[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]ast week, Souplantation confirmed the news that was going around: They will not be reopening after the pandemic. Immediately laying off its workforce of 4,400 employees and apparently shattering the soup and salad-rooted memories held by its cult following.
The news shocked many and caused an outpouring of mourning on social media, prompting many to immediately post nostalgic anecdotes that occurred somewhere between the perpetually full ‘Joan’s Broccoli Madness’ salad bowl and all-you-can-eat soft serve at the end of the buffet line. Many traced their love for the famously bland pastas and freshly baked commercially mixed muffins to a sense of community, family, picky eaters, identity, and growing up. While others brought up the issues around its problematic name.
The loss in the soup and salad world prompted Jorge Rosas, a Software Architect by day and guitarist for the Northeast L.A. punk band Tecolote by night, to create an online space for diners in mourning to post some of their favorite moments there. Aptly named Memories of Souplantation, the four-day-old website already has a handful of entries ranging in emotions.
Corona claiming Souplantation is my breaking point and villain origin story
— lane (@elenastanley_) May 7, 2020
Rosas continues to pay his own respects toward the establishment. “It was simple. It was predictable. And it was affordable—you could eat salad, soup, pasta, dessert, soda, and coffee for 10 bucks. That's not going to be possible anymore, I don't think. It's really the end of an era.”
