TAMPA, Fla. — A popular restaurant chain is reportedly keeping their doors closed.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports the company that owns Sweet Tomatoes is closing all of its restaurants.
The company, Souplantation, is closing more than 90 restaurants across the country, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
The closing will mean the loss of jobs for 4,440 employees.
“The FDA had previously put out recommendations that included discontinuing self-serve stations, like self-serve beverages in fast food, but they specifically talked about salad bars and buffets,” said John Haywood, CEO of Garden Fresh to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “The regulations are understandable, but unfortunately, it makes it very difficult to reopen. And I’m not sure the health departments are ever going to allow it," he added.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Perpetual Capital Partners purchased the restaurant company after it filed for bankruptcy in 2016.
Souplantation opened it's first "Sweet Tomatoes" store in Palm Harbor in 1990.
There were seven Sweet Tomatoes locations in the Tampa Bay area— that includes restaurants in Largo, Tampa, Palm Harbor, Bradenton and Sarasota.