Pretty much everyone watching this has eaten
at a buffet at some point in their lives. We're not talking about those terrible potlucks
you’ve been to, we're talking about restaurants that allow you to take your plate and gorge
yourself until your heart’s content… and beating irregularly. So, we wanted to lift the veil that exists
at those restaurants to find out the different ways that they are making money off of a business
model that you'd think would be one of the more difficult in terms of turning a profit. So, without further ado, here's the Top 10
Ways that All You Can Eat Buffets make money off of you! They Rely on Seasonal Ingredients One of the best ways that buffets can keep
their costs low is by changing their menus regularly. That flexibility allows them to purchase whatever
is cheap and they obviously have to buy that food in huge amounts in order to get the costs
low enough to make a profit. Part of that is buying whatever is fresh,
which depending on what type of buffet you're at and what part of the world you're in, can
vary wildly. The good news for the consumer, though, is
that it tends to mean that you're getting a lot of fresh and seasonal food that can
range from different kinds of vegetables to different types of seafood or meat. Buffets use a lot of psychology to typically
hammer home the main idea that people are getting a decent meal for an amazing price,
and the psychology behind "seasonal" ingredients makes people believe that they're not only
getting that super full stomach for a low price, but that they're also getting high
quality or even fancy food on the cheap. The reality is that the buffet is buying and
providing the lowest quality product possible, whether it's crawfish or the cut of meat that
you're eating. They just tend to hide it really well by mixing
it into a soup or pasta salad. But at the end of the day, as long as it tastes
good and you don't get sick it's really a victimless crime, if it's a crime at all. Take a second to hit that subscribe button
and click that notification bell. Ready? Okay, on with the list! Influencing Portions As we just mentioned, psychology is a huge
part of the science that goes into running a profitable buffet and a large part of that
psychology is used to influence just how much food someone actually takes and eats. So, after a menu is created at a given buffet,
the store manager's goal is to really attempt to control the type of food people take and
how much of that type of food they take as well. Portion control has actually been a recent
trend in food science, as more and more children and adults reach the level of "obese" on the
body mass index, and they've actually learned a lot from the people in the buffet restaurant
industry as they've had to learn these things over the years in order to turn a profit. There are actually a few ways that they attempt
to stop you from eating them out of business and most end up on our list but the first
is probably the most obvious and that's that they tend to avoid giving large or even full-sized
dinnerware. Go into any buffet near your home and the
odds are that you won't find what you consider to be a full-sized dinner plate or soup bowl. The rationale behind this is obvious, as the
less people are able to put on their plate the less they're going to either eat or end
up wasting. Beyond that, people rarely eat more than one
plate of food at home so the hope is subconsciously that they'll finish their plate and feel more
full than they otherwise might if they still have a bunch of food on their plate. One study did show that this works, with people
eating 31% more ice cream when given a 34-ounce bowl than they did when given one that was
half the size at 17 ounces. Gigantic Drink Glasses On the other end of the spectrum comes the
drinking glasses. As we just showed, most buffet restaurants
tend to provide smaller dinner plates and bowls as they obviously allow for less food. On the other side of that comes the dinner
glasses that are actually a lot larger at most buffet restaurants than most places,
as drinks are typically huge profit makers for restaurants (a large sized soda typically
costs a restaurant only a few cents tops and they can charge anywhere from 99 cents to
a couple dollars for it). So why make them larger? Pop, especially, makes people feel a lot more
full than they otherwise would thanks to the amount of carbon dioxide in it and because
of that, the restaurant wants people to drink as much as possible so they'll fill up on
drinks and not on the expensive food that they're serving. Beyond that, it helps people off-set the small
plates, as the goal is to make people feel like they're getting a good deal at the buffet,
and if they had tiny glasses to go along with the tiny plates and bowls people might feel
like they weren't getting a good deal, so by providing endless drinks in gigantic glasses,
people might be able to overlook the small plates and bowls. The restaurant just have to hope that people
don't fill up their glass with soup or meatballs. Where is the silverware? One thing a lot of people notice when they
visit buffet restaurants is that it's hard to come across fresh silverware should they
accidentally drop theirs on the floor or attempt to find a new set after their first set is
used on a first course. That's not because the restaurant can't afford
it or because they only have so many but rather because it's part of the psychology we've
been mentioning. Studies have shown that if people are given
an unlimited amount of silverware then they'll eat more courses on average than a person
who has to use the same amount of silverware for their entire meal. While a lot of people wouldn't mind eating
