Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The economics of all-you-can-eat buffets

thehustle.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 272 posts

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

#221

Post by vinayan3 »

rossdavidh wrote: post #179

"By 2030, the National Restaurant Association projects that 80% of all restaurant items will be eaten at home..." I doubt it. I'm not convinced that any of the delivery app companies are really making money; by 2030 they may not exist any more.

I'm not convinced by this trend either. Everyone who's gotten delivery has had food that doesn't travel and feels like they paid more for a worse quality product.

I hope that eat at restaurants will have a renaissance. It's nice to eat out, be in a different space than your home, etc...

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

#222

Post by stevenwoo »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #49
mod wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some people, getting their money's worth (literally: the food they eat cost the restaurant almost as much, or more than, the amount the customer paid to eat it) is the enjoyment. Several of my family members are this way.

Pretty sure that philosophy (sufficiently widespread) is what leads to the decline of societies.

A variation of that philosophy led to the end of a limited salad deal in China, supposedly patrons would stack their plates to an absurd height to get around the one plate limit. https://kotaku.com/how-chinese-ingenuity-destroyed-salad-bar...

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

#223

Post by blotter_paper »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #158
BurningFrog wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other nice thing is if you're on some unconventional diet (keto, vegan, kosher, etc), you can pick whatever fits your belief system that day.

This. I grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist, and buffets were a frequent dining choice for my family— only because it was possible to have a good lunch without any meat, and with as much dessert as one wanted.

I've never been a Seventh-day Adventist, but I've spent a significant amount of time around Seventh-day Adventists and attended their potlatches. For the sake of avoiding confusion for other readers I'll throw out that while vegetarianism and veganism seemed way more prevalent in that church than in the general population, neither is a universal practice within SDA. I have no idea what the numbers are, just that meat was an option at the potlatches I attended (as were many vegan and vegetarian dishes).

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

#224

Post by joe_the_user »

xenocyon wrote: post #132

The danger for consumers is assuming this is a zero-sum and that the converse economic goal applies to you (i.e. assuming that the consumer benefits by eating a lot or focusing on meat). I conjecture that after factoring in the economics of health and quality of life, the economic optimum for a typical buffet consumer is the same as for any other eater: to eat sparingly and in a balanced manner.

Yes,

To put it in game theory or economic terms, minimizing the buffer's utility function does not (necessarily) maximize your own utility function and vice-versa.

As a "game" the buffet has competitive and cooperative aspects - hiding some of the best stuff but still offering it to those who demand it.

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

#225

Post by toomuchtodo »

drcode wrote: post #182
cbanek wrote: post #131

I've got to shill for yet another all you can eat Polish buffet in Chicagoland that has been open for 40+ years. Warsaw Inn. That buffet is really amazing. So good! Go there. Eat all the different kinds of pierogies. But also, they mostly just serve polish food, and I don't remember much if any seafood around either. It seems like for different types of buffets you'd have different food costs. Like a sushi buffet pro…

LOL that place is so far South you might as well call it an "Indianapolisland" restaurant.

But 3 Floyd’s is right next store to pickup a six pack :)

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

#226

Post by TimTheTinker »

blotter_paper wrote: post #223
TimTheTinker wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I grew up as a Seventh-day Adventist, and buffets were a frequent dining choice for my family— only because it was possible to have a good lunch without any meat, and with as much dessert as one wanted.

I've never been a Seventh-day Adventist, but I've spent a significant amount of time around Seventh-day Adventists and attended their potlatches. For the sake of avoiding confusion for other readers I'll throw out that while vegetarianism and veganism seemed way more prevalent in that church than in the general population, neither is a universal practice within SDA. I have no idea what the numbers are, just that meat…

There’s definitely a range. I was a 4th generation SDA on both sides of the family - both of which were pretty strictly observant, though my parents were a little less so. Meat was absolutely off the table (haha). And I don’t know if we ever went to an SDA function where it was. Perhaps that has changed since we left 20 years ago.

