Sweet Tomatoes preparing return to south Fort Myers site

Sweet Tomatoes, the salad bar chain that closed in 2020 following the onset of COVID-19 and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, has a new ownership group and is preparing to return to its original south Fort Myers location. 

Permitting records and exterior views of 14080 Cleveland Ave., between two car dealerships, show interior remodeling underway by Tampa-based TWT Restaurant Design, Construction & Development Co. 

Earlier this year, a Sweet Tomatoes in Tucson, Arizona, reopened. The chain’s management, now operating under new owners ST Three LLC, declined to provide a timetable for the Fort Myers reopening. 

“At this time, we have not made any public announcements about our next location,” the company said in an email. “Once we have made an official announcement, please circle back, and we will see if we can give you some more information at that time.” 

Jim Shiebler, senior vice president with CBRE, is not currently involved with Sweet Tomatoes, but he was during his time at another brokerage firm. He brokered the sale of the south Fort Myers property for $3.8 million in April 2018 to Roubin Associates LLC. The current landowner could not be reached. 

Shiebler also brokered the 2020 sale of a Sweet Tomatoes building on Dale Mabry Avenue in Tampa for $3.71 million. That site has since been converted into a medical marijuana dispensary and will not return to the buffet concept. 

“Sweet Tomatoes was very successful as it carved a niche in buffet dining, all to their own,” Shiebler said. “It was quite affordable. It had a huge and quite diverse selection of cuisine. It’s healthy and affordable. It was particularly popular with seniors, snowbirds and families, based on those early bird dining specials.” 

Shiebler said he expects the concept to flourish again, particularly in Southwest Florida. 

“They were very popular in Florida and seasonal climates with tourism,” he said. “If they are going to relaunch, Fort Myers and Lee County is ideal for them.”