The first Souplantation opens on Mission Gorge Road in San Diego, California. The concept of a salad bar as a complete meal begins to grow.
Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's® and a Souplantation fan, compliments our three founders on their dedication to "customer first" with quality, service, cleanliness, and value.
Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. is founded by Michael Mack and Tony Brooke through the acquisition of the first two Souplantation restaurants.
Souplantation is the official training table and sponsor of the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal winning Men's Volleyball Team.
We open our first restaurant outside of San Diego in Tustin, California and continue to expand.
We serve 1,000,000 happy and healthy guests to date.
President Bush bans broccoli from the White House. Years later, Joan's Broccoli Madness is our #1 prepared salad.
Our first restaurant opens outside of California in Palm Harbor, Florida, without a name. Two weeks later, we introduce ourselves as Sweet Tomatoes.
Soft Serve Frozen Yogurt now appears as a regular menu item. Devotees learn to swipe a bowl from the soup counter for larger portions.
The Classic Caesar and Wonton Chicken Tossed Salads first appear on our menu and soon become permanent items.
Souplantation feeds the needs of the San Diego Chargers and Charger Girls as their Training Table Partner.
Restaurant #50 opens in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
That's a lot of zeroes and happy, healthy guests!
Our first TV commercial airs in the San Diego area.
We begin offering warm desserts every evening.
Our Web site launches and the first Club Veg email is sent out.
Restaurant #100 opens in Fullerton, California.
We launch catering in Raleigh, North Carolina. More and more restaurants add catering as time passes.
Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes is voted America's Best Cafeteria in Restaurants & Institutions' "Consumers Choice in Chains," an honor we will receive many times in the years to come.
A quarter of a billion happy, healthy guests!
We launch our Make-It-Fit Guide, providing nutritional information for anyone following certain dietary restrictions such as points, low carbs, Heart Healthy, etc.
A guest finds a 9-inch-by-3-inch image of the Virgin Mary on a piece of pine paneling at our original Souplantation on Mission Gorge Road in San Diego, California.
Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes is voted "San Diego's Best Kid-Friendly Restaurant" by the San Diego Union Tribune and many other publications.
A new restaurant decor with a contemporary farmers' market look and feel debuts in Chula Vista, California and redefines the dining experience.
We donate over $267,000 to local charities through "Fun-Raisers" this year.
Our expanded menu includes eight made-from-scratch soups.
Our online community, Club Veg, grows to 500,000 members. We select ten women from 15,000 applicants nationwide to form the Kitchen Cabinet®, our guest advisory panel.
By 2007, Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes serves enough meals to feed everyone in the U.S.
Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes places second in Health Magazine's 2008 issue "America's Healthiest Restaurants."
30 years, 109 restaurants, 15 states, and still growing. Thanks to you, our loyal guests.