Souplantation Is Coming Back To California

Souplantation, the beloved California buffet chain that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, is officially returning to California.

Souplantation plans to open one California location in 2027, Marlee Lossing, director of corporate affairs for Sweet Tomatoes, the chain's sister brand, confirmed to Patch.

"We are thrilled to confirm that Souplantation will be returning to California in 2027," Lossing said in an email. "For now, we've announced only one location."

The company has not disclosed where the restaurant will open. Lossing said the location will be announced on social media in the coming days.

The confirmation comes after Sweet Tomatoes teased a California return in an Oct. 5 social media post featuring a "Welcome to California" sign.

Souplantation traces its roots to San Diego, where its first restaurant opened in 1978. By the time its permanent closures were announced in 2020, the chain had 97 locations, including 44 in California, according to previous Patch reporting. Outside Southern California, the restaurants generally operated under the Sweet Tomatoes name.

In 2016, the parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection before being sold to private investment firm Perpetual Capital Partners. The remaining Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants closed in 2020 as the pandemic created major challenges for the chains' self-service buffet model.

"We spent two years researching and trying to improve things and actually got the business turned around," Robert Allbritton, chairman of Washington, D.C.-based Perpetual Capital Partners, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"We were growing the number of guests and were in the process of renovating the restaurants with new fixtures, carpeting (and) signage as late as January," Allbritton said. "We felt great about it. But I've got to tell you, when the virus hit, we went from 100 percent to 70 to 30 to 10 percent that fast, before the restaurants closed down and the company ran out of money in one week."

Sweet Tomatoes has since returned under new ownership, with restaurants operating in Tucson, Arizona, and Fort Myers, Florida, according to SFGATE.

Now, Souplantation is preparing to return to the state where it started, though the location has not yet been announced.