Key Points

• Salad bar-style buffet chains have suffered financial distress since the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Salad buffet restaurant chain Souper Salad has declined from about 150 locations to just three.
• Formerly defunct Sweet Tomatoes plans to open two locations after going out of business during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The rise of salad bar restaurant chains in the 1980s accelerated in the 1990s and early 2000s, as the restaurant concept became popular.

Salad bar buffet restaurant chains Sweet Tomatoes and its sister Souplantation, which were founded in San Diego, and Dallas-based Souper Salad both launched in 1978. Another popular chain, Fresh Choice launched in California in 1986.

I remember the beginning of the salad dining craze in the early 1980s, as I dined at a casual restaurant called The Salad Bar along Sacramento’s K Street mall in 1982.

Unfortunately, the restaurant did not last long, but other restaurants chains with salad bars, such as Sizzler and Wendy’s, filled the void until the industry prospered.

Souper Salad had expanded to over 150 locations by the early 2000s, but industry headwinds and a downturn in consumer confidence led to a 2011 bankruptcy filing and continued restaurant closings, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.

The restaurant chain only has three locations today in Lubbock, Pasadena, and El Paso, Texas.

Souper Salad’s remaining locations

• 6703 Slide Road, Lubbock, Texas
• 5822 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, Texas
• 8900 Viscount Blvd., El Paso, Texas Source

Fresh Choice filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 24, 2012, according to PacerMonitor, and shut down its 20 remaining locations in December 2012.

Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation closed all locations

Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation’s owner filed Chapter 11 in 2016, and then four years later, the buffet restaurant chain filed for Chapter 7 liquidation and permanently closed down its 97 locations, after the Covid-19 pandemic had forced a shut down, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.

Sweet Tomatoes announced a comeback in 2025, as new owners ST Three LLC said they would open new locations in Tucson, Ariz., and Fort Myers, Fla., Gulfshore Business reported.

The Covid-19 pandemic devastated the salad bar/buffet dining concept in 2020, as buffet-style restaurants shut down across the nation as the pandemic forced strict health requirements upon restaurants and consumers became frightened of the thought of eating at such establishments.

Salad and Go will close 32 locations in Texas and Oklahoma, exiting those markets.

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Salad and Go closes over half its locations

After Fresh Choice disappeared in 2012, another salad restaurant concept launched in Gilbert, Ariz., in 2013 — Salad and Go‘s fast-food drive-thru chain that rose to over 140 restaurant locations by May 2025.

Salad and Go announced in September 2025 that it would close 41 locations in Texas.

Salad and Go exits Texas and Oklahoma

And now, the fast-food salad chain revealed on Jan. 7 that it will exit the Texas and Oklahoma markets, closing its 25 remaining restaurants in Texas and its last seven in Oklahoma, , according to QSR Magazine.

Salad and Go will continue operating 70 locations in Arizona and Nevada, with 63 in Arizona and seven in Nevada.

More closings:

• Casual Mexican restaurant chain closes more locations
• 79-year-old national trucking company closes down, no bankruptcy
• 65-year-old Home Depot rival shutters business permanently

“After assessing our business, we made the decision to exit our Texas and Oklahoma markets and refocus on strengthening our core operations in Arizona and Nevada,” Salad and Go CEO Mike Tattersfield said in a statement.

“By consolidating our operations at our Phoenix area headquarters, we can focus on what matters most: food quality, menu innovation, guest experience and building for long-term growth,” Tattersfield said. “We’re grateful to our team members in Texas and Oklahoma for the care they brought every day, and we deeply appreciate the communities that welcomed Salad and Go.”

Chain had major expansion hopes

The fast-food chain had doubled in size from 2023 to 2025 and was hoping for massive growth after opening a central kitchen facility in Garland, Texas, during its expansion that could support up to 500 locations with in a 12-hour drive.

Salad and Go‘s menu offers 10 different salads, plus a Build Your Own option. The menu includes 10 different wraps, plus Build Your Own, Sweet Potato Gochujang Soup or Green Enchilada Chili, and seven different breakfast burritos.

Salad and Go’s salad menu:

• Good Greens Salad
• Fajita
• Cobb
• Caesar
• BBQ Ranch
• Roasted Autumn
• Buffalo Chicken
• Greek
• Jalapeno Ranch
• Thai
• Build Your OwnSource

The restaurant also offers 19 different specialty lemonade, iced tea, and cold brew drinks.

Salad and Go’s menu is managed by award-winning executive chef Daniel Patino, whose resume includes acclaimed restaurants The French Laundry in Yountville, Daniel in New York City, Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, and Stars in San Francisco and Seattle.

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