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Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes

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Souplantation
Sweet Tomatoes
Company typePrivate
IndustryFood
GenreRestaurant
Founded1978; 46 years ago (1978) (original)
2024 (revival)
FoundersDennis Jay
DefunctMay 8, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-05-08) (original)
FateBankruptcy (Chapter 7 liquidation, original)
Headquarters
San Diego, California
,
United States
Number of locations
97 (March 2020, prior to liquidation)[1]
1 (April 2024)[2]
Area served
United States
Key people
John Haywood (CEO) Don Breen (CFO)
ProductsSalad, soup, bakery, pasta, muffins, soft serve, fruits, vegetables, and other buffet and vegetarian options
Number of employees
4,400 (2020)[1]
ParentPerpetual Capital Partners
Websitesweettomatoes.com
souplantation.com
A long buffet line with a man checking out at the end
A Sweet Tomatoes in Kendall, Florida

Sweet Tomatoes, operating as Souplantation (/ˌsuːplænˈteɪʃən/ SOO-plan-TAY-shən) in Southern California, is a United States–based chain of all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurants. The first location opened in 1978 in San Diego, California, where the company was headquartered. The company was incorporated as Garden Fresh Corp. in 1983. The company went public in 1995[3] but was taken private in 2004.[4] The company, owned by Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation,[5] temporarily closed its 97 locations in March 2020 in response to government mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic. On May 7, 2020, the closure was made permanent[6][7] and the company filed for liquidation.[8] However, one restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, reopened after one firm bought the assets of the company, with no word yet on whether other locations will be reopened.[2][9]

History

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The first Souplantation restaurant opened on Mission Gorge Road in San Diego, in 1978.[10] It was the idea of Dennis Jay, who was a bartender at Springfield Wagon Works, a pioneer in salad bars in El Cajon. Dennis's friends, John Turnbull and Scott King, were opening their first Soup and Salad restaurant, The Soup Exchange. Dennis was impressed with the new concept and introduced Steve Hohe, the Springfield Restaurant manager, and Ron Demery, a bail bondsman and friend of John and Scott. Dennis, Steve, and Ron decided to partner to create a parallel concept, the Souplantation. The two concepts grew side by side in a friendly, mutually supportive, yet competitive environment for several years.[11] This restaurant and a second one in Point Loma were purchased in 1983 by Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp, founded by Michael Mack to operate the chain.[11]

The company expanded across the American West and Southwest and also opened locations in several Southeast states, including 23 restaurants in Florida. All of the restaurants were company-owned.[11]

In 2005, an affiliate of the private investment firm Sun Capital Partners purchased Garden Fresh and with it the restaurant chains.[12] In 2007, a Souplantation restaurant in Orange County, California, was linked to an outbreak of E. coli.[13] The restaurant closed temporarily while authorities investigated the outbreak.[14]

In October 2016, Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp, the owner/operator of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the time Garden Fresh was nearly $175 million in debt.[15] In January 2017, the company said it expected to emerge from bankruptcy later that month, following a sale of the company's assets to New York–based private investment firm Cerberus Capital Management L.P. and its partners. Garden Fresh anticipated it would wind up with "between 90 and 104 restaurants" and "significantly less debt".[16] In 2017, Garden Fresh and its restaurant chains were purchased by the New York City–based private investment firm Cerberus Capital Management.[17]

In March 2020, all of the restaurants closed due to state and local government mandated shutdowns as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18] On May 7, 2020, the company announced it would be closing all Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes locations permanently amid concerns that new federal guidelines recommending an end to self-serve stations would prevent local health departments from granting permits to restaurants with salad bars and buffets.[19]

Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company to both Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation with the United States bankruptcy courts the following week on May 14.[1] At the time of the announcement, the company had 4,400 employees and 97 restaurants.[1]

In May 2022, a Souplantation restaurant not formally associated with the former company was announced. The location was set to open in La Mesa, California, in mid-2022, but in July was delayed without an opening date,[20] and there were conflicting reports on whether the new restaurant would include recipes owned by the original company.[21][22][23] Later reports indicated that the Souplantation in La Mesa would not be reopened and that the location would instead be occupied by a Golden Life ADHC daycare.[24][25]

A Sweet Tomatoes Location in the Night with a long line wrapped around the building
Sweet Tomatoes Re-Opening Night at their Tucson location

In March 2023, ST Three LLC purchased the exclusive rights and intellectual property assets of Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes.[9] One former location in Tucson, Arizona, on Broadway and Wilmot Road had initially been planned to reopen in fall 2023[26] but ultimately reopened on April 1, 2024.[2] The company chose that particular location because it was the most popular location in the state of Arizona. There are currently no plans to reopen other locations across the country.

On February 28, 2024, a "nearly identical" "Souplantation knockoff" called "Soup 'n Fresh" opened in a former Souplantation location in Rancho Cucamonga, California.[27][28][29][30]

Format

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Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes specializes in fresh salads and soups, and pasta, as well as bread, muffins, cornbread, and focaccia, baked on the premises. Most items are vegetarian.

The salad bar offers a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, croutons, and other salad condiments, as well as a few prepared featured salads, which changed monthly. Other sections include up to eight soup selections, a small bakery offering muffins, cornbread, pizza focaccia, and baked potatoes, a pasta section with a few different plates of pasta and sauces, and a dessert section offering fruit, puddings, and soft-serve ice cream. Featured menu items were rotated monthly and were typically themed, such as Asian, Greek, Italian, and customer favorites.

