Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen
-
https://www.sandiegoville.com/2020/05/souplantation-sweet-tomatoes-will-not-reopen.html
Employees were saying their goodbyes at the headquarters in San Diego. No official announcement from the Souplantation company spokesperson, yet.
-
I have quite a bit of money in Souplantation gift cards. Any chance of ever seeing any of that or do I just take the loss? They had a promo every Christmastime that you would get 3 free meals for every $100 of gift cards you purchased. As Souplantation was one of my favorite restaurants for healthy eating, I took advantage of that every year never thinking a pandemic would happen and change everything. I lost about $379. As a gift card owner am I considered one of their creditors so I have a claim? Me thinks I am just out $378.82. Ouch!!!
-
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
I have quite a bit of money in Souplantation gift cards. Any chance of ever seeing any of that or do I just take the loss? They had a promo every Christmas time that you would get 3 free meals for every $100 of gift cards you purchased. I took advantage of that never thinking a pandemic would happen and change everything. I lost about $385.
I already tried disputing the November Black Friday Cyber Monday gift cards with Citi Costco Visa. It was denied due to the length of time from the purchase.
I sent in a request with the transaction details to the Souplantation contact us page, but I highly doubt we get anything from back Mr. V.
Souplantation was also a favorite of mine.
-
How much did you lose, ctujackbauer?
-
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
How much did you lose, ctujackbauer?
$120 and a $10 promo card.
-
@ctujackbauer said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
How much did you lose, ctujackbauer?
$120 and a $10 promo card.
Well at least you didn’t lose as much as I did. Hopefully as this pandemic rolls on I won’t lose additional money at other restaurants/stores. This is the one gift card holding I had that I was worried about the most and now my fears have been realized.
Not only did I lose the $378.82 in gift cards, I lost the value of 4 $10 promo cards.
-
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
@ctujackbauer said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
How much did you lose, ctujackbauer?
$120 and a $10 promo card.
Well at least you didn’t lose as much as I did. Hopefully as this pandemic rolls on I won’t lose additional money at other restaurants/stores. This is the one gift card holding I had that I was worried about the most and now my fears have been realized.
If there was some kind of Faustian bargain where I could trade in some of the gift card in return for the Souplantation and its wonderful employees to return in some form, be it another corporate owner with the same great food or just the same restaurant, I probably would do it.
There aren’t even that many buffets in this area.
-
CEO of Souplantation quoted in San Diego Union Tribune, so now its official.
-
giftcards@gardenfreshrestaurants.com.
https://www.giftcards.com/gcgf/giftcards-in-bankruptcy
As gift card holders we are unsecured creditors but often by the time they pay the secured creditors there is no money left.
-
I think as this pandemic continues, it would be wise advice to try and use up any restaurant gift cards you may have as they seem to be among the businesses hardest hit. When stores go out of business you can usually use up your gift cards during the liquidation sale, but for restaurants you’re pretty much just out of luck.
-
The last paragraph of the “Goodbye” message touches on gift cards. It says to try charge backs with your credit card.company or wait for possible relief provided by the court in the future.
http://souplantation.fbmta.com/shared/images/4294967360/4294967360_2020050817235435.jpg
-
@ctujackbauer said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
I have quite a bit of money in Souplantation gift cards. Any chance of ever seeing any of that or do I just take the loss? They had a promo every Christmas time that you would get 3 free meals for every $100 of gift cards you purchased. I took advantage of that never thinking a pandemic would happen and change everything. I lost about $385.
I already tried disputing the November Black Friday Cyber Monday gift cards with Citi Costco Visa. It was denied due to the length of time from the purchase.
I sent in a request with the transaction details to the Souplantation contact us page, but I highly doubt we get anything from back Mr. V.
Souplantation was also a favorite of mine.
That’s interesting. I wonder how many months can go by before you are not allowed to dispute a transaction? Black Friday was 6 1/2 months ago. I bought mine closer to 5 1/2 months ago, so I will probably get denied also. I bet disputes have to be relative soon after you bought something (probably no later than a couple months afterwards).
EDIT: I Google’d it and my two months guess turns out to be exactly right:
By law you have 60 days to dispute a charge. Your credit card company must investigate and respond to your dispute within 90 days. In the case of an unauthorized charge on your credit card, by law you’re liable only for the first $50 in unauthorized charges.
-
After filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and permanently closing all 97 Souplantation locations, Garden Fresh Restaurants is auctioning off items like ovens, silverware and soda machines online so that they can be repurposed for use in other venues.
