# Sweet Tomatoes restaurants are no more. I mourn. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365 "2020-05-07T23:05:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/21 "2020-05-08T18:27:49Z")
I think what you will see is a return to cafeterias, where someone behind the line scoops out your food and plates it for you. Increased labor costs, of course, but I think the demand will be there. Especially someplace like Las Vegas. The hotels aren’t about to let their suckers go somewhere else for their eating of mass quantities. Just drop the sneeze guards to counter level and pass the plated food over the top. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/22 "2020-05-08T20:30:21Z")
I used to eat there every Monday before the epidemic, gonna miss their chicken soup ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/23 "2020-05-09T14:36:37Z")
Huh. That sucks. I liked them. The one I’d go to was always very full. It seems like a salad bar would be a high margin business. They weren’t expensive but they weren’t cheap either, and salad ingredients seem like they’d be pretty cheap on average, so it seems like they’d have a pretty successful business model. I wonder how/why they were barely making it before the pandemic. Salad bars should be a more common business model. I know some restaurants will have a token salad bar because they focus on other food like steaks, and while that’s okay, it’s great to have a place that just specializes in having a lot of salad options. I love salads with a huge variety of ingredients. It’s an easy business model, you just have to chop up and top off some ingredients every once in a while, it seems popular when it’s tried - why isn’t it more common? ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/24 "2020-05-09T14:49:24Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I really hope that buffets in general survive because we have a locally owned pan-Asian buffet that I love dearly and would miss fiercely if it didn’t come back. Likewise Korean barbecue places. That is a thing I’ve been thinking about. One of the things I love about buffet style restaurant is that I can get up, pick and choose, and return to my seat anytime. The waitress is there to keep the tea full, clear away the plates, and bring me the check. AND THAT’S OKAY! But I seriously wonder about the future of buffet restaurants in general, now. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/25 "2020-05-09T14:58:36Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > That is a thing I’ve been thinking about. One of the things I love about buffet style restaurant is that I can get up, pick and choose, and return to my seat anytime. The waitress is there to keep the tea full, clear away the plates, and bring me the check. AND THAT’S OKAY! > > But I seriously wonder about the future of buffet restaurants in general, now. For us, the most tragic would be losing the Indian buffets. Pakoras pakoras pakoras…a little chicken tikka, some muttar paneer, biryani yes please, ooh, they have rose milk for dessert! And don’t forget Mongolian BBQ places, where you select the ingredients for someone to cook and return to you. Souper Salad’s website has this: "…we are temporarily converting our self-service buffets into full-service all you can eat buffets. Rest assured, you can still eat as much as you want but for now, let us wait on you and your family. You will also notice that we are reducing the number of persons that may be inside each restaurant at any one time and some states are also limiting the total number of persons that can sit at a table to 6 or less; you will notice that available tables will be identified with a card reading that this table has been cleaned and sanitized. " > **[An Update on Covid-19 | Souper Salad](https://soupersalad.com/covid-19/)** ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2020, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/26 "2020-05-09T22:37:48Z")
Well. Sweet Tomatoes pizza shops in Newton and Needham, MA, carry on. No relation. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/27 "2020-05-10T13:42:47Z")
There was one by my old work and I would treat myself to lunch there about once a month. Caesar salad, soup (shrimp bisque was my favorite), a couple of slices of the focaccia, and a brownie and muffin for dessert. That, my Kindle, and a glass of iced tea was a wonderful experience. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/28 "2020-05-11T18:23:32Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Huh. That sucks. I liked them. > > The one I’d go to was always very full. It seems like a salad bar would be a high margin business. They weren’t expensive but they weren’t cheap either, and salad ingredients seem like they’d be pretty cheap on average, so it seems like they’d have a pretty successful business model. I wonder how/why they were barely making it before the pandemic. > > Salad bars should be a more common business model. I know some restaurants will have a token salad bar because they focus on other food like steaks, and while that’s okay, it’s great to have a place that just specializes in having a lot of salad options. I love salads with a huge variety of ingredients. > > It’s an easy business model, you just have to chop up and top off some ingredients every once in a while, it seems popular when it’s tried - why isn’t it more common? The Sweet Tomatoes I’ve been to had salad, but they also had an array of other food- pasta salads, soups/chili/stews, and breads. I suspect that there was probably a handful of salad ingredients that were NOT relatively cheap, even in bulk, and that people eat a lot of- dressing, cheese, olives, etc… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/29 "2020-05-11T18:52:08Z")
I’ve been to this sort of restaurant a few times, but not recently. As I remember, the fixed price didn’t include soda, so they charged two or three dollars more for that. Plus there wasn’t much labor involved; one or two people behind the buffet to restock and a couple more to clear tables. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/30 "2020-05-12T14:09:43Z")
[https://www.cracked.com/article\_27698\_buffets-are-pretty-much-dead.html](https://www.cracked.com/article_27698_buffets-are-pretty-much-dead.html) Buffets are pretty much dead for the foreseeable future. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/31 "2020-05-12T15:40:19Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > Well. Sweet Tomatoes pizza shops in Newton and Needham, MA, carry on. No relation. That was my thought when I saw the thread title. I didn’t know there was a chain with the same name. > [@silenus](#): > > I kinda figured this is what would kill them off. Too bad - a lunch at Souplantation and we were good for 24 hours at least! Someone once said that the problem with my cooking is that 72 hours later you’re hungry again. I don’t think it was meant as a compliment. > [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > Buffets are pretty much dead for the foreseeable future. I’ve been hearing this, but I’m not sure I completely understand. I’ve heard that COVID-19 can’t be caught by ingesting it. Is the problem with buffets just that people don’t want to touch the same serving utensils that other people have touched? How about at the beginning of the buffet, when you pick up your plate and utensils, you also get a large spoon and a pair of tongs? Serve yourself from the buffet, drop the spoon and tongs in a bin at the end, and then take the plate to your table. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/32 "2020-05-12T15:48:40Z")
