Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. Opens New Quick-Serve Restaurant Souplantation Express

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp., known for its 118 Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes fresh, all-you-care-to-eat buffet restaurants, will open their first quick-serve restaurant, Souplantation Express. The first restaurant of this new concept will open Monday, January 17 in Carlsbad, Calif.

The new restaurant model is designed to complement the chain's 40 Souplantation and 78 Sweet Tomatoes full-scale restaurants. Contrary to the existing buffet style of guests self selecting their own meal from fresh salads, soups, pastas and baked goods, Souplantation Express customers will choose from over 30 ingredients to customize their salad.  As the customer points to their ingredient selection, a Souplantation Express employee will build the selections into the customer's individualized, unique salad. The menu will also feature five house-made made-from-scratch soups, macaroni & cheese, garlic asiago focaccia breads and freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies.

The launch of the Souplantation Express concept will allow Garden Fresh to continue growing and increase their presence in the 15 states they currently have full-scale buffet-style restaurants. They will also look to expand their full scale restaurants in expanding markets.

"We are eager to see how our guests respond to the new Express concept," said Garden Fresh CEO Michael Mack. "We'll use what we learn from this first Souplantation Express to perfect the experience here and in other markets.  We are confident that this new Express-style format fits a need for our guests and health-minded consumers.  We plan to open four more Express restaurants within the next 12 months, as well as eight of our existing buffet-style restaurants."

The new quick-serve Express design can accommodate spaces as small as 1,500 square feet—compared to the existing buffet-style Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes model that requires over 7,000 square foot restaurant space—and is designed for potential entry into a variety of venues.

"The Express design enables us to extend our Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes brands to spaces we previously couldn't accommodate due to size," said Garden Fresh Vice President of Business Development, Dan Anderson. "By launching Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes Express restaurants, we'll be able to extend our brand of fresh, wholesome food to more people, while also fitting into our own guest's busy lifestyles."

The new Souplantation Express restaurant in Carlsbad, Calif., is located in Bressi Ranch Village Center at 2681 Gateway Road, Carlsbad. For more information please visit http://www.souplantationexpress.com, http://www.facebook.com/souplantationEXP, or http://www.twitter.com/soupEXP.

About Souplantation Express:

Souplantation Express features the great quality food you expect from Souplantation in a quick & convenient way. It is not the traditional all-you-care-to-eat buffet style but it still lets you create your own personalized salad from over 30 different ingredients or Souplantation signature tossed salads. Guests can pair any salad with one of five made-from-scratch soups or mac & cheese and complimentary garlic asiago focaccia to complete the meal. Great for to-go or dine-in!

About Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.

Celebrating over 30 years, Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. is a leader in the restaurant industry, having established a unique and successful business model for casual dining that has grown since 1978. The company's chain of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants now totals 118 salad buffet-style restaurants across the western, southern and eastern portions of the United States. Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes offers an exceptional, healthful dining experience with a daily selection of eight made-from-scratch soups and salads and hand-crafted muffins, pizza focaccia, breads and warm desserts. By combining high-quality, farm-fresh and scratch-made foods for a fixed price, the restaurants provide guests with the freedom to create their own unique meals. Garden Fresh restaurant concepts are built around fresh prepared, great-tasting recipes with a salad bar full of seasonal vegetables and tossed salads prepared exhibition-style every 20 minutes. Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants are open daily for lunch and dinner and also for a special Sunday breakfast that features a variety of delicious morning favorites in addition to regular selections. For more information about Garden Fresh and its Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes restaurants visit www.souplantation.com or www.sweettomatoes.com.

SOURCE Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp.