How buffet restaurants make a profit
Let’s have something lighter – or heavier, as the case may be.
I always wanted to know how buffet restaurants manage to do well financially, because so many are rather inexpensive. And now I do.
Every now and then I go to an Asian buffet near me, or one in a town I visit frequently. Most Asian buffets are inedible, but these two are pretty good. Decent (but not fabulous) all you can eat sushi for twelve dollars? Along with a whole bunch of other stuff, like spare ribs (a weakness of mine)?
I am very selective at these places. I know exactly what I want, and I go for it. If I try anything new, I take a teeny tiny piece first, because I can always go back for more if it passes muster. It rarely does, and then I never touch the stuff again. So I may be one of the people the buffets make a significant amount of money off of, although I also might be considered average – in which case they still make a little bit of profit from me, according to the article.
We’ve got one around the Puget Sound area that is like a pizza/salad buffet that is pretty good. Pizza, breadsticks, mojo potatoes (is that a NW thing or national?) and a cinnamon roll.
Then don’t eat for two days.
Indian restaurants have great buffets. (Tom Nichols of the Naval War College loathes Indian food and fancies everyone else is pretending to like it. Another piece of evidence that we haven’t yet found the bottom of the Bulwarkist foolishness).
Great Indian and Asian buffets in Chico, Neo. I am positive you’d find them acceptable.
I once took a guy that worked for me to an all you can eat buffet at a farmer’s market down south.
When he went up the third time, I told the waitress to tell him that that was all he could eat.
It stunned him.
I prefer “almost all you can eat”.
Then I wouldn’t feel I have to meet the challenge.
I recently went on vacation and almost every dining experience (Hampton Inn all you can eat breakfast buffet, Christmas Day Buffet, a steakhouse we didn’t realize was buffet) was buffet.
The waste I saw was incredible. Almost full trays abandoned.
Then I thought, what happens when health care is all you can eat?
I quite liked that article. I haven’t eaten at a buffet myself out of choice in a very long time, but it was interesting to see the analysis.
Art Deco has a good point – the Indian buffet situation is a bit different, because usually it’s a Monday – Friday lunch buffet, at least around here; maybe sometimes on Saturdays, too, I suppose. As I wrote in one of my restaurant reviews for my coworkers, it is a cosmic law that Every Indian Restaurant In America Must Offer A Lunch Buffet. But the fact that such a buffet coexists under the same roof with a-la-carte makes the analysis of its returns more nuanced, I would imagine.
Their biggest issues are actually spoilage (too much food for too few arrivals — anything with chicken is particularly vulnerable to this) and contamination — people clumsily dropping the contents of one bin into another as they ladle it onto their plates. The latter is an even bigger percentage of the food costs at Salad Bars… I’m really surprised no one has applied the “Moe’s/Chipolte” model to an all you can eat salad bar.
The issue with Indian buffets is they’re all chicken and carbs. If you want to eat less carbs because of being borderline diabetic, the options are remarkably boring.
Ed Bonderenka,
Can you say UAW? Some 20 years ago or so, an investment analyst referred to General Motors as a healthcare company that manufactures automobiles as a sideline. And then they went broke, eventually.
Every restaurant is “all you can eat”. I know some bars that will decline to serve inebriated patrons, but I’ve never seen a restaurant decline to serve a glutton.
Serendipity. My wife and I realized that we have never taken our kids to a buffett ever in the 13 years we’ve been married so we decided to take them today.
I never thought I’d get tired of buffets, but a week in Vegas changed my mind.
I eat too much over a day’s time but I can’t eat too much at one time. When I have gone to buffets in the past I just filled my plate with enough stuff that looked good and when I was finished, that was enough. No seconds for me unless it was a small dessert and coffee. I would go along from time to time but most always I would prefer to order off of a menu, get the amount of food and the dish I wanted, eat it and be done.
