Posted on 01/27/2020 5:20:07 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
Like most restaurants, buffets operate on extremely thin margins: For every $20 in revenue, $19 might go toward overhead, leaving $1 (5%) in net profit.
Larry’s got a reputation around town for being a gourmand. He’s got an appetite that puts Homer Simpson to shame — and on this particular day, he’s ready to do some serious damage.
Larry pays his $20 and proceeds to eat 5 servings of steak and chicken, far more than the average customer.
The cost of this food to the buffet amounts to $16.90. This means that after factoring in other expenses, Larry has handed the restaurant a loss of -$8.50.
While the restaurant loses $8.50 on Larry, it makes $3.70 from the under-eater and still takes in its steady $1 margin on the average eater.
. Over the years, buffets have made headlines for kicking out guests who eat too much:
A 6’6″, 350-pound Wisconsin man was removed from a buffet after downing 12 fried fish fillets (and subsequently arrested for protesting outside). A German triathlete was asked to prematurely leave an $18.95 buffet after consuming 100 plates of sushi. A woman was booted from a Golden Corral for eating all the brownies, then attempting to smuggle home extras in her purse.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehustle.co ...
I call it “Golden Corral Therapy”
Anytime I get a little down about my “Body Image”, I go to Golden Corral
Take one look at the folks in the Buffet line
And I don’t feel like such a Fat Bastard after all :)
All the Shakeys seem to be on the west coast and Mexico.
All in the midwest went away long ago.
Knowing about the tatted out heroin and cocaine addicted star chefs is enough.
There was a Shakey’s Pizza at Cocoa Beach when I was growing up.
But at the buffet you can have a bit of several things. And for no more than a menued restaurant.
And if you are crunched for time it is ready to eat, rather than waiting 20-30 minutes for the kitchen to prepare the order.
In the early 80s I used to eat at Griswolds a buffet restaurant in Redlands, California. One of my roommates was a waiter there, and he had a lot of stories about old ladies loading 10 pounds of shrimp and prime rib into large, plastic lined purses.
Yes. It’s a terrible experience. My elderly parents have become cheap yet plentiful food people. They invite us out to eat then want to go to buffet with barely passing inspection scores. I get tired of moving crap food around on the plate to look interested. What’s with old people and cheap buffets?
I would rather a PB&J sandwich.
Agreed about the health inspection.
I would NOT be shocked if the one I go to (MAYBE once or twice a year) got shut down.
The mindset is you can EAT ALL YOU WANT so get your money’s worth.
And that’s a bad mindset when eating.
Anywhere.
Now you ruined it for me lol
Try the Nordic Lodge in Charlestown, RI. $100 bucks a person!
I believe this article was written with the intent to slander one of the South’s major points, the buffet!
I believe that the article writer, they do not qualify for the word ‘author’, is attempting to use a socidal justice theorem on those who do visit buffets.
I also remember the all you can eat lunch buffet at Shakey’s Pizza in Fargo, N.D. One of my friends and I would go once every couple of months back in the 1970’s. But then I was a lot younger then!
Shakey’s did not make any from us! :)
Shakeys had the original shop downtown and then they opened the one on South University Drive. In high school I worked next door to that one so it was a favorite spot.
I still have one of their styrofoam hats.
Some places like Thai or Indian serve foods that are meant to compliment one another. Rarely do I see a “platter” serving with a bit of several things at these places. So an appetizer and 2 dishes gives you something but not the variety. Also if you are eating solo it is way too much food to purchase at one meal.
But at the buffet you can have a bit of several things. And for no more than a menued restaurant.
WE go to our local Chinese (all u can eat) buffet several times a week.
The food is very good, fresh, hot. The variety is YUGE.
I must say that most of the patrons are regulars like us. Very few gorgers. For $8 to $10 bucks, you can’t go wrong.
Hey, Freestate, Granny gotta eat! At that age, hunger trumps pride. Thank God we have ramen noodles now. *snicker* LMAO Yo, DP, I was sailing along good until last weekend, and got in a car accident. Low speed, and my insurance paid out, but my wife had the deductible jacked way up because we still owe about three payments on it. The local fuzz botched the accident report, I gotta get back with my claims adjuster on that, it was pitch outside and raining, I got wet, and now I got some sort of mutant virus crawling around in my system again, damn it. Plus my lawyer’s executive JD wants another fifty frigging pages of documents for my disability hearing next month, and I really need to get some sleep. Yeah, I’m still alive. But on a heart-lung machine.
Once in my younger days I closed a Golden Corral...….They had a seafood buffet with crab legs on the buffet. I ate so many that I was about to puke. Finally I put a spine through my thumb and I couldn’t crack them any more and I had to quit. A week later I went by there and the restaurant was out of business.
I’m not a buffet person at all, especially this time of year when it’s flu season.
My main motivation to avoid this type of place is one can’t take leftovers. I’m a grazer/small portion type of eater and I appreciate having those leftovers a couple of hours later.
The Frying Dutchman...Aye Aye Captain!
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