After Seven Years, Souplantation Is Coming Back to Southern California
Souplantation, the all-you-can-eat soup-and-salad buffet chain that was once a Southern California staple, says it plans to return to Southern California in 2027. Its first California location will be in Fountain Valley, in Orange County — a homecoming for a brand that shut all 97 of its restaurants in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On October 7, Souplantation announced the move in an Instagram post telling California fans the wait was nearly over. Marlee Lossing, the company's director of corporate affairs, confirmed the plans in an email to media the same day: the Fountain Valley restaurant will operate under the original Souplantation name, rather than Sweet Tomatoes, the sister brand used outside California. "Both Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes are operated by the same team. The experience, recipes, and concept are the same — the only difference is the name," Lossing said. For now, the company plans just one California location, though it is "always evaluating markets and opportunities for future expansion."
Souplantation opened its first restaurant in San Diego in 1978 and eventually grew to 97 locations across the country, including 44 in California. But in 2020, state guidelines on self-serve food stations made the buffet business untenable. John Haywood, then CEO of parent company Garden Fresh Restaurants, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and said the company would likely have to permanently close all 97 locations. The brand was acquired later in 2020, and its new owners have been quietly reviving it: a Sweet Tomatoes reopened in Tucson, Arizona, in 2024, and another opened in Fort Myers, Florida, this past summer. The Fountain Valley opening would be the brand's first return to its home state.
The comeback news drew an immediate outpouring from loyal customers. The company says the returning restaurant will keep the same recipes fans remember — Yankee Clipper clam chowder, beef chili, tarragon tuna salad, focaccia bread, Wonton Happiness, Joan's Broccoli Madness, and the signature blueberry muffins. During the chain's six-year absence, some California fans refused to wait: one customer said they drove from San Diego to Tucson twice in one summer just to eat there, while others made the trek to Florida. After the California announcement, the company's Instagram comments filled with requests for a San Diego reopening, where it all began in 1978.
Souplantation's return is being watched as a bellwether for the broader buffet industry, which nearly vanished during the pandemic as hygiene concerns and dining restrictions shut down self-serve restaurants nationwide. If the Fountain Valley location succeeds, it could encourage more shuttered buffet brands to come back. The company has not announced an exact opening date in 2027 — and the first store's performance will determine how far the homecoming goes.