<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1yMgp8_1Cz3HwCI00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1yMgp8_1Cz3HwCI00" width="1100" height="733" ><figcaption>Sweet Tomatoes says the classics are still on the menu after its return.</figcaption></figure>Bottom lineKey takeaway: After closing all its restaurants because of a bankruptcy due to the pandemic, Sweet Tomatoes has reopened two eateries, including one in Lee County. Core challenge: While loyal diners are coming back in droves, a restaurant chain’s success often lies on growing its clientele. What’s next: The chain’s new ownership is planning to grow but has no timeline for expansion nor does it have a specific number of locations in mind.Hip hop legend LL Cool J once implored us to not call his return to form a comeback. He reasoned, not incorrectly, that he had been here for years and during that entire time he had been rocking his peers.Well, the same can’t be said about the all-you can eat soup and salad buffet restaurant chain Sweet Tomatoes. It’s been a few years since it’s been around and it’s safe to say during that time its peers, and competitors, weren't worried about having customers stolen away.But now they do.Sweet Tomatoes, which shut all of its restaurants nationwide — nearly 100 locations — after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2020, is back. It opened its first new restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, in 2024 and in May it opened a location, to large crowds, in Fort Myers.“This brand has been well known and loved for decades, and it means so much to us to be able to bring it back to guests who have missed it so much,” says Marlee Lossing, Sweet Tomatoes director of corporate affairs.Sweet Tomatoes was founded in 1978, then based in San Diego. Today it is owned Punch Card Capital, a Winter Haven investment firm that bought the company’s intellectual property after the previous owner, Garden Fresh, liquidated during the bankruptcy.Health scareAt the time of its bankruptcy filing, Sweet Tomatoes had 97 locations nationwide, 23 of those in Florida, with more than 4,400 employees. (It operated in California as Souplantation.)In addition to the restaurants, court records show Garden Fresh operated two distribution centers. Annual sales had reached $250 million.But Sweet Tomatoes, like a lot of restaurants, took a massive hit because of Covid.In a 2020 lawsuit against the insurers Travelers Property Casualty Company of America and Travelers Lloyds Insurance Company related to the bankruptcy, the company wrote that highly-trafficked spaces like its restaurants are “particularly susceptible to circumstances favorable to the spread” of Covid.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4OnhkR_1Cz3HwCI00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4OnhkR_1Cz3HwCI00" width="850" height="567" ><figcaption>The new Fort Myers Sweet Tomatoes draws on the nostalgia of frequent diners who lost out when the chain closed in 2020.</figcaption></figure>“As a result of the burgeoning pandemic and the need to protect customers, guests, employees and property, Garden Fresh’s insured locations undertook efforts to respond to Covid-19, including making physical alterations to business locations that restricted uses of property and access to portions of property, resulting in additional physical loss of or damage to property,” the suit says of its efforts in early 2020.“In some cases, Garden Fresh’s insured locations were even forced to close entirely.”In Florida, it had little choice but to shut its restaurants after Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered on March 20, 2020 that all dining establishment immediately suspend on-premises food consumption and open only for take-out or delivery. Because its buffet style relied on on-premises dining, Sweet Tomatoes couldn’t survive financially on just takeout orders.Garden Fresh filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy May 14, 2020.Sweet Tomatoes wasn’t alone in its suffering. An April 2020 report from the National Restaurant Association found that the industry had lost $30 billion in March of that year and that 8 million restaurant employees had been laid off or furloughed in the weeks since the Covid outbreak.It's back!Details of Punch Card’s purchase aren’t readily available and Lossing did not answer emailed questions about why or when the Polk County investment company decided to buy Sweet Tomatoes 'intellectual property.