Buffet Restaurants Might Not Survive

Industrialsize

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In the US, many buffet restaurants either aren’t yet able to open, or have closed permanently.

Is this ultimately a good or bad thing? And why?
It's not just buffets(which I think will never come back)
RESTAURANT APOCALYPSE: One in 5 restaurants in the US could permanently close because of the coronavirus pandemic, putting millions out of work
  • Close to 20% of restaurants across the US could permanently close because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Wednesday UBS note.
  • If one in five of the more than 1 million restaurants closes, it would result in 200,000 locations permanently shuttering.
  • The National Restaurant Association found that 3% of restaurants in the US have already permanently closed and 11% expect to do so in the next 30 days.
UBS predicts that up to one in five restaurants in the US could close permanently because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Wednesday, UBS analyst Dennis Geiger referenced the National Restaurant Association saying that about 3% of restaurants in the US have already closed permanently.

That would mean 30,000 restaurants have already shuttered, based on the NRA's estimate of more than 1 million restaurants in the US. According to Geiger, the carnage is far from over......
RESTAURANT APOCALYPSE: One in 5 restaurants in the US could permanently close because of the coronavirus pandemic, putting millions out of work

"Closer to 20% is possible considering the health and overleverage of independent owners and select franchisees across casual dining in particular," Geiger wrote in Wednesday's note.
 

MickeyLee

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Buffets are disgusting and I've avoided them for years anyway..

It's a sad reality, job loss is inevitable but in all reality it's an unsanitary way to eat. It always was.

Humans are entitled and gross. Buffets were never going to be a good thing.

Plus flying insects.

Even icky buffets are paying someone's bills. For the folks with ends getting more distant by the day, I feel for em. Immediate and transitional support should be available. Ya know, instead of 30 billions on an FBI building.

Life and commerce are gonna have a clear before and after. From what folks buy to how they buy it. The scary thing is so many folks are employed in retail and hospitality. Shifting that many people to other skills will be a fripping endeavor our current system is not designed to handle.
 
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MickeyLee

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Ugghhh 1.7 billions for the FBI building.

30 billions is other useless trash Trumpty wants included.

ETA: when not battling literal windmills, Trumpty likes to play with FBI buildings. Clickie for more abuse of power by our mango megalomaniac.
 
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rbkwp

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already losing out big time
especially in Australia

just about every state premier x7 insist still,re border closures
they have minimal deaths and still they insist
'protecting there citizens 'BULLSHIT
been 6 months now,and no better off than us

theres going to be deaths,period
other ways around it surely
 
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Scarletbegonia

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In discussions in my group, we have been wondering if the cafeteria model might come back. the issue with buffets is self serve.
I would love to see the Indian joints go to lunch thalis, which has worked well in places I’ve frequented in California. The shops are too small for the buffet tables themselves, so a pick two special filled that space.
 

Cecil56

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I always loved buffets, due to vast selections of food! But yes, they were disgusting and unsanitary. Had a Golden Corral close to my work. We would go there on occasion for a BD or retirement. Could always find something to fit your tastes for the day. Hate seeing them close.

We have a Pizza Ranch near me. Still buffet style, but a worker has to fill your plate. No doing it yourself. Contrary to their name, the pizza sucks, however they have great broasted chicken! I can put some hurt on the chicken, mashed potato's and gravy there.
Throw in a salad, veggies and ice cream for dessert.

Once again: Pizza Ranch pizza sucks ass for the most part. They should rename it to Chicken Ranch...something they do well!
 
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Tight_N_Juicy

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I look a buffets as a way to have tiny amounts of several things.
I still basically fill a “luncheon” plate (8-9 inches diameter) and call it good.

After working at the coffee shop, which was right next to the food court on campus, seeing how people treat buffet utensils everyday for 9 years?

I will never do a buffet again, whether they exist or not.

People are fuckin nasty.
 

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While I feel bad about anyone losing their jobs, but the prospect of eating out of a landfill has more appeal than someplace like Golden Corral and if anything it's closing alone will put a dent in the obesity epidemic.

Now I could go for bringing this back:

automat-grand-central-1.0.0.jpg


Automats: The Utopian Future or a Return to a Dystopian Past?
 

MisterB

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Buffets? Nope. I quit them after an episode at an Alabama beach restaurant.

