In fact, walking in, the space on Richmond Avenue feels downright palatial, especially compared to my favorite hole-in-the-wall soul food joints. So whether you’re in the mood for savory chicken pie and shepherd’s pie or sweet pecan and cherry, satisfying your craving is… well, easy as pie. The ceilings are high at Sweet Times by Sweetie Pie's. As always, we also have fresh cream and fruit pies, cases filled with frozen pies to go, and even pie delivery.Įven if you can't make it to the Cape, our Online Shop is always open. After taking one bite of their signature scratch-made chicken pie, Oprah was raving, naming it one of her favorite things.Īs of 2018, our restaurant closed, but our bakeries remain open! You can still swing by one of our two Cape Cod bakeries for a bite! We offer fresh breakfast bakery items, salads, sandwiches, soup, and other prepared meals - just grab and go! Variety changes daily. Founded in 2009 by long-time friends Laurie Bowen and Kristin Broadley (“The Pie Ladies”), the local pie shop was thrust into the national spotlight shortly after they opened their doors when they were discovered by Oprah Winfrey. is a Massachusetts-based pie company located on Cape Cod. Despite being consistently stronger as a corporation than Souper Salad, Sweet Tomatoes’ closure leaves the former as the winner in the race to stay afloat, with one Houston-area salad buffet still in operation.The Centerville Pie Company, Inc. The news was shocking, but after reflecting on the troubles experienced by the company, it’s not too shocking they would decide to close. After about a month of waiting, Sweet Tomatoes made the unfortunate announcement that the company would seek to liquidate rather than change its concept. At the start of the pandemic, Sweet Tomatoes, along with almost every other buffet, was required to stop service until an alternate setup could be found. However, little did the company know they were about to experience something they could not overcome, the COVID pandemic. Combined with the continuing shutdown of Souper Salad locations, the future of Sweet Tomatoes seemed bright by 2019. With now just a concentration of stores in the Houston area, the company seemed better poised to continue operation in a market in which they were pretty well established. The locations closed were all outside of Houston and built after the company’s initial push into Texas during the turn of the century. The cuts would occur across the operating region, but Texas would be heavily affected, with our state’s store count dropping from 10 to just 4. In the process, the locations would be pared down from over 120 locations to just under 100. Sweet Tomatoes’ bankruptcy ended with another private investment company coming in to purchase the assets of the original operation. In 2016, the company filed for Bankruptcy and, at the time, looked like it might face liquidation. Despite having a somewhat better footing with this option, Sweet Tomatoes would not be immune to the decline in buffet popularity overall. When Souper Salad began hemorrhaging locations in the 2000s, Sweet Tomatoes sold out to an investment firm. Unlike Souper Salad, though, all Sweet Tomatoes locations were company owned, a move which would help provide stability to the company during rocky economic conditions. Over the next 30 years, the Sweet Tomatoes chain (known as Souplantation in their home state of California), and Souper Salad would grow to dominate the market, extending their reach into each other’s territory. At the time, the concept of a stand-alone salad bar was mostly unknown, with most salad bars operating as a”free course” for those visiting somewhat higher-end restaurants like Steak n Ale or Bennigans. Sweet Tomatoes popped up in California about the same time Souper Salad did in Houston in the late 70s. It worked quite similarly to Souper Salad but did not feature tacos or nachos as a part of the hot bar. For those not in the know, Sweet Tomatoes was a popular all-you-can-eat soup and salad buffet. Today we’re checking in on an untouched Sweet Tomatoes at 8775 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77024, to answer the question of whatever happened to all the Sweet Tomatoes locations in Houston.
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