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

marshd1000
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 587
Joined: March 2nd, 2009, 1:46 pm
Been thanked: 12 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by marshd1000 »

Post COVID-19, will there still be self serve all you can eat buffets? The industry used to have chains like Royal Fork, King’s Table, Roy’s Chuckwagon and JJ North’s. The amount of national players has decrease in terms of traditional American food buffets. The two remaining ones I can think of are Golden Corral and the various brands of Buffets Inc (Ryan’s, Old Country Buffet, etc). Golden Corral has been the stronger player. But will it survive, post COVID? Then there are health oriented salad, bakery, pasta and soup places like Soup Plantation/Sweet Tomatoes and Sooper Salad. Fresh Choice/Zoopa already being eliminated from the mix. Then there are hybrid restaurants like Sizzler and Izzy’s with their buffet bars. Also other pizza chains with salad bars and even the occasional KFC buffet! Plus there are many supermarkets and company cafeterias with salad bars that are priced per pound. Albertsons Cos wing bars. Not to mention many Asian buffets! I honestly can’t see any of them with their current business model following a post COVID germaphobe world! Not criticizing germaphobes at this point, as I loved buffets but now am leary! Maybe some could end up like Pancho’s Mexican buffets that exist in the Southwest. At Pancho’s, you don’t serve yourself but you point and a server dishes up the food for you! When you are wanting more, you raise a Mexican flag at your table and a server asks what you want more of! It seems to work for them. But can others adapt to this model? I am not too sure? What are your thoughts on this?
cjd
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 624
Joined: August 18th, 2018, 6:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 6 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by cjd »

I never really liked the self-serve stations at supermarkets myself and preferred everything be served by employees.

As for buffets, I think they will probably in the long run, be back to normal, business wise. IF they can survive during a low period. If not, they will come back at some point in the future, because people tend to forget things and go back to their old patterns after things pass, be that as it may.

I remember hearing about in the 1980s how the Rajneesh Indian sex cult poisioned salad bars in some states in the US, but 30 years later they're still here in many restaurants. I can remember when Wendy's even had a salad bar in some of their old locations.

If not, I could see buffets like Golden Corral possibly going to an employee-served cafeteria like setup with full sneezeguards in front of the foods. Some of their food like the grill area is already employee-served.

I remember a Luby's Cafeteria near me converted to a buffet setup before it went out of business. That was easy, because basically all they'd have to do is change the sneeze guards to allow self serve, the employees can still walk around behind the counter to replenish foods.

Unfortunately for buffets switching from buffet to cafeteria/employee-serving wouldn't work without replacing most all of their buffet stations and salad bars, because the majority of them don't have an aisle to walk behind for an employee to serve the food. Just changing the sneeze guards wouldn't work.

Some places like Pizza Hut I noticed had been doing away with the majority of their buffets and salad bars as they went from the familiar red roofed buildings and moved into small strip mall locations in some towns that were more of quick pickup setup like Dominos, Hungry Howies or Little Caesars are.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by Super S »

There is a casino I occasionally visit where I sometimes eat at their buffet. Their layout is such that it wouldn't take much to shift to an employee serving model, as there is space behind all the buffet tables where employees replenish the food. Drinks and desserts are served by employees in the buffet already, as are sliced meats such as roast beef etc.

There are some chains, such as some of the Buffets Inc. locations, where the buffet tables are set up in "islands" where there is no space in the middle which would be harder to adapt, and these locations are self-serve on the beverages and desserts. Buffets Inc. seems to be steadily closing locations though so I am not sure they would recover.

The chains like Sizzler and Izzy's, where the buffet at times seems like an afterthought, may end up eliminating them altogether. Sizzler's buffet consists of a salad bar, a few soups, some noodles/spaghetti, taco/Mexican items, and dessert. It is underwhelming to say the least, and when I order off the main menu at Sizzler I decline adding it for extra money as I don't feel it's worth it. (Sizzler, in my opinion, was a much better restaurant before buffets) Izzy's is very slow to refill their buffets when they go through pizza...several times the buffet has been completely empty and then there is a stampede when they bring out more pizza. These two chains could shift back to their roots as steakhouses/pizza restaurants.

Something that could become common is a model that some Kmart cafeterias had in the past, where there were small menu items and some larger dinners that were dished up in front of you, one I remember was when a Kmart cafeteria was serving a full turkey dinner, everything was there behind glass and you told them what you wanted dished up, although it was one time serving and not a true buffet.

We have a newer Golden Corral in Vancouver, WA which I have not been to, but I always have thought they were one of the better run buffet restaurants. I have no idea how this one is set up however.

The buffets where they keep a good watch over everything and pay close attention to cleanliness are likely to survive, but I do predict some of the weaker players will get out of the buffet business.

