Souplantation to close permanently

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Souplantation, the all-you-can eat restaurant chain founded in San Diego 42 years ago, hung on through a 2016 bankruptcy but couldn't survive the coronavirus pandemic.

The company is closing its 97 buffet-style restaurants, 44 of them in California, which will put 4,400 employees out of work, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported today.

Garden Fresh Restaurants, the parent company of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, had closed the eateries in mid-March due to the spread of COVID-19, characterizing the move as temporary.

"The FDA had previously put out recommendations that inc...