It’s official.
On June 1, Sweet Tomatoes will hold a grand opening for its Fort Myers location.
It comes exactly two weeks after the beloved salad buffet restaurant began its wildly successful soft opening (running through May 30).
“Well, our ‘soft’ open hasn’t been too soft,” Marlee Lossing, Sweet Tomatoes’ director of corporate affairs, said via email.
“We have been serving over 1,000 guests per day the past few days. We’ve been beyond blessed by the Fort Myers and surrounding communities showing up in full force to support our comeback.”
Sweet Tomatoes in same space
And it’s not only local customers who have been showing up.
“We’ve seen guests travel over 6 hours just to visit us,” Lossing added.
They’re all heading to 14080 S. Tamiami Trail, between Volkswagen of Fort Myers and Lexus. It’s the same space Sweet Tomatoes occupied from 1997 until closing — along with all of the chain’s 97 locations — in 2020 when the pandemic hit.
“I spoke to many guests over the past few days who told me how they used to visit the restaurant often prior to 2020, and now they’re back and ready to pick up where they left off,” Lossing wrote.
The Fort Myers location is only the second in the country to reopen (the first was in Tucson, Arizona, in April 2024).
What to expect at Sweet Tomatoes
After it officially opens on June 1, hours at Sweet Tomatoes will be from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. It will be closed on Sunday, May 31, in preparation for the grand opening.
Pricing for the all-you-can-eat buffet will be $12.99 for lunch (from open to 4 p.m.) and $13.99 for dinner (after 4 p.m. and all day on weekends).
Other than it being cashless, “everything is the same.”
“We have our fantastic salad bar with fan favorites like Joan’s Broccoli Madness and Tuna Tarragon,” Lossing wrote.
“Then on the hot bar, we have seven soup selections, including classics like Big Chunk Chicken Noodle and Cream of Mushroom Soup, baked potatoes, focaccias, muffins (blueberry muffins will always be my personal favorite), pastas, including our famous mac and cheese, and more.”
There’s a 90-minute time limit to “ensure all our guests are able to enjoy a dining experience with us.”
Why Fort Myers?
Originally established as Garden Fresh restaurant in San Diego in the mid-1970s, the company grew throughout California in the 1980s.
Palm Harbor was the first Florida city to get a location in 1990. There were 23 Sweet Tomatoes in the state in 2020, including in Fort Myers and one in Naples, which first opened in the spring of 2010 at 10940 Tamiami Trail.
The chain filed for bankruptcy protection after the pandemic hit, but is now under new ownership.
While no other reopenings have been announced so far, we’re thrilled it’s back in Fort Myers.
“We always look into markets where Sweet Tomatoes performed well in the past,” Lossing wrote in a previous email.
“Whenever possible, it is especially beneficial for us to find former Sweet Tomatoes locations that have not been converted into another use since the initial closure in 2020. The Fort Myers location checked all the boxes for us.”
Go to sweettomatoes.com or follow on Facebook and Instagram for the latest.
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Sweet Tomatoes’ grand opening set in Fort Myers, Florida. What to know
Reporting by Robyn George, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Fort Myers News-Press
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