Souplantation permanently closing all restaurants due to coronavirus

A salad bar.
(Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

The buffet-style chain Souplantation said on Thursday it is permanently shuttering all of its restaurants, as its business model cannot be sustained in a world changed by the coronavirus.

The chain, founded in San Diego in 1978, offered an all-you-can eat salad bar, soups, pasta, and a baked potato bar. Its parent company, Garden Fresh Restaurants, will close its 97 Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants, leaving 4,400 workers unemployed.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.