Bringing a beloved restaurant back from the dead, figuring out ways to combat heavy eaters, and hitting it big in Vegas. Buffets have been around for decades and while it appeared they'd soon go extinct, they've started to come back in a big way.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Bringing a beloved restaurant back from the dead, figuring out ways to combat heavy eaters,
00:06and hitting it big in Vegas, buffets have been around for decades.
00:10And while it appeared they'd soon go extinct, they've started to come back in a big way.
00:15The first buffet-style meals on record were served in the 16th century and were known
00:20as Bravensbord, a Swedish tradition meant to give guests something to nibble on before
00:25a bigger feast.
00:27These meals had a selection of cheese, bread, meat, butter, and other small dishes.
00:32The Bravensbord gave way to the Smorgasbord in the 18th century, which was essentially
00:37the Bravensbord as a full meal.
00:39And then it went on with a little food, and it goes through the years, and you ended up
00:44with the Smorgasbord.
00:46The Smorgasbord eventually went international at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.
00:52The difference between a Smorgasbord and a U.S. buffet is that the former has an emphasis
00:57on Swedish cuisine, while buffets are basically whatever the restaurant management wants them
01:01to be.
01:02A buffet gives you a chance to sample what you want, when you want, and it does not have
01:07the restrained, planned experience that a Smorgasbord aims to provide.
01:12The huge spreads you think of today when you see a buffet had more humble beginnings in
01:16the mid-1940s.
01:18El Rancho Vegas casino employee Herb MacDonald was making a sandwich out of cold cuts and
01:24heard some gamblers passing by talking about how hungry they were.
01:27Herb supposedly brought out more food for the gamblers, but not a full meal as they
01:32couldn't gamble and eat at the same time.
01:34That turned into the Buckaroo Buffet, a 24-hour buffet that was so cheap and convenient that
01:40gamblers stayed at the resort instead of heading out somewhere else to get late-night meals.
01:45The concept of the buffet expanded not only in size but in location.
01:50As more hotels and casinos opened up their own versions, Las Vegas soon became known
01:55for its buffets, and the concept spread across the country, helped along by the emergence
02:00of Chinese buffets in the 50s and 60s.
02:03By the 1970s, buffets had become hugely popular and a regular part of dining out for many
02:09in the U.S.
02:11Buffets had grown into a nationwide phenomenon by the 1970s and 1980s, as restaurants discovered
02:17how many customers they could draw in without increasing costs too much.
02:22Customers loved the buffets because of the affordable prices and the fact that their
02:26picky family members could all find something they wanted to eat without arguing.
02:30Part of the success also had to do with the times.
02:33The 70s, 80s, and even the 90s were known for consumer excess.
02:37The idea of a buffet, where you could take what you want from this outrageously large
02:42spread of every conceivable dish, fit perfectly into what people expected at the time.
02:48Even fast food companies like KFC and Wendy's opened up their versions of buffets inside
02:53their restaurants.
02:55Some fast food buffets supposedly still exist, however.
02:58KFC has buffets in other countries like Australia and Japan, and there are anecdotal reports
03:04of KFC buffets still in operation as of 2024 in southern states such as Tennessee and Kentucky.
03:11Unfortunately, the rapid growth of buffets meant that, eventually, there were no other
03:15customers to draw in except your competitor's customers.
03:19People didn't go to a buffet because it was the only one in town.
03:22They went to a buffet because they wanted to go to that specific place, while all the
03:26other buffets in the area did not get their business.
03:30Buffet restaurants have surprisingly thin margins despite their ability to cut back
03:34on waitstaff labor costs.
03:36While buffet restaurants can also save a lot by providing cheaper food, the problem is
03:40that they need a lot of it.
03:42So while the basic cost of each food might not be high, the cumulative cost can be enormous.
03:49Even if the people eating at the buffet aren't going back for seconds and thirds, the turnover
03:53of items at the buffet just to ensure food safety means that the kitchen has to cook
03:58and cook and cook.
04:00Plus, people often take more food than they can finish, resulting in buffet dishes needing
04:05replenishment.
04:07That means that even when times are good and the buffet chain is making a profit, it's
04:11generally a tiny one.
04:13Buffets do what they can to minimize costs both behind the scenes and at the point of
04:17purchase for the customer.
04:19For example, they'll buy in bulk and concentrate on those less expensive items, like vegetables
04:24or cheaper forms of meat.
04:26Some chains charge a fee to take home leftovers, and others have looked at policies requiring
04:31customers to clean their plates before getting more food.
04:34Many buffets in Europe actually charge a fee if you don't finish what's on your plate.
04:38Another cost issue buffets face is the phenomenon of heavy eaters.
04:43To combat those champions of chowing down, buffet chains will do everything from using
04:48smaller serving utensils with more expensive food to using smaller plates.
04:53I mean, they've given me a few warnings for eating too much, but I said, how can I eat
04:58too much if it's all I can eat?
05:00All of these strategies have helped the restaurants try to stay afloat over the years, although
05:05it wasn't always successful.
05:08The 2000s and 2010s saw many buffet chain parent companies, from Ponderosa to Old Country
05:14Buffet, to Soup Plantation, file for bankruptcy.
