The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by jamcool »

Some of us remember Pancho’s Mexican Buffet in the Southwest...your first round was down the aisle cafeteria style....you wanted more at your table-“just run up the flag”
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 1st, 2020, 1:36 am If you sit there and have employees bring you unlimited amounts of food, how does the restaurant make money?
The short answer is you can't. The whole business model of these places is to operate with as little labor as possible and make the customer do most of the work. That's the entire concept behind self-serve dating back to the evolution from the general store becoming the supermarket. It's kind of a "cutting out the middleman" concept. You take that away it inevitably will lead to higher prices to make up for added costs and the average consumer will likely say thanks but no thanks.
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by BillyGr »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: September 1st, 2020, 9:29 am
Alpha8472 wrote: September 1st, 2020, 1:36 am If you sit there and have employees bring you unlimited amounts of food, how does the restaurant make money?
The short answer is you can't. The whole business model of these places is to operate with as little labor as possible and make the customer do most of the work. That's the entire concept behind self-serve dating back to the evolution from the general store becoming the supermarket. It's kind of a "cutting out the middleman" concept. You take that away it inevitably will lead to higher prices to make up for added costs and the average consumer will likely say thanks but no thanks.
While not something that was an all the time thing, one example of a restaurant that did that fairly commonly was Howard Johnson back when they were a big chain. They had days with an all you can eat (clams, fish and probably at least one more) which was all done served to table (before they even went into having salad bars and later serve yourself buffets).

Also, with this if they are basically setting it up as a buffet then serving it to customers at tables, that makes it fairly easy to switch back to serve yourself when rules allow and people are more comfortable doing so. So it may turn out to be only a way to keep people coming in short term.
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by storewanderer »

One I can think of is Red Robin with unlimited fries, and it is all handled by the server (or I guess the Ziosk now).

Also Sizzler has done some unlimited shrimp or similar type of promotions over the years with the "shrimp" part handled by the server. Then if you had the salad bar that part would have been self serve.

We had a Furr's in Reno when I was very young and it was not a self serve buffet, it was a cafeteria. You took a tray and went "down the line" and asked for things which were served in portions, then there was a cash register at the end where you paid. I think they had certain items self serve pre-portioned (puddings and such). I suppose they may have changed in 30 years. Furr's converted to something called a Zoo-Kinis which I think was a buffet format but don't remember. It wasn't open long. Zoo-Kinis seemed very half-hearted, like perhaps whoever ran the Furr's tried to run it as an independent business or something. The location underwent an extensive remodel and opened as JJ North Grand Buffet which had a surprisingly long run as the place was terrible, and now has been something called a King Buffet for 10-15 years (still looks just as JJ North left it inside).

Some casino buffets have reopened and they are following this model as well- employee serve, but still all you can eat. I do think the employee serving could serve as a buffer of sorts to create some portion control. I am just not sure if the loss of efficiency will cost more than whatever they save on portion control. It is also important in buffets to have a high turnover of food so items remain fresh and of good quality. Low volume is not the model that will work for buffets.

Long term we will see what happens. Places like casinos may sustain these operations with increased labor but I am not sure they will be able to survive as freestanding businesses with increased labor.
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by storewanderer »

Hometown AYCE Marketplace - "All you can eat, without leaving your seat."

One of the better slogans I've heard in a while.

Will be interesting to see how long they can survive.
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by bm11k »

In Related News, Sizzler just filed for Ch. 11 Banruptcy
https://www.nrn.com/casual-dining/sizzl ... bankruptcy
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by Alpha8472 »

Sizzler was founded in 1958 and was one of the first fast casual dining steakhouses for the masses. The company used to have hundreds of restaurants throughout the Western United States in the 1970s and 80s. They made affordable steakhouses available to average income people. Years ago steak was more of an expensive upper income thing. Then it became more mainstream. Sizzler changed that perception significantly.

Sizzler is now limited mainly to California where indoor dining in most places is banned. It is difficult to run this type of restaurant outdoors. The labor of employees constantly walking outside would be nightmare and there is usually not enough room in the parking lot for many tables. However, I have seen a Black Angus with a gigantic inflatable outdoor tent that could hold perhaps 50 people.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on September 23rd, 2020, 3:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by Super S »

Alpha8472 wrote: September 23rd, 2020, 5:03 am Sizzler was founded in 1958 and was one of the first fast casual dining steakhouses for the masses. The company used to have hundreds of restaurants throughout the Western United States in the 1970s and 80s. They made affordable steakhouses available to average income people. Years ago steak was more of an expensive upper income thing. Then it became more mainstream. Sizzler changed that perception significantly.

Sizzler is now limited mainly to California where indoor dining in most places is banned. It is difficult to run this type of restaurant outdoors. The labor of employees constantly walking outside would be nightmare and there is usually not enough room in the parking lot for many tables. However, I have seen a Blank Angus with a gigantic inflatable outdoor tent that could hold perhaps 50 people.
Sizzler in recent years though seemed to downplay the steak and seafood portion of their operation and heavily pushed the buffet which, in my opinion, leaves a lot to be desired compared to the true buffet chains. Sizzler at one point offered a variety of fresh fish of the day choices which I haven't seen in a long time.

There is a Sizzler in Longview, WA that has been open a LONG time, and probably dates at least to the early-mid 1980s. It has been remodeled a few times. I haven't been there since they reopened after the Covid shutdown, but will say that the quality has seen a slow decline over the years...it used to be one of the better Sizzlers in the chain but the last few times I ate there (before Covid) it seemed to be struggling. I usually like Sizzler but think they need to focus a little more on their main menu and less on the buffet.
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by SamSpade »

Pocatello, Idaho Golden Corral closed.
https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/ ... ca115.html
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Re: The Future of Buffets, Salad Bars, and Self Serve?

Post by Brian Lutz »

Spent the past week in the Orlando area, and while we were there we visited a Cici's Pizza on Highway 192 in Kissimmee. As far as I can tell the buffet was operating more or less normally, albeit with a few changes. Aside from the usual hand sanitizer and other precautions, they had a container of clean spatulas out at the front of the pizza line, with the intent that each person would take one, use it for their trip through the line, and then place it in a container at the end for washing.. Similarly on the salad bar there was a container of tongs for one-time use. Some items (such as the pasta) still had serving spoons in them. Masks were also required when not sitting at your table (as is typical; Orange County still has mask mandates in place.)

That said, there were several Cici's locations in the area that were either temporarily or permanently closed when we were there(although that might be more a matter of reduced demand in the Disney/Sea World / Universal tourist area than anything.) In general, most places we visited while we were there were relatively quiet, although early January isn't exactly a busy time for the theme parks even without the current situation. A number of other restaurants in the Apopka-Vineland Road corridor (Highway 535) where we were staying had also shut down as well.

I also saw that several Golden Corral locations were open in the area as well, but don't know what they were doing. I imagine a similar system of one-time-use serving utensils was being employed.
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