Lettuce Souprise You was an all-you-can-eat salad buffet based in Atlanta that tried the Houston market for a few years. David Dubrof opened Lettuce Souprise in Northeast Atlanta in 1987. The chain offered both soup and salad bars from the start and resembled our local chain, Souper Salad. However, Lettuce Souprise was different because they charged for either soup or salad and required customers to pay a slightly higher fee to access both. It was served all you can eat, and just like Souper Salad, it was popular with the 80s crowd. The idea of clean and healthy eating for a relatively low price was a big hit with yuppies and cash-strapped families. By 1991, Lettuce Souprise You had four locations in Atlanta. They were one of the bigger draws in the failed Rio Outdoor Mall, but was reaching the limits of what it could accomplish within A-Town. Looking to continue expanding, the Dubrof family sets their sights on Houston. It’s not precisely clear what drove them here, but the success of Souper Salad in the Bayou City likely had an influence. Work on the first Houston location of Lettuce Souprise You began in 1991 in the Carillon Center. For the few readers with a detailed knowledge of Houston and Atlanta retail, the selections of Carillon and Rio both spoke volumes about the future of LSY in the same way their Rio location did in Atlanta. It certainly looked good at the time, but long-term prospects were up in the air. Nevertheless, support for Lettuce Souprise You’s Houston debut was being drummed up by Joe Dubrof, David’s son. By this point, the menu had expanded to include baked potatoes with the hot bar options and options along both bars had been expanded. Despite Carillon being dead beyond lunchtime, Lettuce Souprise You was proving to be popular in Houston.
Just as Lettuce Souprise You was gaining legs in Houston, an increase in the price of fresh veggies, specifically lettuce, hit the nation, hampering profits for most restaurants. To help offset the cost, the price of the buffet was raised slightly, and a bigger emphasis was put on non-salad items like muffins, baked potatoes, and even dressings. This, along with a dedicated advertising campaign, helped to bolster the chain’s success. By the end of 1991, talks were already brewing about expanding in Houston. By March of 1992, a new location had already been found in a strip center across from Meyerland Plaza, which was undergoing a large-scale reconstruction project at the time. While the new restaurant was a good choice in terms of location, LSY was still experiencing profitability issues. Within a year of opening, the price of the buffet had increased by over $1, and at least in Houston, the hot buffet had been split between potatoes and soup, requiring customers to pick one or pay a higher price to access all portions of the buffet. Still, prices at the time were comparable to what Souper Salad offered, and Lettuce Souprise You had many customers who enjoyed the healthy options and non-smoking environment. By the end of 1992, a third location for LSY was on the radar for Houston. This third and final location for the Bayou City was in Windsor Plaza, a shopping center on Richmond Ave near 610, which had been recently renovated.
In 1993, Lettuce Souprise You reached its largest extent of 10 locations. Three were in Houston, and seven were back home in Atlanta. However, by the year’s end, the operation of the chain had become a bit of a struggle. LSY was struggling with similar problems in both Atlanta and Houston. Locations were traffic drivers but were often located in shopping centers and malls, which were otherwise slow. While Lettuce Souprise tried adding new items like rotisserie chicken at one location, their problems were inescapable. The rising food costs caused prices to increase and forced options to drop off, and finally, the novelty of all-you-can-eat was dropping off. As bargain family restaurants were really taking off, LSY’s main draw began to fall flat. A few months into 1994, the Windsor Plaza location in Houston closed. From my research, LSY tried to franchise its operations in Houston and may have been unable to find someone willing to franchise the Richmond Ave location, causing it to close prematurely. The other two stores would remain open a bit longer, with a franchisee picking up the Meyerland Plaza restaurant and running it until the end of 1995 before flipping it to a Souper Salad. A franchisee would also pick up the Carrilon location, but only for about a year, with the company retaking control in the middle of 1995. To keep up with ever-increasing costs, the selections at Lettuce Souprise continued to shrink, serving only a handful of soups and removing the baked potato bar, at least in Houston. Lettuce Souprise You would make it into the very start of 1996 in Houston, but with only one location here and difficulty franchising, LSY decided to exit Houston altogether. During this time, one location in Atlanta would also close.
Reverting to their home market of Atlanta with six locations, Lettuce Souprise You prepared for 1996 when the Summer Olympics were scheduled to come to Atlanta. LSY, along with other Atlanta restaurants, prepared for large crowds and a record-setting year, which unfortunately would never come. While the Olympics and World Series, which had taken place in Atlanta the year prior, would bring tourists, the traffic would not be directed towards value-conscious chains like Lettuce Souprise You. Also, cash-strapped Atlantians who used their extra cash to join these festivities would skip eating out altogether. Saddled with over $5 Million of debt and down to four locations, Owner David Dubrof would sell the remaining restaurants and other assets for bargain basement prices of $600,000 to save the chain. The new owner, LSY Holdings, would not assume the debt and would provide very few details about its ownership. In early 1998, LSY Holdings opened a new restaurant co-branded with Caribou Coffee. Another Atlanta chain, Big Sky Bread, had previously occupied the space in an attempt to operate a co-branded restaurant but had found the venture unsuccessful and exited. While this experiment was a step in the right direction, it would not pan out, and the company would continue to shrink throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. LSY Holdings would open its final new location in 2009, in a suburb of Atlanta. This location would, however, not last long, and by 2014, the final location closed, citing a lease dispute. While the operators of the chain pledged to find a new location to move to, these plans would never pan out, putting a cap on a nearly 30-year experiment.
Location List
Address | Notes |
|---|---|
| 10001 Westheimer Rd #1520, Houston, TX 77042 | 1991-1995 Located in Carillon |
| 5064 Richmond Ave., Houston, TX 77056 | 1992-1994 |
| 4884 Beechnut St, Houston, TX 77096 | 1992-1995 |
| 2470 Briarcliff Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329 | 1987?-2014 Loehmann's Plaza, Final Location, Lease terminated, 2nd Grub Burger Location, Hopdoddy as of 2024 |
| 595 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30308 | 1988-? Part of Rio Shopping Center, Demolished for Publix/Walgreens, Moved to 239 Ponce De Leon |
| 239 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30308 | 2004-? |
| 245 Pharr Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30305 | |
| 5975 Roswell Rd, Sandy Springs, GA 30328 | Later Jason's Deli, Kaiser's Chophouse as of 2024 |
| 400 Holcomb Woods Pkwy, Roswell, GA 30076 | |
| 3525 Mall Blvd NW, Duluth, GA 30096 | Shopping Center near Gwinnett Place Mall |
| 5530 Windward Pkwy Alpharetta, GA 30004 | 2009-2010 Final location to open |
| 2860 Cumberland Mall Ste 1109, Atlanta, GA 30339 | ?-2003 Replaced by Jason's Deli which closed 2020 |
