Souper Salad facts for kids
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| Private | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Genre | Casual dining |
| Founded | 1978 Houston, Texas, U.S. |
| Founder | Ray Barshick |
| Headquarters |
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
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Number of locations
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3 (October 2022) |
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Area served
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Southwestern U.S. |
| Products | salads • soup • pasta • bread sticks • desserts |
| Parent | Brix Holdings, LLC |
Souper Salad (which looks like Souper!Salad! on its signs) is an American restaurant chain. It started in Dallas, Texas. This restaurant is an all-you-can-eat buffet where you can enjoy fresh salads, homemade soups, and warm breads.
Most Souper Salad locations are in the Southwestern United States, especially in Texas. The company has been around since 1978. As of October 2022, there were 3 Souper Salad restaurants open.
Contents
History of Souper Salad
How Souper Salad Started
The very first Souper Salad opened in 1978. It was started by Ray Barshick in Houston, Texas. Ray Barshick then opened more restaurants across Texas. Later, he expanded the chain to other states in the Western United States.
Changes Over Time
By 2008, Souper Salad had grown quite a bit. It had 151 stores in 17 different states. However, due to tough economic times that began in 2008, fewer people ate out. This caused the number of Souper Salad stores to go down. By the end of 2010, there were 80 stores.
In 2011, Souper Salad faced financial difficulties. They had to close some locations. By 2012, a company called LNC Ventures bought Souper Salad. This company was owned by Dan and Jackie Hernandez.
By late 2013, the chain had 45 locations. In 2014, another company, Brix Holdings, LLC., bought Souper Salad. Brix Holdings is based in Dallas.
Souper Salad Locations
Souper Salad currently has three restaurants. All of them are in Texas. You can find them in Pasadena, El Paso, and Lubbock.
There was once a Souper Salad in Phoenix, Arizona. It was in a very unique building. This building was designed by an architect named Wenceslao Sarmiento. It was built in 1975 and looked very modern, almost like something from the future. It had a cool ribbed tower that you could see from the nearby highway. People even called it one of the "coolest buildings" in the area. This Phoenix location closed in 2020.
What You Can Eat at Souper Salad
The Buffet Experience
Souper Salad is known for its large self-serve salad bar. This salad bar can be as long as 45 feet! You can choose from many prepared salads. There are also lots of different ingredients and dressings to make your own salad.
Every day, Souper Salad offers four different kinds of soups. They also have breadsticks, muffins, pizza, baked potatoes, and pastas. You can even find tacos!
Desserts and Special Options
For dessert, you can enjoy fresh and canned fruits. They also have strawberry shortcake, pudding, brownies, and soft-serve ice cream. The menu items change daily and with the seasons.
Souper Salad makes its food fresh every day in each restaurant. They have also made sure their food is free of trans-fats since 2007. If you have special dietary needs, they offer gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options. They have even offered seafood options during the Lenten season.
Changes During the Pandemic
In 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Souper Salad restaurants changed how they served food. They switched to a cafeteria-style service. This means staff serve the food to you instead of you serving yourself.
Marketing and Recognition
Souper Salad has a Souper Fresh Club for its customers. If you join, you can get discount coupons by email. You also used to get a coupon for a free meal on your birthday. Later, the program changed. Now, when you buy food, you earn "points" that lead to rewards. You also get a coupon for a discounted birthday meal.
In 2013, a study looked at many casual dining restaurants. Souper Salad was ranked first in the buffet category. The study praised the chain for how healthy its food was.
Parent Company
Brix Holdings, LLC. bought Souper Salad in 2014. Brix Holdings owns several other restaurant chains. These include RedBrick Pizza, Red Mango Cafe, Smoothie Factory Juice Bar, and Greenz. Brix Holdings found that making the restaurants smaller, about half the original size, helped them be more profitable.
See also
- Fresh Choice
- Sweet Tomatoes
