Souper Salad was established in Houston in 1978. At the time Souper Salad was seen by most as an oddity. The reason being that stand-alone salad bars were not common, and salad as a stand-alone restaurant meal was even rarer. Generally you’d find Salad Bars in a place like Steak and Ale, where it was considered a treat in addition to your meal, as opposed to another full course. Despite all this, the “temporary trend” of healthy eating had a growing following especially with college age customers. Making it no surprise that the first Souper Salad location would open right outside the H.B.U. grounds. The second location was also on the Southwest side of town at Weslayan and Bissonnet. Just West of Rice University. The first two locations Souper Salad were also praised for their huge variety, having over 50 separate items on their salad bar. Within Houston As a chain Souper Salad would experience their greatest success during the late 90s and early 2000s growing to over 150 locations across the Southwestern
U.S. With over 15 locations in the Houston area alone. The chain had a reputation as a healthy family friendly option. Featuring an all-you-can-eat salad bar, and hot items like DIY tacos and baked potatoes. As health food standards have changed the available fare at Souper Salad became less desirable, eventually forcing most locations to close. There are no longer any Souper Salad locations in Houston proper. The nearest two are in Humble and Pasadena.
Address | Notes |
|---|---|
| 7135 Southwest Fwy Houston, TX 77074 | 1978-1993? First Location, located in now demolished shopping center in front of former Children's Palace |
| 7469 Southwest Fwy Houston, TX 77074 | 1993?-2005 Originally a Po'Folk's in the same shopping center as Loehman's and Weiner's |
| 700 Rusk St Houston, TX 77002 | 1979-1994 Located inside office building |
| 1219 Milam St Houston, TX 77002 | 1980-1993 Located in tunnel |
| 5460 Weslayan St. Houston, TX 77005 | 1981-2006 Second "stand alone" Location Company Headquarters moved here |
| 1001 Fannin St, Houston, TX 77002 | 1982-1994 Located inside office building |
| 909 Town and Country Blvd Houston, TX 77024 | 1982-1994 First franchised location, Located in small plaza between I-10 and mall |
| 379 Greens Rd, Houston, TX 77060 | 1982-1999, Franchise location |
| 9741 Westheimer Rd Houston, TX 77042 | 1983-2011, Franchise location |
| 10985 Northwest Fwy Houston, TX 77092 | 1987-2011 |
| 2435 Post Oak Blvd. Houston, TX 77056 | 1988-2005 |
| 1574 W Gray St Houston, TX 77019 | 1991-2011 |
| 14714 Memorial Dr Houston, TX 77079 | 1993-2005 |
| 20220 Katy Fwy, Katy, TX 77449 | 2001-2015 |
| 2356 S Texas 6 Houston, TX 77077 | 1996-2011 |
| 2414 University Blvd. Houston, TX 77005 | 1996-2001 |
| 303 Memorial Mall #398, Houston, TX 77024 | 1994-1999 Inside Memorial City Mall |
| 4884 Beechnut St, Houston, TX 77096 | 1995-2011 |
| 6516 Westheimer Rd. #10 Houston, TX 77057 | 1996-2011 |
| 6783 Hwy 6 N Houston, TX 77084 | 1999-2011 |
| 7504 FM 1960 Houston, TX 77070 | 1997-2005 McAlisters retains lights and cannopy |
My first job was at the Town & Country Souper Salad. That was 1984. That 60-item salad bar seemed more like 600 items when I had to break it down and clean it every night at closing.
We ate at the Memorial Dr location, not far from I-10 W & Dairy Ashford. Everything was always good including the hot gingerbread!
I worked at the Wesleyan location from 1999 to 2000 as assistant general manager. MAXINE, there were a couple of hundred locations now there are like three? What happened to this company?
There was one by or on NASA rd. 1 we went to when I worked at NASA. Don’t remember where exactly.
I like how they have ceddar cheese on the menu. Never tried ceddar cheese before. I guess this was before spell check?
I have the fettuccine pasta recipe from Souper Salad – one of the many reasons to eat there. I almost preferred it to Sweet Tomatoes, which I really miss.
There was a Souper Salad on Bay Area Blvd back in the ’90’s. I used to be a member of the Space City Cycling Club and on Wednesday night after our group ride a bunch of us would go there to eat healthy.
Do you happen to remember the cross street? I’ll try to add it to the list!
It was very close to the intersection of Bay Area Blvd and Texas Avenue in Webster. A couple of doors down was a Marble Slab creamery! It’s still there. Think the SS was replaced by either a Tiff’s Treats or a spa that’s next door. Not sure the exact address.
595 W Bay Area. It became a Salad Express, but closed about 6 years ago.
There was a “Souper Salad” (singular) at 10985 Northwest Fwy Houston, TX 77092 (quick google search will verify and can still be seen in 2012 google street view). Was t his a different chain other that “Souper Salads”?
Yes, at some point Souper Salad dropped the plural from their name. No clue why though.
I like souper-salad but I never knew how broken of chain this place became. I mean, I noticed something was wrong when the incredibly popular location across the road from Irving mall shut down out of nowhere. According to it’s website there are only 18 locations remaining; which is baffling since I’ve never been to an empty souper-salad before.
Souper Salad’s Wikipedia page would have you believe their downfall was due to the 2000s recession. Honestly it seems that the company has always suffered from mismanagement. Hopefully they don’t close up shop completely.
My office used to go to Souper Salads every Monday. Do you remember a local restaurant called “George’s” on Washington Ave near the Heights? It was owned by an Iranian who cooked the best SOUL FOOD . We would go on “Thanksgiving-Thursdays”. it was a great little place back in early 2000s. Wish I knew what happened and when it closed.
Hmm, I’d never heard of George’s. Although I’ll try to research it!
You might want to check in with some of the Stages (and other local theater) folks from the late ’70s/early ’80s – I know some of them have slung stories about gigs at the restaurant.
Hrm. The only George’s On Washington I can remember was back in the late ’70s/early 80’s, in the space that became Club Hey Hey for a time. (Across Washington and about two doors east from Rockefeller’s.) Eventually, everything in that whole line of shops got swallowed up for new construction, which has since also been razed for newer mixed-use construction.
Now, there’s also Harry’s on Tuam at Bagby that’s done “Thanksgiving” turkey and dressing on Thursdays for decades. I used to walk past them on the way to work all the way back in 1991, and they were advertising that back then, and they’re still going strong with it now.
😮🥺I grew up in that area off of Washington avenue and my mom worked at George’s in the 70s.