Family reunion members go in to eat. So many of us that we are in four vehicles. We are seated in clear view of the buffet line. We're given a choice: Order from the menu or eat from the buffet.

While pondering that choice, my brother and I witness one of the buffet "attendants" brings out a fresh tray with a lid on it of something. Sets the tray on the floor. Um, what? Then removes the empty tray and places it on the floor.

Places the fresh tray in the empty spot. Takes off the lid and places it on the floor. Okay, gonna go back with the empty tray, right?

Nope! Picks up the lid from the floor and places it back on the fresh tray. I looked at my brother and said, I'm out of here. I can't eat here having witnessed that. He informs a few folks at the table what we just saw and that he and I were going to go elsewhere for food.

We all decide to go elsewhere. We get up and leave. The Manager asks why. I tell him. He says that isn't possible. My brother speaks up and said we both saw what was done, and that both the fresh tray and its lid were placed on the floor and then back onto the fresh tray.

My then 80+ year old Aunt says sweetly to the Manger that they should do better with their food handling. That it's one thing of what goes on in your kitchen that we don't see, but to see such a blatant disregard for food hygiene is disturbing.

When we went back the next year for our annual reunion, we discovered that restaurant had closed. Asked around and found out it was because of numerous food safety violations. Closed by their health department. Who would have figured that might happen, lol!

I don't think I'll miss buffets if they go bye-bye. Not like I'd ever eat at one again anyway. ;)
 

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Buffets? Nope. I quit them after an episode at an Alabama beach restaurant.

Family reunion members go in to eat. So many of us that we are in four vehicles. We are seated in clear view of the buffet line. We're given a choice: Order from the menu or eat from the buffet.

While pondering that choice, my brother and I witness one of the buffet "attendants" brings out a fresh tray with a lid on it of something. Sets the tray on the floor. Um, what? Then removes the empty tray and places it on the floor.

Places the fresh tray in the empty spot. Takes off the lid and places it on the floor. Okay, gonna go back with the empty tray, right?

Nope! Picks up the lid from the floor and places it back on the fresh tray. I looked at my brother and said, I'm out of here. I can't eat here having witnessed that. He informs a few folks at the table what we just saw and that he and I were going to go elsewhere for food.

We all decide to go elsewhere. We get up and leave. The Manager asks why. I tell him. He says that isn't possible. My brother speaks up and said we both saw what was done, and that both the fresh tray and its lid were placed on the floor and then back onto the fresh tray.

My then 80+ year old Aunt says sweetly to the Manger that they should do better with their food handling. That it's one thing of what goes on in your kitchen that we don't see, but to see such a blatant disregard for food hygiene is disturbing.

When we went back the next year for our annual reunion, we discovered that restaurant had closed. Asked around and found out it was because of numerous food safety violations. Closed by their health department. Who would have figured that might happen, lol!

I don't think I'll miss buffets if they go bye-bye. Not like I'd ever eat at one again anyway. ;)

Yeah, this is why we make 90% of our own meals, and when we do go out to eat we go somewhere we know who's working (not hard to accomplish, small town and I've worked food service long enough here to know who's good and who's not, I've worked with 1/2 my town).

Restaurant business suffering breaks my heart on a level I can't really put into words, because food service paid my bills for over 13 years. I don't feel good about it, but I'm part of the reason those places have been making less money. I don't feel safe, or responsible eating out right now, I just don't. I probably won't for the foreseeable future.

As far as what will happen to the significant number of people whose jobs will never come back, I feel guilty as fuck for contributing to the factors that made those jobs disappear.. but I'd feel more guilty demanding the jobs stay and put all those same people at risk of contracting a potentially deadly virus.

This is when government is supposed to step in and help the citizens, but we've voted in a bunch of corrupt fucks who just want to profit off our pain and death toll. So I have no hope for humanity at this point.
 

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The son of a coworker came to the office one day to meet his father for lunch when someone mentioned going to eat at the Chinese buffet. I saw the look on the young man's face, and he was horrified! He used to work at a buffet pizza place when he was younger, and he said you do not want to know what some of the customers do at a buffet. It's atrocious. They touch food, put it on their plate then return it to the warming tray. Some break off pieces to taste. And kids. All you have to say is kids.