I have made observations in the past of gluttons who come into all you can eat places, some in the three hundred or more pound range and watch them fill er up. That’s not a pretty sight, not anymore than doofus people at an event with an open bar and generous bar tender.
I have always found that buffets are poor deal for me- I can’t eat all that much in a single sitting. I suspect I am the norm. That and the economies of scale explain the profit.
However, I have seen people sneak food out buffets successfully.
We rarely eat at buffets for lunch or dinner. Neither of us can eat that much nor do we like most of the food being served.
But we certainly DO have a fondness for breakfast buffets.
When traveling we usually stay at a Hampton Inn. Yes, the breakfast buffet is ‘free’ … with the cost added to the room price. It is all you can eat.
But even then we probably don’t eat even the average amount. It is, however, extremely convenient to not have to worry about where to get breakfast while on vacation.
Here at home one of our favorite Sunday after Church places is a buffet that serves a brunch style meal until about 2pm. We get there at least twice a month with our friends.
Thanks for the very interesting article Neo.
Colleges have all, or mostly, gone to the multi-buffet model, for the same reason: faster throughput, fewer staff, cheaper bulk buys. Their advantage is knowing pretty much their volume of customers at any meal, give or take a few dozens.
AesopSpouse and I attend an annual week-long conference that only books college dorms & meeting rooms, because of the low cost, and the food has been outstanding at every venue.
One year, quite some time ago now, the dining hall at that college had just been remodeled and our group was the first to try it out, so the head chef would come around and ask our opinion about things (discounting for the fact that we were all 2 to 3 times the age of his normal clientele). One thing puzzled us: the small plates! He explained to us exactly what the article writer mentioned: “They use smaller plates. (Study: Smaller plate sizes reduce the amount of food consumed.)”
Even if a diner makes multiple trips to a serving station (or a variety of them), the small plate limits the amount taken each trip, and often (the chef said) the students wouldn’t bother to get up again once they had finished the first plate.
Big win for them on costs.
Tip for dieters: it also works at home.
If you are ever in the Denver Metro area, the best-ever buffet is Cinzzetti’s Italian Market Restaurant. Don’t plan to eat again for a week.
A more recent craze is the all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse (churrascaria). Prices are much higher than average (around $50). The different meat offerings are supposedly high quality, but many diners leave too little room because they’ve indulged on the salads and sides.
Whether we got our “money’s worth” out of a buffet was not much of a problem when eating out with five boys. However, what we liked most was the speed, convenience, and variety — there was always something for everyone.
We have several good churrascaria’s here. The first one I ever ate at was amazing; unfortunately, the owner had not mastered the making a profit part, and it closed shortly after opening, despite (or because of) its popularity.
When I was a kid my best friend lived with his divorced dad and one of the greatest things was when I would go with them to the buffet. It was perfect for the divorced circa 1980s dad because all you do is set the kid loose and work done and I enjoyed it because my mom and dad never even considered taking us there.
Good times.
Restaurants are notoriously tough ventures but it seems to me that buffets are even more so. In the town I grew up in there was a buffet that opened when I was a kid and to this day it is still going but has gone through numerous name and owners changes and has been traditional, Asian, Mexican, traditional again, Asian again and so on.
Haven’t been to a buffet in years–too many past regrets.
Thanks, Neo!!!!
I have always wondered, and the article was fascinating.
I used to do a weekly marketing meet-n-greet at an Asian buffet – which was OK, but eventually I would just do their Mongolian BBQ selection, which was – pick the meat option, add the vegetables and sauces and the cook would quickly stir-fry and serve over rice. It was freshly cooked, rather than from the steam tables. It was a busy place, so there was a lot of turn-around … but still, there was more than I wanted to eat for lunch for $10.
Interesting article but I found the comments even more so.