The company's home city of San Diego often served as a test market for new ideas and innovations, and was home to Souplantation's corporate offices. For example, some Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes locations were open on Sunday mornings for breakfast. In 2011, the company launched its first quick-serve restaurant, called Souplantation Express, in Carlsbad, California.[31]

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  • Souplantation was the basis for the "Soup R' Crackers" chain that was a running joke on Party Down; the show's writers had originally planned to use the actual name of Souplantation, but the chain refused to allow it, necessitating the last-minute change to "Soup R' Crackers".[32]
  • The chain features prominently in the 1986 volleyball movie Spiker, with multiple scenes conspicuously taking place at a Souplantation.
  • Episode 7 of Black-ish; "The Gift of Hunger" features a cafeteria-style restaurant named "Beef Plantation". Rainbow Johnson, the matriarch of the family, chides her husband Dre with "You have Roots on Laserdisc, but eating at a place called Beef Plantation doesn't bump you?".
  • In Thelma, it is mentioned that a character went back to the buffet for little pizzas at a Souplantation.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Maze, Jonathan (May 15, 2020). "The owner of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy: Garden Fresh Restaurants opts for liquidation rather than reopening its buffet-centric restaurants due to coronavirus restrictions". Restaurant Business.
  2. ^ a b c "Sweet Tomatoes in Tucson is finally here...and it's the only location in the whole country". April 1, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
  3. ^ Brooks, Nancy Rivera (May 29, 1995). "Souplantation is putting stock in a piping hot future". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 293171753.
  4. ^ "Garden Fresh completes move to private ownership". San Diego Union-Tribune. March 11, 2004. ProQuest 272317632.
  5. ^ "Company Overview of Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp". Bloomberg News. Retrieved June 1, 2020.
  6. ^ Weisberg, Lori (May 7, 2020). "Souplantation's buffet-style restaurants closing for good due to the coronavirus". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  7. ^ Stone, Ken (May 7, 2020). "San Diego-Based Souplantation Closing Permanently, CEO Tells Paper". Times of San Diego.
  8. ^ "Souplantation to reopen in La Mesa". cbs8.com. May 9, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  9. ^ a b "CBRE Arranges Lease to New Operator of Sweet Tomatoes at Former Restaurant Location in Tucson". CBRE. March 8, 2023. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  10. ^ Weisberg, Lori; Peterson, Lucas Kwan (May 8, 2020). "Souplantation's buffet-style restaurants closing for good because of the coronavirus". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 2399572543. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  11. ^ a b c "Our Company". Souplantation. November 10, 2008. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
  12. ^ "Investors Buy Sweet Tomatoes, Souplantation". South Florida Business Journal. October 21, 2005. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  13. ^ Reza, H.G. (April 8, 2007). "O.C. closes restaurant tied to E. coli cases". Los Angeles Times. ProQuest 422174981.
  14. ^ "Two More E. Coli Cases Reported In Orange County". KGTV. April 8, 2007. Archived from the original on March 7, 2016.
  15. ^ Rizzo, Lillian & Fitzgerald, Patrick (October 3, 2016). "Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp Files for Bankruptcy". Wall Street Journal. ProQuest 1825233091. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  16. ^ De Crescenzo, Sarah (January 10, 2017). "Struggling Garden Fresh to Sell Assets to N.Y. Investment Firm". San Diego Business Journal. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  17. ^ Maze, Jonathan (January 10, 2017). "Cerberus acquires Garden Fresh". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  18. ^ Haywood, John (March 10, 2020). "CEO Message To Our Valued Guests". Sweet Tomatoes. Archived from the original on May 8, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  19. ^ Bucchino, Rachel (May 8, 2020). "Buffet restaurant chain Souplantation closing for good due to coronavirus". The Hill. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  20. ^ Schmiedeberg • •, Renee (July 20, 2022). "Souplantation Reopening in La Mesa Delayed, But Not Deterred". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  21. ^ Encinas, Ciara (May 9, 2022). "New twist on Souplantation to open in La Mesa this summer". KGTV. Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  22. ^ "Souplantation May Return To San Diego...Well, Sort Of". Retrieved May 11, 2022.
  23. ^ Ramirez, Jasmine (May 9, 2022). "Souplantation to reopen in La Mesa". CBS8.
  24. ^ De La Fe, Rosie (November 22, 2022). "Souplantation location will not open in La Mesa". CBS 8. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  25. ^ Schmiedeberg, Renee (January 30, 2023). "La Mesa Souplantation Revival Scraps Old Location and Adult Day Care Collaboration". NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  26. ^ Fontanez, Endia (March 14, 2023). "Sweet Tomatoes is reopening soon in Arizona. Everything we know". The Arizona Republic. Gannett. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  27. ^ Roland, Rebecca (August 6, 2024). "Southern California's New Souplantation Dupe Is All-You-Can-Eat Nostalgia". Eater Los Angeles. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  28. ^ Allen, David (March 20, 2024). "Souplantation copy Soup 'n Fresh is a big draw in Rancho Cucamonga". The San Bernardino Sun. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  29. ^ Yeo, Patricia Kelly (March 22, 2024). "We went to the new Souplantation knockoff in Rancho Cucamonga. Here's what we thought". Time Out (magazine). Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  30. ^ "Calling all Souplantation fans! Similar soup restaurant opens at old Souplantation location in IE". ABC7. February 29, 2024. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
  31. ^ "Souplantation debuts a quick-serve dining option". San Diego Union-Tribune. January 16, 2011.
  32. ^ Fox, Jesse David (November 25, 2019). "Sad Breasts and Giant Hogs: A Party Down Reunion". Vulture. Retrieved January 2, 2022.
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