I gave up buffets after college. Even salad bars are off limits. Yes, even Texas de Brazil even though it's so tempting.

I frequent a small Chinese restaurant that's a "hole in the wall." I asked them once why they didn't have a buffet since the big restaurant down the street always had a crowd. The owner told me "we like our food too much. They have no respect."

I truly believe that.
 

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While I feel bad about anyone losing their jobs, but the prospect of eating out of a landfill has more appeal than someplace like Golden Corral and if anything it's closing alone will put a dent in the obesity epidemic.

Now I could go for bringing this back:

automat-grand-central-1.0.0.jpg


Automats: The Utopian Future or a Return to a Dystopian Past?

If Automat = solo diners not shamed, I am 100 percent behind this.


Locally, a lunch buffet keeps the Indian restaurants afloat. I am in enough to know how they handle things. I watch. I check health department inspection pages.
And, well, I carry my own cutlery as a less waste habit. Yes, it’s a spork. See “not shamed” above.

On a snowy day at the wellness center, nothing is as lovely as walking three blocks to Haveli and getting a hot lunch, with hot masala chai, looking out on the Rocky Mountains.

When fully employed, I budget one buffet lunch a week on a weekday.
Most people I know can triple that money on a bar tab.

The observation about having respect for their food, and their customers holds true. I avoid the multi location local mini chain Little India.
They were the first Indian place I visited when I moved to this area.
They expanded by several locations (it’s family, but still), and quality at the two I knew declined.

I never go back if the servers are rude. With one exception. And I get their food to go. They were the only fully veg restaurant of any style in the area at the time, aside from the Krsna temple. Now there’s a handful, but southern Indian cuisine still tops it.
 

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If Automat = solo diners not shamed, I am 100 percent behind this.


Locally, a lunch buffet keeps the Indian restaurants afloat. I am in enough to know how they handle things. I watch. I check health department inspection pages.
And, well, I carry my own cutlery as a less waste habit. Yes, it’s a spork. See “not shamed” above.

On a snowy day at the wellness center, nothing is as lovely as walking three blocks to Haveli and getting a hot lunch, with hot masala chai, looking out on the Rocky Mountains.

When fully employed, I budget one buffet lunch a week on a weekday.
Most people I know can triple that money on a bar tab.

The observation about having respect for their food, and their customers holds true. I avoid the multi location local mini chain Little India.
They were the first Indian place I visited when I moved to this area.
They expanded by several locations (it’s family, but still), and quality at the two I knew declined.

I never go back if the servers are rude. With one exception. And I get their food to go. They were the only fully veg restaurant of any style in the area at the time, aside from the Krsna temple. Now there’s a handful, but southern Indian cuisine still tops it.

You're smart to carry your own utensils. I've worked 5 server jobs in the last 15 years. Often the silverware wasn't washed well. Around 25% would still have bits of food stuck to them. It was absolutely appalling how many servers I would see simply wipe it off and roll them back up as if they were clean.

I am not sympathetic to the restaurant industry. I hate cliquey environments and I hate egos. Restaurant managers were some of the biggest narcissists I ever met. Pleased to have a whole staff of servers kiss their butts for favorable shifts and rotation. Also, every restaurant I ever worked at gossiped as if it were still high school. And servers are often taken advantage of, over worked, underpaid, and used for labor that doesn't involve amassing tips (the only decent source of income).

Screw restaurants. People should learn to cook for themselves and eat together with family at home. And if restaurants go out of business, oh well. Apply for aid, get into a different industry.
 
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wallyj84

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I very much miss buffet restaurants. My favorites are all closed, but I will visit them again once they open back up. I actually went to a Chinese buffet two weeks ago. They had some measures in place for the virus, but not much, and the place was pretty full for a week day afternoon. I think buffet style restaurants will make a come back once the virus problem is solved. If it is solved.

Buffet restaurants were a small part of the reason I came back to the US. So I hope they can make a comeback.
 

Scarletbegonia

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I’m trying to imagine what protective measures could be in place, aside from cafeteria style servers.

Gloves...who provides?
Sneeze guard...yeahhhhhh no.
Plates on table, cutlery on table, ok, maybe. Not stacked/ in a caddy for sure.

and that’s before the people are pigs part.