Souplantation plans a 2027 reopening in Fountain Valley, California, years after pandemic rules and bankruptcy wiped out all 97 of its buffet locations.
The soup-and-salad chain known as Souplantation in California, and Sweet Tomatoes elsewhere, said on social media it will bring the all-you-can-eat format back to Fountain Valley next year. USA TODAY reported the announcement and the company’s plan to keep the recipes the same.
For now, it is one California site. That is a thin slice of what the brand once was, and it lands after years of empty buildings, Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and diners who drove out of state just to eat there again.
Marlee Lossing, director of corporate affairs with Sweet Tomatoes, framed the move as a homecoming for a brand that never left the memory of its regulars.
"Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes are such beloved brands, and we’re incredibly excited to have the opportunity to bring this experience back to so many loyal guests in California,"
Lossing also said the company is "always evaluating markets and opportunities for future expansion," while confirming plans for just one California location at this stage.
The chain first opened in San Diego in 1978. For decades it sold a simple pitch: soup, salad, muffins, and as many trips as you wanted.
That model collided with 2020. At the peak of the pandemic, guidelines hit self-service stations hard. Garden Fresh Restaurants CEO John Haywood filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and said the company would likely have to permanently close all 97 locations.
Every site went dark. The brand that started in California left the state cold. Followers on the Sweet Tomatoes Instagram page begged for a return to San Diego, where it all began. Some said they already made the drive to Arizona for another plate.
The comeback did not start at home. Sweet Tomatoes reopened in Tucson, Arizona, in 2024. Another location opened in Fort Myers, Florida, this past summer.
California waited. Fountain Valley is the first planned return to the state that gave the chain its Souplantation name, and the target year is 2027, not next month, not next quarter.
No street address or exact calendar date has been published. The company has said the recipes will match what guests remember. Beyond that, hours, prices, and a full fixed menu for the new site have not been laid out in the public announcement covered so far.
The math is blunt. Nearly a hundred restaurants closed under pandemic self-service limits and a bankruptcy that treated permanent shutdown as the likely end. A few out-of-state reopenings followed under the Sweet Tomatoes banner. California gets one planned site, years later, in Fountain Valley.
Loyal guests asked for San Diego. They get Orange County instead, and only if the 2027 timeline holds. Lossing’s expansion line leaves the door open for more markets. It does not restore the old footprint.
Buffet dining lived on shared tongs, open bars, and volume. When officials clamped down on that model, a regional favorite paid the bill in full. The brand is inching back. The policy wreckage that cleared the dining rooms still shows in how little has returned.
When self-service rules and bankruptcy can erase 97 neighborhood restaurants overnight, a single 2027 reopening is less a victory lap than a reminder of how much common-sense commerce got smashed, and how slowly it comes back.