For nearly 27 years executive chef Ralf Dauns a.k.a the “Soup Meister”, was a staple of the North Vancouver community.  

He was featured in the DailyHive as the “Best Soup in Vancouver” in 2021: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/best-soup-vancouver and won the North Shore News Reader Choice Awards for “Best Meal Under $10” in 2016 and 2017. 

Sadly, Uncle Ralf passed away just before Christmas of 2022.

His celebration of life was held in the Pipe Shop at the North Vancouver Shipyards in February 2023, which was sponsored by the Lonsdale Quay and attended by Ralf’s family and over 200 “Soup Meister” friends, family, employees, and supporters.

The night was truly a celebration of how much of an impact one man had made on the community – and yet the one question that everyone seemed to be asking “Is the Soup Meister was really gone…?”

“Is it really just closing down now? What’s going to happen to the Soup Meister now?”

Uncle Ralf was an amazingly talented chef who used quality ingredients to create soup that people loved, and never cut corners to turn a profit. 

Even after 27 years the Soup Meister chopped all vegetables by hand, because he felt food processors introduced too much water…. and so Ralf’s family, knowing how particular he was, decided that if the Soup Meister were to continue, it would have to remain in the family. 

That’s where, Evan Paul, The Soup Meister’s Nephew stepped in.