Argumentative, insulting, rude, foul mouthed … not for the faint of heart but curiously interesting
IMO, the heyday of the buffet was the 50s and ’60s (mostly). There were quite a few Swedish smørgasbords and Polish buffets (yum) with here and there an Austrian-German offering. And others I don’t remember, I think. Although Rockford had a good Swedish buffet (not quite a true Smørgasbord) through at least the early ’80s.
When John’s Old-Country Buffets started up, I thought they weren’t bad at all; but quality declined over the years. (And they got to looking bedraggled, I thought.)
I could usually find something to like at the bigger Oriental buffets, even if it was only the sugared biscuits fried like doughnuts. Otherwise, unimpressive. There used to be some good (not great) Chinese buffets in some of the small mom’n’pop restaurants, though. :>)
Haven’t had Indian buffets more than once or twice. But I really like Indian food (except, VERY easy pepper); blast & durn, I can’t get out to try the local Indian buffet.
The one that Frances McDormand frequented in Fargo looked super, I must say.
Personally, I take one small spoonful of what looks most interesting. Lather, rinse, repeat. Usually about three trips does it, but I stress again: SMALL spoonfuls. (I’m a little ethically allergic to taking more than I want or can eat. Although in the rare case where there are cocktail shrimp….)
Which prompts me to wonder whether New Orleans still has great buffets. And the Four Seasons in Chicago at Christmas was quite good, if you were going on Mr. Gates’s dime. :>)))
Interesting article, Neo. Thanks.
More or less confirms my own impressions. Wish I could get to Chicago for the “old”-fashioned Polish buffet! Miss Anna is right and deserves my custom. Good for her! :>)))
My parents used to take us kids to a buffet when we were young. When I was in college, the fraternity house did not serve food on weekends. There was an all-you-can-eat buffet in downtown Los Angeles called “Rands Roundup.” It looked like this one but was at Wilshire and Figueroa.
On Sunday, we would not eat all day and go there for dinner. They served prime rib, slicing off the servings and I’m sure they hated to see us. They never said anything, though.
Not on your life. Our local newspaper publishes a weekly summary of the county health department’s inspections of local restaurants, and the results for buffets are sickening. A typical violation is raw meat stored above raw vegetables in the fridge. Some are repeat offenders. I don’t know why they don’t get closed down.
Admittedly, only the restaurants with “high priority” violations are listed, so there may be some out there that are fine but whose names never or only rarely appear. But the buffets are represented well enough that I won’t take any chances.
My parents took my sister and me to buffets occasionally, although they were called cafeterias here in Ohio. I loved it. I could get fish and meat loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, lime jello and lemon meringue pie all in one meal! That is exactly what I would get at the cafeteria we patronized the most. I went home with a tummy ache each time.
Except for Hampton Inns on vacation, I haven’t set foot in one in 25 years. Last one was a top notch hotel in Atlanta for Sunday brunch. It was excellent and the Bloody Mary bar offered a meal in a beverage.
JimNorCal, yes, that struck me also about the comments section on the original article. Wow, some pretty cringe-inducing stuff in there, but you’re right, it was… interesting.
Now I gotta find someone to go to HomeTown Buffet with me.
Or, maybe, Golden Corral.
I’m not picky.
Geez, I knew he owned insurance companies and railroads and banks, but I didn’t know he owned restaurants, too!
I used to love all you can eat — from Denny’s weeknight specials (skipped Thursday’s liver & onions, loved their ribs. Tues? Wed?), thru college Mongolian BBQ (with lamb!).
In Slovakia, there are a couple Chinese places, with a higher/ lower price that includes sushi / or not.
But trying to lose a little weight means a lot less eating, and even then very little loss. My wife doesn’t think it’s worth it for her, and she’s not so keen on most of the selections. My older sons like it — the better, more expensive Shanghai has become a frequent birthday gift destination.
I don’t know of any places with prime rib here; neither buffet nor fancy restaurants. Few lobsters, too.
I didn’t find anything in the article to be a big surprise. Am I the only one?