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The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
51–60 of 272 posts
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#52The other technique not mentioned here is for buffets to just stop refilling the higher cost items on the buffet if a group of big eaters comes in. then let them sit empty while the diners fill up on potatoes or what not, before finally refilling them.
Usually, they refill all you ask for.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#53[deleted]
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#54There's one Argentinian buffet in Madrid (in Plenilunio mall if someone is interested) with an unusual system: they bring the food around the tables and you pick what you want. Most of it is barbecued meat. I avoid going there because I can't help eating too much every time.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#55They mention Golden Corral. They save money, notoriously, by serving "Dumpster-Aged" ribs.
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1hubzj/all_you_can_...
There's even an ad they ran that featured this:
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#56I'm still at awe of the Sushi Buffet thing that you can see all around in Helsinki, Finland. So far I have not seen anything like it, anywhere else in the world.
Usually the price you pay is 10€ for an unrestricted and no time limit access to eating sushi.
And the sushi is incredibly okay! It's nothing compared to stuff you find Tokyo ofcourse, but the price for quality is literally unbeatable.
And all this is happening in a city where restaurant prices for main dish are usually around 18-20€.
What am I missing?
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#57>The big buffet chains that once dotted the Midwest have been hit the hardest: Old Country Buffet is down to 17 of its 350 original locations; HomeTown Buffet has closed 217 of its 250 eateries; Ryan’s Buffet has downsized from 400 to 16.
I am not surprised.
I went to an Old Country Buffet about two decades ago during the time I was working in a hospital kitchen. I recognized a lot of their dishes from work, they were serving the same lowest quality cheap food that we served to the patients.
Now Old Country Buffet has to compete with the variety of high-quality restaurants we have available today. Customer's tastes have changed and now eating a reasonable amount of higher quality food seems more desirable than eating unlimited hospital food.
There are high quality buffets thought, Indian buffets are the best thing ever. But the low quality ones are dying out.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#58There's one Argentinian buffet in Madrid (in Plenilunio mall if someone is interested) with an unusual system: they bring the food around the tables and you pick what you want. Most of it is barbecued meat. I avoid going there because I can't help eating too much every time.
That's the typical way of barbecue restaurants in Brazil. We have it for barbecue, pizza, and japanese food actually.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#59According 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…
Obesity has been linked to climate change in many studies. Here's a summary of one typical example:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/another-reason-to-combat-t...
People in developed countries eating more food than they need is very wasteful, not just in food production, but the extra fuel needed to transport these people, the extra material needed to clothe these people, etc.
Anybody who's overweight or obese can't be credible if they act concerned about climate change and won't do something as simple (and without cost) as eating less food.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#60The 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…
>but as a business owner in a different field I'm left wondering why anyone would even bother. Because they don't have a choice.
They have a choice.
An economic profit is defined as making enough profit (and intangible benefit) to not want to do something else.
For a small business owner it's "am I better off selling it off and getting a regular job?"
For a larger chain, it's "is there a more profitable line of business?"