There is a market for buffets. They tend to be better for large families, especially those with kids, and those who are picky eaters and/or have specific diet requirements and can tailor their plates to their needs. Not everybody visits them to "pig out"
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by Super S »

One other thing I could see happening is a shift away from self-serve pop machines and moving these behind the counter, some of which already look questionable at times.
cjd
Assistant Store Manager
Assistant Store Manager
Posts: 624
Joined: August 18th, 2018, 6:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 6 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by cjd »

I just thought CiCi's Pizza could easily move to an employee serve model, as the one I went to also had the counter setup with space behind, it would simple mean changing the sneeze guards to glass fronts like a cafeteria line.

Places like Golden Corral as you mention would have a harder time adjusting due to the island setup and would likely need to re-outfit the majority of their locations to change over. In my area Golden Corral is very popular and a well run location, so I could see them likely going to the extent.

Buffets aren't common in my area, and I too could see restaurants that have limited self serve items doing away with them. Supermarkets could move the wing and soup stations back to the display cases with other items and adapt fairly easily most likely.
klkla
Posts: 1614
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 3:26 pm
Been thanked: 2 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by klkla »

Luckily, if consumers stop using buffets, salad bars and self serve it will be pretty easy to trade out the fixtures. At the Gelson's in Silverlake yesterday they re-configured the salad bar to carry prepared packaged food made by local restaurants. I tried an Indian curry dish and a burrito from an upscale Mexican restaurant and both were good.
reymann
Personnel Manager
Personnel Manager
Posts: 279
Joined: August 13th, 2014, 8:25 pm
Been thanked: 27 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by reymann »

i don't see hometown buffet and sweet tomatoes surviving too much longer once restaurants reopen, they were already shuttering locations before this happened. sizzler may do away with the salad bar once they reopen and it will be interesting to see if other buffets do go to more of a cafeteria model.
storewanderer
Posts: 14379
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 3:54 pm
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 298 times
Contact:
Status: Offline

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

Post by storewanderer »

For most supermarkets these self serve hot food bars are not profitable, salad bars you're lucky if they break even, and typically these features were removed in the 90's then returned 10-20 years later in an effort for the stores to try to "keep up with Whole Foods." It will be interesting to see how the industry goes forward with these. There are always the cases you hear of food tampering, etc. with these hot food bars, or people (not even going to call them customers since they aren't) who go to the hot food bars and help themselves to food using their hands then walk out so I have been surprised to see more and more of these as a feature of new stores.

I would think on the other side, however, these food bars may be safer going forward due to increased attention from store staff and hopefully better manners from the customers on not touching face, handling serving spoons, etc.

Hy Vee has a ton of food bars (way more than these self serve ones) set up in the mall food court style, and they are usually full service except salad bar which is self service. That may be the future here but I don't think most chains want to spend the labor on that, nor do they have the volume of prepared food to support all of that labor.

But I do think it will impact Whole Foods somewhat. The self serve food bars are a big thing for Whole Foods and have quite a customer following, and appear to generate a lot of revenue. Not sure how profitable they are but I suspect they make money there due to the volume and price point.
buckguy
Store Manager
Store Manager
Posts: 1003
Joined: January 31st, 2017, 10:54 am
Has thanked: 3 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by buckguy »

Buffets have been in decline for a long time and the niche ones like pizza or Chinese food are usually awful. COVID-19 probably will hasten that. Whole Foods seems to have an efficient life cycle approach to the hot/cold bars and takeaway, using leftovers and eventually cycling into refrigerated cases. They generate volume in that most stores are set-up so that you have to walk through other areas to get to the buffet or you have to walk from the buffet to through other departments to checkout. The one growth area seems to be buffets with a big lunch trade in dense downtown areas--it will be interesting to see what happens to these, esp with the growth of "food hall"-type food court operations trying to grab the same customers.
Super S
Posts: 2690
Joined: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
Has thanked: 11 times
Been thanked: 61 times
Status: Offline

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

Post by Super S »

buckguy wrote: April 20th, 2020, 6:04 am Buffets have been in decline for a long time and the niche ones like pizza or Chinese food are usually awful. COVID-19 probably will hasten that. Whole Foods seems to have an efficient life cycle approach to the hot/cold bars and takeaway, using leftovers and eventually cycling into refrigerated cases. They generate volume in that most stores are set-up so that you have to walk through other areas to get to the buffet or you have to walk from the buffet to through other departments to checkout. The one growth area seems to be buffets with a big lunch trade in dense downtown areas--it will be interesting to see what happens to these, esp with the growth of "food hall"-type food court operations trying to grab the same customers.
Like everything else there are exceptions. I have been to a few well-run pizza buffets in other parts of the country, all of which were independents. I can't speak for Chinese as I generally do not like Chinese food.

I have also seen some restaurants set up a buffet for special occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, most of these are usually pretty good.
Post Reply