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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

#231

Post by Melting_Harps »

asdkhadsj wrote: post #97
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.

Hell, I struggle with even normal restaurants. I like going out, my wife and I can afford it, but I feel like I'm going out for the freshly, crispy yummy food.. and yet, I always end up taking half of it home because they hand me a massive plate. I'm thinking next time we go out we'll try and get the same thing and split a plate. .. and then tip as if we ordered 2 plates because I feel guilty to the server. Hah.

> I'm thinking next time we go out we'll try and get the same thing and split a plate. .. and then tip as if we ordered 2 plates because I feel guilty to the server. Hah.

The server isn't the one making the food so no reason to feel guilty, splitting an entree is normal, but if you really want to help out the restaurant (assuming you do this often and at the same place) order more drinks from the bar or preferably a bottle of wine for the table.

That does more for the entire staff, than just the server who quite frankly earns way more than they provide to the operation.

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

#232

Post by diffeomorphism »

lonelappde wrote: post #209
diffeomorphism wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't loss aversion more relevant to this? You already paid for all this, so you would "lose money" by not eating more.

You mean sunk cost? Loss aversion from the buffet would depend on how much food is available, not how much you paid.

Sunk cost fits better. I think loss aversion is however also not a bad fit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost#Loss_aversion

One is: I already paid, therefore I should eat. The other is: I paid for infinity, therefore I should eat more.

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

#233

Post by ThrustVectoring »

The labor advantages for buffet-style restaurants generalizes - you eliminate a lot of downtime due to timing variability when you switch from make-to-order to make-to-inventory, reducing labor costs significantly. You can get this without a buffet model in restaurants, most notably with the conveyor-belt sushi restaurants that charge per dish you take.

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

#234

Post by csomar »

danans wrote: post #112
learc83 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> that 5% margin doesn't include their salaries. This is something that often seems lost in this discussion. The profit margin is usually after the owners themselves have taken a salary. If they are paying for themselves appropriately, and the margin is 0%, this is often described as "making no money". What's making no money here is the business as an entity, not the owner, despite the frequent rhetorical conflation…

They might also be optimizing for taxes by heavily re-investing, charging personal stuff on the expense account (like car/gas/travel)... That makes it look like they are doing badly while they are doing okay.

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

#235

Post by fit2rule »

exdsq wrote: post #185
fit2rule wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reconstituted fish product (Surimi). You probably ate a ton of it. BTW, its really bad for the environment because it encourages overfishing.

I’ve been to a few sushi buffets in Helsinki and I can guarantee it wasn’t surimi after googling to see what that would look like. It was almost entirely salmon and tuna.

That may be the case and I don't doubt your view, but you'd be surprised at how good the Surimi manufacturers are at producing "sushi analogs" these days ..

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

#236

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

hsyqiwgx wrote: post #189
GordonS wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't be so sure about keto. Buffet restaurants rely on serving cheap ingredients, which essentially means carbohydrates.

Crab legs and beef with broccoli come to mind.

Are crab legs at buffets realy crab? Surely passing off surimi as crab would be more cost-effective.

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

#237

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

Jommi wrote: post #56

I'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…

In Helsinki and in Finland more generally, the owners of all-you-can eat Asian buffets are not paying their workers anything close to a normal local wage. The workers are either family members of the owners, or people from the same close-knit region, or even trafficked labour, and they work for a pittance. Since cost of labour is a key reason for high prices in Finnish restaurants, it is no surprise that the Asian buffets are able to offer more food for less money.

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

#238

Post by Latty »

leetcrew wrote: post #214
therealdrag0 wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean delivery has always been a thing. Before the delivery-app-err it was maybe mostly pizza, but I don't see why delivery in general can't still be a major thing. Also take out is always an option!

it's pretty hard to make delivery work if you (the business) have to pay the delivery person yourself. the key issue is that one person just can't deliver that many orders in an hour. food has to be sent out soon after it is made so it doesn't get cold (although you can do some amount of staging by keeping it on top of an oven). once the food is in the car, you have an even harder time constraint to have it still be…

Here in the UK, delivery was standard well before apps—almost every local take-away offered delivery if you phoned up and ordered.

Maybe just because the UK is smaller and so they need to cover less distance? I often see people talking about grocery delivery the same way, when all the major supermarkets have been doing it as standard here in the UK for years.

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

#239

Post by audiometry »

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.

I’m coming to a Beazley course in Andersonville this spring. Any good polish restaurants to suggest in the area?

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

#240

Post by imtringued »

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 higher the margin the more inefficient the market.
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