with the same spoon and fork for their entire meal, it's thought that on a subconscious
level that if people are able to grab new silverware they'll feel like they have to
have another course or at least eat more than they otherwise would in their first or second
course. The same doesn't go for chopsticks, though,
as eating with chopsticks slows the rate of eating down and thus ends up meaning that
the amount of food consumed as a whole is far less than someone who is eating with a
fork. Who would've thought that this much thought
would go into spoons and forks at a buffet? More Starch, Please! If you were to look at a map of a buffet from
someone that is in charge of laying out both the store and the menu you'd see a lot of
sections that you'd expect like meat, salads, soups, and desserts. One section that might surprise you is the
"starch" section, even if you're familiar with the term and what it means. Starches like potatoes, rice, pasta, corn,
beans, and grains are perfect for buffets because they're cost-effective, they keep
well enough to be bought in extremely large amounts, and they're also relatively flexible
in terms of what they can be made into (just think about how many different ways you can
make a potato). That makes them perfect for buffets as you
can buy hundreds of pounds of potatoes and make baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, boiled
potatoes, French Fries, Chips, Hashbrowns, Funeral Potatoes, Gnocchi and much, much more. Beyond that, starches tend to make people
feel more full than food that is the same size, and so people tend to obviously eat
a lot less of not only those starchy meals but of other foods in general. So, if you want to make the most of your meal
(or just cost your buffet more money), in the future stick to proteins like most of
their meat, which is obviously the last thing that the buffet wants as they make you jump
through a few hoops to actually eat a lot of their meat, or at least their best types
of meat. Luckily for everyone involved, though, starchy
foods can be and mostly are delicious and while they may not be great for you (unless
we're talking about vegetables), they were still the main staple of the human diet for
centuries for a reason. Cutting Meat Most people that have been to a non-Chinese
food buffet are probably used to the guy that stands in the meat or protein section cutting
slices of some sort of meat for the world's saddest line. While upon first walk-by it might make complete
sense that there's someone there cutting a slice of ham or meatloaf from what smells
delicious, it's actually all part of the buffets devious plan to stay in business. As it may not surprise you, meat is the most
expensive thing in any buffet and because of that, they need to find ways to ensure
that you're not going to simply eat a bunch of meat and leave their restaurant. One way they do that is by making sure that
their starches, vegetables (which include more starches), salads, soups and desserts
are as delicious as possible, as it's really hard to compete with meat in that arena, and
by offering a wide variety of those that are as delicious and cutting edge as possible,
they are lowering the amount of meat that each person eats. Beyond that, by having an employee cutting
their higher end proteins they are ensuring that portions are within a profitable amount,
even if a person is asking for more than one slice (which some buffets actually restrict). Beyond that, the buffets do use psychology
here as well, by cutting meat into smaller and smaller pieces not just from the chunk
of meat at the meat station but also in terms of each portion. By cutting each portion into, let's say, five
small pieces as opposed to three larger pieces, subconsciously makes people feel like they're
not only eating more than they actually are but also that they're getting a better value. The Layout As this list has shown, when it comes to the
buffet restaurant industry, starches are worth their weight in gold whereas meat can make
or break a restaurant. That creates a sort of catch-22 as restaurants
don't want to create especially delicious protein products, as people might end up focusing
all of their attention on that dish and avoiding any other products on the floor, but at the
same time, they can't make bad food either, otherwise they'll lose business. To avoid things like that restaurants tend
to insulate their higher priced products. Insulate how you ask? It's actually as simple as it is genius! When it comes to higher priced products like
meat and some desserts like pies or fudge, or fudge pies, or pie fudge, buffets actually
surround those stations with a bunch of lower priced product. When it comes to higher priced desserts there
are typically either tables next to or even platters on the same table of lower-priced
fruit in the hopes that the people grabbing one of those delicious fudge pies will also
grab some fruit to go along with it. As they eat the fruit and the fudge pie, the
chances are that they'll fill up and not return for a second helping. The same goes for meat, with a side of mashed
potatoes, the chances are that people aren't going to go up for another t-bone steak. Nothing is left to chance because it really
can't be. Serving Mediocre Meat Thus far in this list we've learned that running
a successful buffet is really a science, with actual scientists doing all sorts of studies
to determine what works and what doesn't and what goes into the thought process of people
that eat there, namely because running a restaurant alone is one of the, if not the, most difficult
lines of business to go into in the first place. Most restaurants have a profit margin of under
$1.50 on a $40 check and when you allow people to essentially go into your kitchen and eat