Buffets were really a big part of Sabbath afternoons for many of my childhood years, and we knew many other SDAs for whom it was the same. The local SDA hospital still has a Hometown Buffet nearby that hasn’t been closed yet.

(We were non-strict enough to allow paying for something on Sabbath — though that would have crossed the line for many people we knew.)

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

#227

Post by bobthepanda »

bobbiechen wrote: post #213
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This probably depends a lot on autonomous vehicles. Right now VC money is subsidizing deliveries, but that's mostly subsidizing the driver. Especially for items like this, because if you take the driver out of the equation and create purpose-built autonomous vehicles that aren't intended to have human occupants, they can be much smaller and don't have to worry about passenger safety. You could have autonomous electri…

Right. There's a startup which uses cute small robots to deliver food in Berkeley right now [1]. There are still a lot of humans in the loop - handling the actual pickup, remote-controlling the robots from Columbia - but even so that could save money compared to having a local driver in a car to make the whole delivery. [1] https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Kiwibots-win-fa...

Interesting. What happens if someone attempts to rob the robot?

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

#228

Post by wombatpm »

cbanek wrote: post #131

I've got to shill for yet another all you can eat Polish buffet in Chicagoland that has been open for 40+ years. Warsaw Inn. That buffet is really amazing. So good! Go there. Eat all the different kinds of pierogies. But also, they mostly just serve polish food, and I don't remember much if any seafood around either. It seems like for different types of buffets you'd have different food costs. Like a sushi buffet pro…

Thanks. I’ve been looking for a good Polish buffet ever since Bobak’s closed.

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

#229

Post by ghaff »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #219
ckdarby wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I figure most people just take a little bit of everything the first round to figure out what they liked and then come back for more.

As a paid speaker who goes to a lot of conferences, I always eat way less than if I’m out at a social gathering. Partly it’s the professionalism - even in these mixer situations, I’m at work and with a client that’s paying a (comparatively) lot of money for me, and demonstrating my ability to down eight plates then back up for dessert isn’t great brand positioning. There’s also the volume of food at conferences. If I…

One of the big changes I’ve made the past few years to my benefit is that, at conferences, I started making a point of not eating, especially mediocre food, at events just because it’s available for “free.” I basically never eat 3 meals a day and if I try to I start feeling really bloated.

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

#230

Post by Melting_Harps »

jasoneckert wrote: post #68

I stopped going to all-you-can-eat buffets years ago for the simple reason that you don't stop eating when you're full - you stop eating when you hate yourself. If the number of all-you-can-eat buffets drops, it's likely because society is starting to advocate healthier lifestyles in my opinion.

> you don't stop eating when you're full - you stop eating when you hate yourself...

>>If the number of all-you-can-eat buffets drops, it's likely because society is starting to advocate healthier lifestyles in my opinion.

The last one I went to gave me a stark realization of what was taking place, I got there with 45 mins left as I was in the same shopping center going hard on upper body workouts at the gym in order to build an appetite and decided an afterwork out steam was a good idea. They were slow paced with anything but my drinks as I was sitting at the bar--which were really reasonable, $1 tea, $4 generic sake! So I ordered several of each.

My apps (veg and shrimp tempura) were most of my meal, it wasn't until the last 8 mins left for Lunch order that they dropped off another paper menu thing, but I saw the people left in the restaurant and they didn't look healthy at all. Most were obese and possibly diabetic, they had tons of sugary drinks all around them alcoholic and non alike.

I just ate like 10 pieces of nigiri (like 1/6 of the sushi I normally could put down at most ala-carte places if I'm really hungry) because I realized that this behaviour of excess is not sustainable let alone satisfying--I left oddly satiated after my tamago-yaki, regardless of the amount I ate.

Because as you said, most of the time you go to these places you eat until you have a sense of loathing about what you've done to yourself.

Post reply on HN