Guess the owners would not appreciate the local Keto meetup having an event at their buffet.
Depends. There are enough cheap cuts for slow cooking - and you could always drawn your meats in sugary sauces anyway.
The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
71–80 of 272 posts
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#72The 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…
I've seen some of my "cost plus fee" government contracts I've worked on in the past; the fee (profit) was only around ~3.5%.
Not saying this is a typical fee on government contracts, but the company I was working for (big dollar government contractor) was happy with that.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#73The trick is cheap food and tons of glutamate.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#74I've seen a number of instances where "all-you-can-eat" rapidly devolves into "all-you-can-find" - where expensive items simply don't get refilled until the big eaters go away. We went to a Churrasco place one time with my startup team and the staff more or less spent half the allotted time essentially hiding from us. It was comical, but expensive. The other aspect of buffets is that frequently the food is quite drea…
The "better" all-you-can-eats are priced accordingly. The Bellagio in Las Vegas had a seafood thing that cost north of $40, if I remember correctly. The crab legs get constantly refilled, they also had giant prawns. This was years ago so it may not exist any longer. Founding Farmers in DC has a brunch thing, also expensive, but the lox tray is never empty. The surprise in the bill is the cost of drinks, espressos and mimosas add up quickly. I wonder if there's a different economic model for the more upscale all-you-can-eats. The food choices is more appealing all around.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#75The 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…
I think the average margin might be misleading. After all, most restaurants fail pretty quickly. That number could be skewed by the unsuccessful businesses. But I think it’s an interesting point. Why fight all day long for a 5% margin when you could put your money in index funds?
They might not have enough money to just put it in index funds and live off the dividends. So they have to work, and the business pays their wages
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#76The 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…
I've seen some of my "cost plus fee" government contracts I've worked on in the past; the fee (profit) was only around ~3.5%. Not saying this is a typical fee on government contracts, but the company I was working for (big dollar government contractor) was happy with that.
Sure but in that case the risk is small and the base is large.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there are business people who are apparently content running a business with such slim margins ... I'm left wondering why anyone would even bother A percentage margin is expressed relative to the value of the sales. Low margin on high value sales is as good as high margin on low value sales, in terms of how much money you make. Low margin is only a problem in low value sales. Why shouldn’t people running a business…
We're talking about all-you-can-eat buffets. I don't think they're selling a jumbo-jets worth of food a day.
The size of the US restaurant industry revenue in 2019 is "projected to total $863 billion in 2019 and equal 4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product." [1]. Compared to $467 billion for the global software industry [2], or $19.1 for the global music industry [3].
I think there is some money to be made selling food.
[1] https://restaurant.org/Downloads/PDFs/Research/SOI/restauran... [2] https://www.statista.com/forecasts/963597/software-revenue-i... [3] https://www.ifpi.org/news/IFPI-GLOBAL-MUSIC-REPORT-2019
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
> there are business people who are apparently content running a business with such slim margins ... I'm left wondering why anyone would even bother A percentage margin is expressed relative to the value of the sales. Low margin on high value sales is as good as high margin on low value sales, in terms of how much money you make. Low margin is only a problem in low value sales. Why shouldn’t people running a business…
My expectation would be that if you’re used to operating in a high margin business you have ample room for error or fluctuation in conditions. In a low margin business, you don’t have such room for error, and you actually have to fluctuate with conditions. This isn’t a deal breaker: most business operate this way! But it’s scary for someone looking in from a high margin business.
Some businesses are inherently more controllable: for example, you cant expect 5% accuracy on NASA building a telescope that has never been done before but you can expect +% accuracy on the price of commodity product
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#79I'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 happen…
Reconstituted fish product (Surimi). You probably ate a ton of it.
BTW, its really bad for the environment because it encourages overfishing.
Re: The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets
#80The 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…
I think the average margin might be misleading. After all, most restaurants fail pretty quickly. That number could be skewed by the unsuccessful businesses. But I think it’s an interesting point. Why fight all day long for a 5% margin when you could put your money in index funds?
Because a 5% margin doesn't translate to a 5% annual return on investment.
Also at many small restaurants the owner and the owner's family is also working full time, and that 5% margin doesn't include their salaries.