Oh no! I love Sweet Tomatoes, though I haven’t been in over a year. As someone mentioned above, the mushroom soup was to die for. No pun intended! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/33 "2020-05-12T15:51:50Z")
Then there is cross contamination between the spoon you used for Salisbury steak and the chocolate pudding. As I see it, the way forward is backwards - to the cafeteria. Lower the sneeze guards to the counter, hire 3 times the staff and have them plate your choices and hand them over the barrier. Minimal contact, zero cross contamination. Yeah, your chocolate fountain is history, and you won’t be able to stack a 2 foot high pile of crab legs on your plate any more, but what are ya gonna do? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/34 "2020-05-12T16:46:44Z")
I personally am not too worried about _viral_ cross contamination between dishes, because that would only lower my risk incrementally. On the other hand, the idea of one dish getting mixed in with another one is pretty grody especially if the added “value” is mayo. Maybe mandatory hand sanitizing before and after each plateful? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2020, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/35 "2020-05-12T17:44:24Z")
I’ve never tried those (I’m pretty sure the one not too far from us was called Sweet Tomatoes even though it’s in California). I don’t like salad so that kept me away, but the thing that mostly kept me away was a totally irrational hatred of both names (I hate tomatoes so a restaurant including them in their name was a turnoff, and “Souplantation” just seemed like a stupid name). I feel bad for those who enjoyed the place, though. I don’t think I plan to go near any communal-food/buffet restaurants for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/36 "2020-05-13T14:25:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Then there is cross contamination between the spoon you used for Salisbury steak and the chocolate pudding. As I see it, the way forward is backwards - to the cafeteria. Lower the sneeze guards to the counter, hire 3 times the staff and have them plate your choices and hand them over the barrier. Minimal contact, zero cross contamination. Yeah, your chocolate fountain is history, and you won’t be able to stack a 2 foot high pile of crab legs on your plate any more, but what are ya gonna do? And there you go. It’s my understanding that Souplantation was apparently doing rather marginal business, profits weren’t great, losing money, and so forth. I think it was two or three years ago they tried to do MORNING business by using their existing infrastructure to do a BREAKFAST buffet. We tried it. It was all right, but lacked pretty much all the things I’d go to a breakfast buffet FOR – sausage gravy, grilled ham slabs, and, of course bacon. I understood this – those would be the most expensive things to serve – but, durnit, if you don’t have it, why am I getting out of bed in the FIRST place? And if I do, well, I’m more likely to do it on a weekend, and I’m going to go somewhere that will serve me some flippin’ BACON. Couple of months later, they were closed in the mornings again, just like before. But they still did a fine lunch and dinner business, far as I could tell. They might have done better with the breakfast thing if they’d publicized it better, but durned if I could see where they’d make enough profit on weekdays to make it worth it. But yeah, I suspect **Silenus** has the right of it. Worse than that, hotels are likely to stop doing their breakfast buffets and continental breakfast grabs and like that. Places like Golden Corral are suddenly looking rather deathtrappish. All it takes is one infected person coughing into his hand, and then picking up a set of tongs, and within fifteen minutes, the whole place is doing the Covid Conga. I loved Sweet Tomatoes, but even if they were open right NOW, I’d think twice, three times, four times, and then say, “Hey, honey, maybe we could just get Greek takeout instead?” Yeah. Only way these places are going to make it, they hire extra staff and convert completly over to cafeteria style. And the way the economy is looking these days, how likely is that? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/37 "2020-05-13T17:58:26Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I’ve never tried those (I’m pretty sure the one not too far from us was called Sweet Tomatoes even though it’s in California). There were definitely some Sweet Tomatoes locations in California, although I was never able to find very many. I knew of one in Fresno and one in Pleasanton. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/38 "2020-05-13T18:52:22Z")
On a related note I see that while the casinos of Las Vegas are reopening, they are doing so without their many, MANY buffet tables. Wonder how THAT’LL change things? Not that you could get me into a casino right NOW except possibly at gunpoint… [https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/new-rules-for-las-vegas-casino.html](https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/new-rules-for-las-vegas-casino.html) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/39 "2020-05-13T18:54:30Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > There were definitely some Sweet Tomatoes locations in California, although I was never able to find very many. I knew of one in Fresno and one in Pleasanton. And one in Fremont I went to and one in San Jose, right off 237 where we had some work reunion lunches. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2020, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365/40 "2020-05-13T18:57:10Z")
On a related note I see that while the casinos of Las Vegas are reopening, they are doing so without their many, MANY buffet tables. Wonder how THAT’LL change things? Not that you could get me into a casino right NOW except possibly at gunpoint… [https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/new-rules-for-las-vegas-casino.html](https://boingboing.net/2020/05/13/new-rules-for-las-vegas-casino.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sweet-tomatoes-restaurants-are-no-more-i-mourn/853365.md?page=3)