Sweet Tomatoes/Soul Plantation announced Friday that the salad bar chain would be closing its doors for good nationwide.
The permanent shuttering of the 97 restaurants, including 44 in California, was announced Thursday following weeks of efforts to salvage San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, which operates outside of Southern California. The closing will mean lost jobs for 4,400 employees.
“The FDA had previously put out recommendations that included discontinuing self-serve stations, like self-serve beverages in fast food, but they specifically talked about salad bars and buffets,” said John Haywood, CEO of Garden Fresh. “The regulations are understandable, but unfortunately, it makes it very difficult to reopen. And I’m not sure the health departments are ever going to allow it.
This makes my heart so sad! My family loved going to Sweet Tomatoes! We had a tradition to go there the night before Thanksgiving so no one had to cook and we could eat a whole bunch of veggies. I am going to miss their awesome salad bar, their whipped honey butter, and their soft serve.