(The Arizona restaurant operates as ST Three LLC and the Fort Myers location operates as ST Four LLC.)But on March 31, 2023, Sweet Tomatoes reposted a story on its website that said a lease had been signed by ST Three for one of its former locations at 6202 East Broadway Blvd. in Tuscon.For fans of Sweet Tomatoes, and there are legions, the loss of the stalwart was painful. News of its resurrection, based on social media posts and online buzz. was joyous.Lossing says that for the past six years the company has “received quite literally thousands of messages of support.”There’s been a lesson in those messages that provides an explanation for that passionate engagement. While diners come to Sweet Tomatoes for the food, there’s also a familiarity and comfort that spurs nostalgia. It’s a place, Lossing says, where people mark events.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1jEfHa_1Cz3HwCI00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1jEfHa_1Cz3HwCI00" width="850" height="566" ><figcaption>Sweet Tomatoes, after shuttering all its locations during the pandemic, is back with a new Fort Myers restaurant at 14080 S. Tamiami Trail.</figcaption></figure>And that’s a big part of the draw — and the enthusiasm — for the chain’s return.In Tucson, where the restaurant has been open for more than two years, people routinely travel across state lines for a visit. And when the Fort Myers location opened, there were long lines “and (we've) even seen a few Sweet Tomatoes tattoos” Lossing says.On a recent Tuesday, a large crowd gathered at the Fort Myers location at 14080 S Tamiami Trail, awaiting it to open at 10:30 a.m.“The reaction to our comeback," Lossing says, "has been overwhelming in the best way.”To hold on to what made it popular in the first place, Lossing says the two locations that have opened remain true to the original — but with the occasional twist.The new locations have a more modern look and décor, as well as new flooring replacing the tomato red carpets. As for the food, everything is about the same with the classics still available — Joan's Broccoli Madness, Tuna Tarragon, Big Chunk Chicken Noodle and Blueberry Muffins. But while the core menu items remain, the new ownership has instituted rotating limited time items.One big change is that Sweet Tomatoes is now cashless. That was done to streamline the payment process and for cleanliness.With all that in place and the warm reception, the obvious question is, when and where will the next location open?That’s tough to answer.Lossing says the ownership is taking a measured approach as it considers expansion. For one, it has not committed to a specific number of locations planned for the future nor has it set a specific timetable for growth.What it is doing is moving deliberately, actively looking at all markets across the country but evaluating each area’s performance history, parking availability and guest demand, among other factors.“We want to make sure we choose the best locations possible for our guests, so we do not rush into any decisions,” Lossing says.“It takes time, but so far, we feel very good about the choices we’ve made.”And if all goes well in the not so distant future Sweet Tomatoes might be proclaiming, like LL Cool J, that over the competition it is towering.What happened after Sweet Tomatoes?A look at how a few of the area’s former Sweet Tomatoes locations were transformed after the chain shut down in 2020 includes: <ul><li>5407 University Parkway, east Manatee County: Near The Square at University Town Center, it was replaced with a Kelly’s Roast Beef. It too closed.</li><li>1902 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Tampa: Replaced by a Sunnyside Medical Cannabis Dispensary.</li></ul><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4PnJMg_1Cz3HwCI00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4PnJMg_1Cz3HwCI00" width="850" height="637" ><figcaption>This Sweet Tomatoes location on South Tamiami Trail was demolished in spring 2024 and eventually replaced with a Pura Vida Miami.</figcaption></figure><ul><li>10940 Tamiami Trail N. Naples: Replaced by a Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen.</li><li>31151 U.S. Highway 19 N., Palm Harbor: Property appears to be for sale after changing hands a couple of times since 2020.</li><li>4994 S. Tamiami Trail: Demolished and replaced with Pura Vida Miami.</li></ul></div></body>

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Key takeaway: After closing all its restaurants because of a bankruptcy due to the pandemic, Sweet Tomatoes has reopened two eateries, including one in Lee County. Core challenge: While loyal diners are coming back in droves, a restaurant chain’s success often lies on growing its clientele. What’s next: The...

Sweet Tomatoes plots return after Covid-linked liquidation

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Key takeaway: After closing all its restaurants because of a bankruptcy due to the pandemic, Sweet Tomatoes has reopened two eateries, including one in Lee

Sweet Tomatoes plots return after Covid-linked liquidation

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