Sweet Tomatoes, operating as Souplantation (/ˌsuːplænˈteɪʃən/ SOO-plan-TAY-shən) in Southern California, is a United States–based chain of all-you-can-eat buffet-style restaurants.

[4] The company, owned by Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation,[5] temporarily closed its 97 locations in March 2020 in response to government mandates related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[10] It was the idea of Dennis Jay, who was a bartender at Springfield Wagon Works, a pioneer in salad bars in El Cajon.

Dennis was impressed with the new concept and introduced Steve Hohe, the Springfield Restaurant manager, and Ron Demery, a bail bondsman and friend of John and Scott.

[11] The company expanded across the American West and Southwest and also opened locations in several Southeast states, including 23 restaurants in Florida.

[11] In 2005, an affiliate of the private investment firm Sun Capital Partners purchased Garden Fresh and with it the restaurant chains.

[18] On May 7, 2020, the company announced it would be closing all Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes locations permanently amid concerns that new federal guidelines recommending an end to self-serve stations would prevent local health departments from granting permits to restaurants with salad bars and buffets.

[19] Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company to both Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, filed for Chapter 7 liquidation with the United States bankruptcy courts the following week on May 14.

[27][28][29][30] Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes specializes in fresh salads and soups, and pasta, as well as bread, muffins, cornbread, and focaccia, baked on the premises.