05:18One company, Ovation Brands, filed two more times by 2016 after taking on tremendous debt.
05:25Many chains closed a large number of locations as a result, but the bankruptcies weren't
05:30the main cause of the chain's problems, they were a result.
05:33In some cases, the restaurants just didn't plan well, with customers taking more of those
05:38expensive foods than the restaurants had planned on.
05:41This isn't that much of a problem when there's a limit to what people can physically eat,
05:45but it does happen sometimes.
05:47The Great Recession in 2007 to 2009 also took down a few chains.
05:52Many buffet chains also had issues with food safety, ranging from contamination with bacteria
05:58to contamination with rat poison, as was the case in two salad bars in Australia in 2006.
06:05Another issue was that people's tastes were changing from wanting pans full of comfort
06:08food to more upscale options.
06:11By 2019, the landscape already didn't look that great for buffet chains in general.
06:16The onset of the pandemic in 2020 was a huge and devastating turning point for many buffets.
06:23Even Las Vegas' famous buffets were on shaky ground in the first few months, with restaurants
06:28scrambling to find ways to accommodate personal and community safety while also allowing people
06:34to continue to eat.
06:36As you can guess, a ton of buffets had to close.
06:39Chains around the country reported sales numbers that were only a small fraction of what they
06:43had been pre-pandemic.
06:45"...envision a time when these counters are going to be filled with pizza again?"
06:49"...I sure hope so.
06:50I sure hope so."
06:51Initially, no one knew what would happen.
06:53Many Vegas buffets tried to stay open, but the absence of guests was already noticeable
06:58even in March 2020.
07:00That month, some resort operators announced temporary closures, while others tried to
07:05promote hygiene measures, like using hand sanitizers, and increasing how much cleaning
07:10their staff carried out.
07:12By May 2020, chains were closing permanently, including some nationwide chains with devoted
07:17customer bases.
07:19Since then, many buffets have returned, but the buffet landscape looks very different
07:24than how it did before the pandemic, even during those tougher years of the 2010s.
07:29While many buffet chain restaurants suffered and closed during the pandemic, two sped off
07:34in different directions.
07:36One of these chains is Golden Corral.
07:38The corporate offices worked with franchise owners to determine ways to move forward.
07:43One change was company-wide.
07:45Golden Corral began serving food cafeteria-style, with employees dishing up food for customers.
07:51Golden Corral also focused on adapting to meet local regulations with the help of those
07:55local governments.
07:57If franchisees had suggestions, the corporate offices listened.
08:00The results were extremely beneficial for the chain, as the number of its franchises
08:05growing, and the company was named number 63 for 2023 on Franchise Times' annual ranking
08:12of franchises.
08:14Meanwhile, Shady Maple Smorgasbord initially had to close, and then it went through a series
08:19of reopenings and closings as the pandemic progressed.
08:23When the restaurant was open, it switched to a to-go menu, but it also leaned heavily
08:28onto its attached grocery store.
08:31Since then, the restaurant has seen very positive growth, as people seek it out because
08:36they view its food as fresh and affordable.
08:40When your favorite restaurant closes, sometimes your nostalgia for them only grows.
08:45That's something that's helped the buffet restaurant industry rise again from the chaos
08:49of the pandemic as nostalgia for specific chains has led to attempts of reopening.
08:55Soup Plantation, known as Sweet Tomatoes in states other than California, is a prime example.
09:02The buffet chain closed completely in May 2020, essentially because the management couldn't
09:06figure out how to create a sustainable business model when no one wanted to take food from
09:11a communal table that was only partially protected by a sneeze guard.
09:16In May 2022, Dimitri Braverman, in La Mesa, California, claimed he would reopen one Soup
09:22Plantation location.
09:24By August 2022, Braverman had encountered problems with fire inspections, and getting
09:29rights to the Soup Plantation name from a Florida company that had bought those rights
09:34in 2021.
09:35Unfortunately, Braverman's attempt to reopen Soup Plantation eventually failed.
09:40However, in April 2024, that company in Florida reopened a Sweet Tomatoes location in Tucson,
09:46Arizona, and a copycat chain called Soup & Fresh had a soft opening in Rancho Cucamonga, California,
09:53in February 2024.
09:55Both have developed enthusiastic customer bases, and the company running Sweet Tomatoes
10:00has hinted at expansion.
10:03One of the unexpected reasons why buffet restaurants are once again surging in popularity is the
10:08fact that they're comparatively cheap given the amount of food you can get.
10:13Inflation has been a problem for everyone, everywhere.
10:16Even fast food prices have become problematic, with almost 80 percent of Americans claiming
10:20fast food is too expensive, as of a May 2024 survey by LendingTree.
10:26While some buffets are considered high-end and have very high prices, others have prices
10:31that harken back to pre-pandemic days.
10:34It doesn't hurt the existing chains that so many other buffets went under during the height
10:38of the pandemic.
10:39All those customers looking for a deal now have fewer buffets to choose from, so the
10:44remaining ones benefit as more customers head their way.
10:47For people struggling with the cost of living, an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner that offers
10:52such abundance quickly becomes a favorite.