Items for sale start at $1 and both businesses and individuals can join the auction.
-
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
After filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and permanently closing all 97 Souplantation locations, Garden Fresh Restaurants is auctioning off items like ovens, silverware and soda machines online so that they can be repurposed for use in other venues.
Items for sale start at $1 and both businesses and individuals can join the auction.
@MrVietnam feel free to post a thread in HD about the auction. thx.
-
i wonder if I win the auction if I can pay with my Souplantation gift cards? Or I have some Monopoly money at home, too. LOL
-
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
i wonder if I win the auction if I can pay with my Souplantation gift cards? Or I have some Monopoly money at home, too. LOL
That’s funny, although you should see if you can be added to their list of people owed money, not sure if their gift cards will receive any compensation in bankruptcy court. Not sure how that even works.
-
@mistercheap said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
i wonder if I win the auction if I can pay with my Souplantation gift cards? Or I have some Monopoly money at home, too. LOL
That’s funny, although you should see if you can be added to their list of people owed money, not sure if their gift cards will receive any compensation in bankruptcy court. Not sure how that even works.
How would one go about putting their name on the list of people owed money?
-
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
@mistercheap said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
@mrvietnam said in Souplantation / Garden Fresh Restaurants to close and not reopen:
i wonder if I win the auction if I can pay with my Souplantation gift cards? Or I have some Monopoly money at home, too. LOL
That’s funny, although you should see if you can be added to their list of people owed money, not sure if their gift cards will receive any compensation in bankruptcy court. Not sure how that even works.
How would one go about putting their name on the list of people owed money?
you’d have to google that. I don’t know.
-
I copied and pasted what I could from a poor pdf copy of the bankruptcy notice below. Good luck getting any money back from them. If they are auctioning their soda machines for pennies on the dollar, I doubt there are that much assets left for unsecured gift card holders like me who are out $100s of dollars. I could have used them up in less than a year, but I didn’t plan on a pandemic ruining the whole thing.
What we don’t get back, could we claim as a (schedule C, D, or E?) loss on our taxes?
I really thought Souplantation jumped the gun without even trying to remain viable. The business could be salvaged with prewrapped servings of their food, or as a partial cafeteria style restaurant until COVID cures were found. Golden Corral, Las Vegas buffets, or even hometown buffet hasn’t completely thrown in the towel yet. I wouldn’t mind paying $1 to $3 more for a person to serve me. I just liked their food offerings.
United States Bankruptcy Court
Southern District of California
Jacob Weinberger U.S. Counhouse 325 West F Street San Diego, CA 92 IO 1-6991
Case No.: 20-02477-LA 7
Garden Fresh Restaurants LLC
dba Souplantation, dba Sweet Tomatoes, dba Souplantation Express, dba Souplantation Field Kitchen
Creditors who do not file a proof of claim on or before this date might not share in any di tribution from the debtor’s e. tate.
A proof of claim form 410 may be obtained at any bankruptcy clerk’s office or the Court’s Web site at
www v . It may be filed by regular mail at the address shown below. .casb.uscourts.i:oTo receive acknowledgment /sites/casb/files/documents/forms/4 of your ofiling, you IO pdfmay either enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope
and a copy of this proof of claim. There is no fee f r filing the proof of claim.Creditor. who wish to share in any distribution of funds must file a proof of claim with the clerk of the bankruptcy court at the address below on or before: 9/8/20
United States Bankruptcy Court
Southern District of California
Southern District of Calif rnia
Jacob Weinberger U.S. Courthou e
325 West F Street Sin Diego, CA 92 IO 1-699 I
-
I agree with your thoughts. I, too, wish they were not so quick to throw in the towel. They could have done what you noted other buffets are doing to survive, but they didn’t even try. Disappointing to say the least. Thank you for the good, timely information. If you ever figure out the website to get the proof of claim paper, please post it.
One lesson I learned from this experience is not too buy restaurant gift cards in large amounts, especially from restaurants that are financially struggling. A long time ago Hometown Buffet was selling their gift cards for half-off when they were financially struggling. I bought a bunch and luckily I didn’t get burned and was able to use them all up. When a retail store goes under, you can almost always use their gift cards during their liquidation sale, but with restaurants since they don’t carry stock like a store does, no such luck. They just close and you are out your money in gift cards.
EDIT: Through Google searching I found where a copy of the Proof of Claim 410 form can be downloaded. It can be found here.
