diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup b/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup
index 568cc85bc..8c8fd7807 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/soup
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@ copy_new_files() {
 generate_and_clean_tarballs() {
   local new_version
   new_version=$(cat $UPDATE_DIR/VERSION)
+  [ -d /opt/so/repo ] || mkdir -p /opt/so/repo
   tar -cxf "/opt/so/repo/$new_version.tar.gz" "$UPDATE_DIR"
   find "/opt/so/repo" -type f -not -name "$new_version.tar.gz" -exec rm -rf {} \;
 }