck and bad, and though triumph and tragedy. Our gratitude to the people of Riverwest and Milwaukee at large cannot be overstated. We hope our beloved customers, old and new, will honor us with their support into this new phase of our career.

With our new location we will adopt a new identity, but rest assured that our staples and specialties will remain. We have no intention of changing, rather, we intend only to improve and offer a little more of our well-honed style of honest artisan cuisine. While it pains us not to stake our claim at home in Riverwest like we had hoped, we are proud to continue our journey in a space with a rich history, only 4 miles away.

Please join us soon in Walker’s Point as Clarke Street Sausage Co. rings in 2023 as HEN’S DELI. We need your support now for all the little surprise expenses of opening a new shop. Please consider a gift, however small, to help us push forward through any unforeseen hurdles, we want to serve you ASAP. See you soon at 209 W. Florida street!

We’d like to say thanks and acknowledge the legacy of Soup Brothers.

Thank you for keeping honest folk food alive in Walker’s Point. With no disrespect to the more avant-garde night spots in W.P., we hope to, in part, take on the mantle of these predecessors (Steney’s Cielito Lindo too!) Who just did themselves. In the ebb and flow of an “up and coming” neighborhood, it can be hard to swim against the trends and temptations to change. To the torch bearers.

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Matt Wild weighs between 140 and 145 pounds. He lives on Milwaukee's east side.