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The Covid-19 pandemic crushed all-you-can-eat buffets. The owner of Old Country Buffet and Furr’s Fresh Buffet filed for bankruptcy in 2021. About the same time, so did Cicis and the owner of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes. Operators cited occupancy restrictions, bans and health concerns. But now buffets are making a comeback. In March, visits to three leading buffets — Golden Corral, Cicis, and Pizza Ranch — were up 125% from January of 2021, according to data from Placer.ai, which tracks foot traffic at restaurants and stores. That figure outpaced the growth of visits to fast-casual chains and full-service restaurants during...

If you're fed up of fad diets and the clean-eating craze, there's only one place you should go: an all-you-can-eat buffet. These restaurants allow you to enjoy multiple plates of all your favourite naughty dishes, from curry and Chinese to pizza and chips - and at a fraction of what it would cost at a normal eatery.

When I was a kid, the paradox of choice didn't occur to me. I wasn't yet overwhelmed by the "tyranny" of too many options, nor stressed with decision making if more options were presented to me. That might be why I fell in love with buffets. Not only were they reserved for special family occasions (like the holidays or a birthday)—I could eat chicken nuggets beside slices of cantaloupe, or mac and cheese beside jello salad. Buffets are now big businesses, particularly in Las Vegas. The buffets in Vegas are no longer the dollar bargains they once were in the...

The Trouble With Old FolksThe BitPig Rant 2005.04.21 I have an honest question: What's with the whole "old-timers stealing sugar/sweetener packets" and "retirees bringing Baggies full of food home from the buffet" thing? I mean, most of the old folks I see swiping sugar, etc. from restaurants drive away in brand-new Caddies that cost more than my yearly income, so it can't be poverty. Some say it's a holdover from the Depression years, when scarcity forced people to do whatever they had to, but my late grandparents, my aunts, my uncles, and many of my other folks all survived the...

Kevin Shelley, the embattled California secretary of state facing multiple investigations for allegedly accepting illegal campaign contributions, abruptly canceled a mass mailing of absentee ballot applications after county voting officials complained it was heavy-handed and wasteful. The registrars, some of whom question whether Shelley is more interested in promoting himself than in helping them register and motivate voters, were furious after learning last week that he planned to send nearly 4 million permanent absentee ballot applications. "It's mind-boggling," Conny McCormack, the registrar in Los Angeles County, said this week. "It's duplicative and it's got his name all over it. We...