If too much of an item is prepared and sits in a chafing dish all evening, it's money down the drain. All that aside, there's more going on at buffet restaurants than meets the eye.
It may not be obvious to diners, but buffets are often arranged with painstaking detail to guide diners so they are more likely to fill their plates in a manner that leads to full stomachs and fatter margins.
Pricier items on the buffet line — like meat or fish — are cut into smaller pieces. Rationally, a person would just take two pieces instead of one. But in reality, a diner is more likely to follow society's unwritten rule, taking a single smaller piece and moving on down the line. The size of serving dishes further plays on our conscience. If there's a small chafing dish with a few pieces of baked haddock, we're a lot less likely to take more than one piece.
At the big, full trays of potatoes and rice, we're more likely to scoop out a heaping spoonful. And those starchy, filling, lower-cost items are often positioned earlier in the line, leaving you with less room on your plate by the time you reach that meat. If that weren't enough, smaller serving utensils also help reinforce the behaviors that benefit the restaurant. Spoons in the inexpensive starches are big. Tongs, spatulas, or forks used to move more expensive proteins to your plate may be smaller, and less geared toward moving large quantities of food at a time.
To the diner, that doesn't seem like a bad deal. The food's what you came for, and there's plenty of it.
Old Country Buffet used to include the cost of drinks in its buffet price. It stopped that practice, and for good reason. The Foolish bottom line Buffets are not an easy game. It takes the right mix of menu items, the right balance between cost and quality, and meticulous attention to operational details for these restaurants to succeed. It also takes a keen understanding of the psychology involved to subtly guide diners toward filling their plates with say, red bliss potatoes before they make it to the Hickory Bourbon Beef Brisket.
But companies like Golden Corral -- which now has nearly restaurants and opens a new buffet about every three weeks -- have been able to navigate the potential pitfalls and find long-term success.
And one of the ways they've been able to do so is by staying a step ahead of not just the competition -- but of their own customers. Discounted offers are only available to new members. But one has to wonder: How does an industry that encourages its customers to maximize consumption stay in business?
To find out, we spoke with industry experts, chefs, and buffet owners. When you go to an all-you-can-eat buffet, you pay a single fixed price regardless of how much you consume. We analyzed the prices of 30 all-you-can-eat buffets across the country, taking into account a variety of factors: Geographic region, size of the buffet independent vs. Delivered weekdays plus a bonus Sunday feature. Unsubscribe whenever. Buffets often break even on food and eke out a profit by minimizing the cost of labor.
Because margins are so slim, buffets rely on high foot traffic : At Golden Corral, a buffet chain with locations in 42 states, dining floors are 5k-square-feet and seat people. The volume of food required to satiate all-you-can-eaters on a daily basis can be staggering. Each year, Ovation Brands, the owner of multiple major buffet chains, serves up 85m dinner rolls, 47m pounds of chicken, and 6m pounds of steak — Waste reduction is a key focus of any successful buffet and a frequent tactic is reusing food.
Buffets are also able to save money by utilizing economies of scale and buying food in bulk. Using data from a wholesale food supplier, we worked out the approximate cost per serving of a few popular buffet items. By nature, buffets attract the very customers they wish to avoid: Big eaters with insatiable appetites.
But what happens when a customer ignores these tricks and devours a Godzilla-sized portion of food? Is it possible to — dare we ask — out-eat the all-you-can-eat buffet? While the buffet might lose money on a small number of meat gluttons, it handily makes it back on those who under -consume or only eat the cheaper foods.
Every buffet owner we talked to had a few war stories about dealing with policy abusers. Other proprietors have taken more extreme measures. Over the years, buffets have made headlines for kicking out guests who eat too much :.
In the past 20 years, more than 1. Ovation Brands, the conglomerate that owns these chains, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 3 times since Industry experts attribute this decline, in part, to the spread of food delivery apps. For 30 years, she has served guests a Polish-themed spread that includes kielbasa, schnitzel, and pierogi.
Her secret? Sticking to the roots of what first made buffets popular in the s: excess and variety. Privacy policy. Generic filters Hidden label. Hidden label. The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets Is it possible to out-eat the price you pay for a buffet? No wonder all-you-can-eat-buffets are everywhere! Good question! We are here to explain how AYCE buffets earn their profit. Buffets have a flexible menu scheme.
This means that they can choose to serve beverages and foods that are cheap and have easily available ingredients. It will just look like the restaurant is good at preparing a wide range of food choices.
If you buy in bulk, the total cost of your ingredients would be cheaper, and you get the best deals from your suppliers. Now, another great business tactic that AYCE buffets use is they know what ingredients are in season. For example, their management has a strategic plan of what recipes they would choose when summer vegetables are in season. You may not realize it, but AYCE buffets often use half-sized plates and utensils.
You can always go back for more, and it prevents food waste. Ultimately, it can lead you to eat less than expected. Most buffets would fill their food choices with starchy choices such as mashed potatoes, potato salads, different fried rice recipes, different types of pasta recipes, and so on.
When you enter a buffet hall, you will notice that most of the food that you will first see consists of pasta, rice, vegetables, bread, and potatoes. You may also notice that when it comes to expensive foods, designated restaurant staff will be there to assist you with your serving.
This is where we often see a line in waiting. Another psychological technique of buffet restaurants is that they give their customers many choices. Our minds get too excited about this idea.
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