But buffets really do provide a bunch of bread and starchy, filling side dishes up front in hopes that you don’t quite make it to the carving station. Of course, a secret get-full-quick ingredient does not exist. The Right Way to Navigate All-You-Can-Eat Buffets
COUNTRY BUFFET FULL
In 2010, in the forums of, the question was posed: “Do buffets have a special ingredient that makes you full? Like those all-you-can-eat buffets, do they put in some of ingredient in all the foods which makes you full quicker?” Most of the responses to the question are quite rude, but a few of them are “yes.” I would posit that where this business model falls apart is in the way it makes people feel: that they are being manipulated in strange ways.Ĭonspiracy theories about buffets abound. They can easily change their menu based on what’s cheap and in season, and they can lightly trick you with tiny plates (dishware manufacturers make “buffet lines,” with half-size plates and bowls). What if people eat too much?īuffets save a lot of money on overhead because they can make large batches of cheap foods and you ultimately do most of the service part yourself. The first possible problem with buffets is that “all you can eat” is not an economically viable business model. You should know up front that this is not going to be fun, and I’m sorry. You may wish you were a child at Ponderosa who can make her own choices, but this is not the case. But you’re an adult and you can make your own choices. I have to say, this is the first time in my career in which I’ve felt a real temptation to withhold information from readers, in hopes of helping them lead a less informed but ultimately more enjoyable life. Obviously, since I have written an article about it, I know the answer. When did our hearts grow cold toward buffets, and why? The buffet is affordable, and a lot of us love a deal. The buffet is a symbol of the American dream. In 2016, Eater’s Dana Hatic blamed the fall of the buffet on America’s “newfound focus on fast casual dining farm-to-table menus,” as well as “widespread attention on the health effects of obesity and overconsumption.” This makes some sense, and at the same time, it does not. Salad bar-goers at a Souplantation in 2003. filed for bankruptcy twice more by 2016, at which point USA Today noted that it had “the dubious and relatively rare distinction” of entering what finance guys like to “jokingly refer to as Chapter 33 - that is, Chapter 11 bankruptcy for a third time.” The same year, Garden Fresh Restaurants, which owns Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, filed for bankruptcy as well, citing $175 million in debt. The Ponderosa parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, the same year as the company that owns Old Country Buffet (and four other buffet chains). There were, at one point, 305 Ponderosas (and sister buffet Bonanzas) in the US, and today there are 75 locations total - including 19 in Puerto Rico and a handful scattered in Egypt, Qatar, Taiwan, and the UAE. Yet the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Canandaigua, New York, is now a parking lot for a Starbucks. A buffet is a glamorous idea it provides you with the otherwise difficult-to-accomplish joy of eating many small servings of many different delicious things all at the same time, regardless of whether they are meant to be served together. Most of this love affair was actually with the ability to play grown-up and select my own food and carry my own stuff - and serve my own ice cream! - but I stand by it. When I was 5, as I was in 1999, I did not care about these facts - I had no concerns at all, personally, and Wikipedia did not exist, generally - but I deeply cared about Ponderosa Steakhouse. Ponderosa was the name of the ranch on Bonanza.
COUNTRY BUFFET TV
The chain of buffets was founded in 1963 by Dan Blocker, who played Eric “Hoss” Cartwright on Bonanza, and enjoyed its peak popularity when TV Westerns were still big. Chicken wings aren’t good, yet the ones at Ponderosa Steakhouse in 1999 were delicious.
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