everything their heart desires for far less than that $40 like most buffets do, it's a
wonder that they exist at all. The bread and butter of buffets is the idea
that people are getting an amazing deal for not a lot of money and because of that you
have to strike a delicate balance when it comes to the higher priced items that you
sell because when you put "Value" in the minds of your customers you're going to get people
who are looking for a deal. We've established on this list that meat is
the most expensive item, and so buffets have to make sure that they're not providing cuts
of meat that will put them out of business (like t-bones, for example). On the other end of the spectrum, buffets
can't just provide raccoon meat either, as if the product is no good then they won't
have any customers, so it's actually a tightrope walk when it comes to finding a cut of meat
that isn't too expensive but also isn't too cheap. The key is finding whatever is fresh and discounted
and that can change from day-to-day, which means that the menu can change from day-to-day
as well. Beyond that finding meat that is more versatile
is important as it allows for different types of meals from hamburgers to meatloaves or
meatballs. While the meat itself (in terms of its cut
or quality) may be mediocre, the actual meals might be fantastic, and that's the magic of
buffet cooking and that's why people love them. Cooking Food Ahead of Time Despite the fact that their servers rely on
tips for most of their wages, the number one cost for a restaurant outside of food cost
comes from the amount of money they pay their employees. Buffets are no different, except for the fact
that they don't have servers to begin with (outside of that guy who stands by himself
and cuts slices of meat for people). They do have cooks though, although the job
is a lot different from other cooking jobs, in that it's far less hectic than cooking
in a restaurant where food is made to order. They do, however, cook a wide range of food
and because of that, cooking in a buffet is actually a great crash course for anyone looking
for a job in the culinary arena. Beyond cooking a diverse and wide range of
food they also have to cook up huge amounts of it because they obviously are going to
be making food for a larger group of people that might consume a lot more than they otherwise
would, and despite the fact that a lot of science goes into the buffet industry, individual
restaurants still have to provide a large amount of food so they don't run out of something
even if it's something that people aren't going to eat. Because they cook all their food in advance
they actually do put a lot of thought into the amounts they need to make it through that
day, as those numbers have to be as close as possible so they don't run out, but also
so they don't end up wasting a ton of product and thus money. Obviously, though, people will only eat what
they're provided so it can actually end up being another case of the chicken or the egg
(as in, are people eating this because we're making it or are we making it because people
are eating it). Doing it this way cuts way down on those labor
costs and allows these restaurants to stay in business, and it also cuts down on the
amount of time that people spend at their table, which means more customers can be in
the restaurant and thus more money can be made. All of this is what keeps buffets in business. They Can Sell Their Garbage When it comes to eating garbage you can do
a lot worse than the garbage from your local buffet, as it's mostly food and people tend
to waste a lot even at the best-designed buffet in the world, meaning that there's definitely
some breadsticks and shrimp in there. Because of that this garbage is actually worth
some money, but who would actually eat garbage food, you ask? Pigs, of course. It's called slop and it takes a whole lot
of slop to feed all the pigs that it takes to feed all of us humans. Bacon is extremely popular these days, even
more so than it already was and it was already popular because it's bacon. From bacon-flavored... Everything (including vodka, ice cream, and
bacon) to ham and pork chops, basically every part of a pig that isn't hair or bone is edible. To feed all of those pigs, a lot of pig farmers
will actually drive around to different restaurants to collect their food waste, which they bring
back to their farms and toss into their slop trough. Restaurants as a whole do this and actually
can either make money by selling their garbage to pig farms or can make money by writing
off the donation on their taxes, which sounds like an audit waiting to happen, but is an
actual practice that is not only good for the bottom line but is also good for the environment
in a few ways. First off, they're reducing the waste that
the food would've been had it not been donated, which means that the farmers would've had
to purchase food elsewhere and that would've had to have been created and shipped. Secondly, when natural products like food
decompose it creates methane which is a greenhouse gas that is over twenty-times as terrible
for climate change as carbon dioxide, and while that will still be released via pig
farts, it's far less terrible than the methane that would've come from the landfill. That's why large buffets like the ones in
Las Vegas donate their food waste to hog farmers, so the next time you feel bad for "wasting"
the food on your tiny plate at the buffet, realize that you definitely just made the
day of some pig that you're probably going to eat the next time you're at the buffet. The circle of life, indeed. Feeling hungry? Well before you grab a knife and fork, click
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