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The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

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Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#11

Post by owl57 »

d33 wrote: post #4

I saw a great solution to the over-eating problem in one sushi spot in Italy. Not exactly a buffer, but you could pay upfront and order as much as you want per person. The caveat is that you can only order four servings at once and you pay the full a'la carte price for everything you hadn't fully eaten.

you pay the full a'la carte price for everything you hadn't fully eaten

I've heard of a game in university: two players take their meals in the cafeteria, the one with the more expensive lunch wins, the other one pays for both. Rules: you must eat everything and you take only one portion of anything (this is not a caviar-eating contest).

Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#12

Post by lqet »

_ph_ wrote: post #10

While very occasionally a buffet can be fun, I usually consider them not so great an experience. Yes, it is nice to be able to decide yourself the relative composition of ingredients, like adding the extra piece of meat or a lot of your favorite vegetable, but too often you end out with a strange mix of stuff on your plate. A plate, which as described in the article, usually is to small of this. So while you might ge…

> but too often you end out with a strange mix of stuff on your plate

Bingo. When presented with a buffet, people (myself included) usually have a fear of "missing out" the good stuff, so they just load a little bit of everything to their plate. At a buffet, you usually don't have the information about (1) how filling an individual ingredient is and (2) how well they go together. So each and every time, you end up with too much food which doesn't really combine. In the end, you leave too full and slightly unsatisfied. On a menu, the individual menus or plates have been tested for months against the cooks and guests, and the kitchen has adjusted plates which were always returned with leftovers to be smaller and/or removed meals that led to too much complaints

So basically, on a buffet you will get an untested meal designed by someone usually not competent enough to design it (you), every time.

Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#14

Post by wtmt »

According to Drawdown, reducing food waste is the top individual action one can take to reduce one’s impact on climate change. Buffets tend to be quite wasteful and/or encourage serving older food a lot more than a la carte orders. There could be some exceptions, such as buffets in hotels where it’s included in the room rent and is a lot easier to plan for (the quantities) based on the number of guests and the guest demographics.

As a consumer, if you want value for money in a buffet, the best bets, IMO, are fresh foods and/or the ones that aren’t processed much. All the high sugar and high fat processed foods tend to be made with low quality ingredients while also being terrible for health. Also focus on enjoying the variety with smaller quantities of everything you’d like to eat rather than trying to eat a lot more than your usual appetite.

Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#16

Post by katzgrau »

The only thing I found more interesting than all-you-can-eat buffets actually turning a profit is that there are business people who are apparently content running a business with such slim margins.

This article quotes a 5% margin. I know food industry margins are low in the first place, but as a business owner in a different field I'm left wondering why anyone would even bother. The same business prowess and attention to detail you need to make a buffett run profitably could get you very far in another industry.

Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#17

Post by learnstats2 »

wtmt wrote: post #14

According to Drawdown, reducing food waste is the top individual action one can take to reduce one’s impact on climate change. Buffets tend to be quite wasteful and/or encourage serving older food a lot more than a la carte orders. There could be some exceptions, such as buffets in hotels where it’s included in the room rent and is a lot easier to plan for (the quantities) based on the number of guests and the guest…

It's unclear to me why buffets would be more wasteful than other restaurants, particularly in climate change terms.

There's some contradiction in what you've said about minimising waste and demanding fresh foods. If we stick to only the freshest foods, then we waste a lot more.

Surely being able to serve in quantity creates positive economies of scale.

Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#18

Post by generalpass »

katzgrau wrote: post #16

The only thing I found more interesting than all-you-can-eat buffets actually turning a profit is that there are business people who are apparently content running a business with such slim margins. This article quotes a 5% margin. I know food industry margins are low in the first place, but as a business owner in a different field I'm left wondering why anyone would even bother. The same business prowess and attenti…

> The only thing I found more interesting than all-you-can-eat buffets actually turning a profit is that there are business people who are apparently content running a business with such slim margins.

> This article quotes a 5% margin. I know food industry margins are low in the first place, but as a business owner in a different field I'm left wondering why anyone would even bother. The same business prowess and attention to detail you need to make a buffett run profitably could get you very far in another industry.

This is because you are assuming entrepreneurs act only for the purpose of profit.

Entrepreneurs act for the same reason all people act: to achieve their desired ends. These ends are established based on emotional desires, which do not necessarily correlate with things like maximum ROI.

Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#19

Post by cesarb »

_ph_ wrote: post #10

While very occasionally a buffet can be fun, I usually consider them not so great an experience. Yes, it is nice to be able to decide yourself the relative composition of ingredients, like adding the extra piece of meat or a lot of your favorite vegetable, but too often you end out with a strange mix of stuff on your plate. A plate, which as described in the article, usually is to small of this. So while you might ge…

I have the opposite opinion. I eat several times per week at self-service buffets (they're very common around here, though it's almost always paid per weight), and it's much better than traditional restaurants. Instead of a small selection of dishes you might not like (or have components you might not like; it's especially bad for non-meat-eaters, since usually only one or two of the choices are not meat), in a way too big portion, and taking a long time to get ready, you can choose only components you like, in the amount you want, and you don't have to wait. Yes, occasionally a traditional restaurant can be fun, and when you get lucky the quality of the food can be great, but I usually consider them not so great an experience.

Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

#20

Post by wtmt »

learnstats2 wrote: post #17
wtmt wrote: post #14

According to Drawdown, reducing food waste is the top individual action one can take to reduce one’s impact on climate change. Buffets tend to be quite wasteful and/or encourage serving older food a lot more than a la carte orders. There could be some exceptions, such as buffets in hotels where it’s included in the room rent and is a lot easier to plan for (the quantities) based on the number of guests and the guest…

It's unclear to me why buffets would be more wasteful than other restaurants, particularly in climate change terms. There's some contradiction in what you've said about minimising waste and demanding fresh foods. If we stick to only the freshest foods, then we waste a lot more. Surely being able to serve in quantity creates positive economies of scale.

In my observation, buffet customers tend to attempt to eat a lot more by filling their plates with a lot more than they can handle. This is because they’ve already paid for it and believe that eating more is the way to get more value for money. Once they’re in the middle of the meal, they realize that they cannot finish it and that gets wasted. With a la carte, you’d at least have the option of taking the leftovers home.
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