Souplantation Returning To Orange County In 2027

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Souplantation has picked Orange County for its long-awaited California return, with plans to reopen its former Fountain Valley restaurant in 2027.

The San Diego-born buffet chain is returning to a space it previously occupied before Souplantation and its sister brand, Sweet Tomatoes, closed their remaining restaurants in 2020. The Fountain Valley restaurant is the only California location announced so far.

The location reveal comes days after Sweet Tomatoes confirmed to Patch that Souplantation was returning to the Golden State but declined to say where.

"We are thrilled to confirm that Souplantation will be returning to California in 2027," Marlee Lossing, director of corporate affairs for Sweet Tomatoes, told Patch in an email. "For now, we've announced only one location."

Lossing told the Los Angeles Times that the company had been working on a revival since the chain was acquired in 2020 and saw an opportunity to return to Fountain Valley. She also said the Orange County restaurant could be the first of additional Souplantation locations, although no others have been announced.

"We want to get it right, so we move a little slower but very deliberately," Lossing told the Los Angeles Times. "We found a great opportunity to return to Fountain Valley and are so excited to welcome back our wonderful guests who have been waiting six long years for our return!"

The restaurant will reopen at 11179 Talbert Ave., in a roughly 7,800-square-foot space formerly occupied by Souplantation. An exact opening date has not been announced.

Souplantation was founded in San Diego in 1978 and expanded throughout Southern California. Outside the region, its restaurants generally operated under the Sweet Tomatoes name.

The parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016 and was later sold to private investment firm Perpetual Capital Partners.

By the time the permanent closures were announced in 2020, the chain had 97 restaurants, including 44 in California, according to previous Patch reporting. The remaining locations closed as the COVID-19 pandemic created major challenges for the company's self-service buffet model.

Sweet Tomatoes has since returned under new ownership, opening a restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, and another in Fort Myers, Florida.