Sweet Tomatoes Announces Companywide Closures

D'Ann Lawrence White
·2 min read

TAMPA, FL — Say goodbye to Sweet Tomatoes and possibly your favorite Steak 'n Shake restaurant, too.

John Haywood, chief executive officer of the San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurants, which operates the Sweet Tomatoes buffet-style salad bar restaurants, announced that it has permanently closed its 97 Sweet Tomatoes and Souplantation restaurants nationwide, including its Florida restaurants.

Sweet Tomatoes operated Tampa Bay restaurants at 13101 Seminole Blvd., Largo, 31151 U.S. 19 N., Palm Harbor, 14703 N. Dale Mabry Highway and 10017 Adamo Drive, Brandon.

Haywood said the closures are due to financial losses suffered by the company during the coronavirus pandemic.

"As you may have heard, we are unable to reopen our 97 Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Haywood in a message on the company's website. "The outpouring of love on social media has been overwhelming and we are so grateful to all of the sweet memories you have shared with us. We would like to thank our 4,400 team members for their dedication and love they have show to our local communities."

At the same time, Steak ‘n Shake, owned by San Antonio-based Biglari Holdings, announced it has permanently closed 51 of its 306 company-owned restaurants in an attempt to refinance its debt. Franchisees operate another 208 restaurants, which aren't impacted by the closures.

Tampa Bay's 24 Steak 'n Shake restaurants closed March 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic. While Steak 'n Shake hasn't revealed which restaurants were permanently closed, all but three of the Tampa Bay restaurants have reopened, according to the company's website.

They are the Steak 'n Shakes at 16201 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, the restaurant Florida Southern College in Lakeland and the Steak 'n Shake at 18627 U.S. 19 in Clearwater.

Biglari Holdings also blamed the closures on the loss of income during the pandemic, saying it “has adversely affected our operations and financial results.”

Sweet Tomatoes said refund options for those holding gift cards are "limited at this time. You may be able to dispute the purchase with your bank or credit card company," said the restaurant on its website. "Otherwise, there may be an alternative option available through the court in the future."





This article originally appeared on the Tampa Patch