Mandarin Buffet - © Mandarin

COVID-19: The Future Of Buffet-Style Restaurants

The restaurant sector overall has been dealt a heavy blow by COVID-19 lock down regulations. Only recently have some restos – mainly chains that carried on through the lock down relying on take-out and delivery business – started re-opening, cautiously, for dine-in business. But what about Buffets?

Mr. Panda Buffet - © 2017 Mr. PandaThere is a way for Buffet restaurants to re-open while observing
social distancing and strict food handling rules…

When you think about the health and safety recommendations officials have cooked up governing the re-opening of dine-in restaurants, one of the first things you realize is that contact between staff and customers is severely limited. In addition, food safety and sanitation procedures have been ramped up to previously unimagined levels. But perhaps the most impactful condition being placed on dine-in restos is that self-serve operations are, for the most part, prohibited.

Fast Food Joints that used to save time and money by letting diners get their own napkins, condiments and cold beverages must now, in most jurisdictions, employ extra staff to ‘serve’ these items, so that the customers aren’t all touching the same displays and Soda machine buttons. The major chains seem to have that angle nailed. But what about our beloved buffets?

Buffet model fundamentally different

The whole idea behind the Buffet restaurant model is that owners can avoid hiring and paying staff to plate, package or serve meals. Customers choose their own combinations of dishes from a fairly large fixed menu, plate-up for themselves, and even transport their food from service line to table. This has traditionally been seen as a lower-cost, higher-profit way to run a restaurant and patrons have been drawn to Buffets because of the broad selection, the ‘all you can eat’ regime that most buffet restos follow, and the convenience and immediacy of service that the self serve concept provides.

Challenges may be insurmountable for some

What are Buffet operators to do when faced with strict non-contact regulations that must be followed if they want to re-open?

Some Buffet chains have already adopted a version of the staff service regime being used by Fast Food joints. Diners must stand a safe distance away from the buffet tables, clear plastic barriers have been installed in appropriate places, and staff are loading the plates according to diners’ instructions. That ensures that buffet table surfaces and utensils are not touched by a whole cavalcade of customers, a precaution that also helps operators control the need to clean down and sanitize the facilities frequently.

Of course, the Buffet joints are also employing the same same social distancing aids that other restos have added, including floor stickers to demonstrate the six-foot ‘safe distance’, minimum  six-foot spacing between tables, and traffic control measures to ensure safe distancing as diners move to and from the service area. But these precautions are relatively costly, especially for Buffet establishments that have traditionally relied on lower staff costs to make their profit.

Asian model may be ‘way of the future’

One Buffet model that may save some of the more vulnerable members of the sector is the Asian concept. Asian Buffet restaurants have long realized that folks who love their food and their concept also love to order take-out. It’s a tradition among Asian restos, and some even operate on a take-out-only basis. It’s been proven that patrons will pay appropriate prices for take-out Asian food they know and love – prices that reflect the packaging, staff-service and delivery costs associated with the model.

As if to prove that other kinds of restaurants can, indeed, survive or even thrive on take-out and delivery service, establishments that relied totally or extensively on dine-in business have adapted their operations to accommodate COVID-19 lock down rules, offering limited menus with ‘at-home experience’ specials and instituting contactless customer ‘interfacing’.

My take

If adopting a blended dine-in and take-out business model is the obvious way for for Buffet restos to survive – and perhaps thrive – I think they should all at least consider making the change. All Buffets have fan favourite dishes that could easily be offered on a take-out or delivery basis on  ‘simplified’ menus that could also offer combo plates and platters in exactly the same way Asian restaurants do. Folks want what Buffets have to offer. Buffet aficionados will put up with the new distancing and service rules. If those who are edgy about going out for a Buffet meal are given the option of having the same food available on a take-out or delivery basis, they’ll start patronizing their old-favourite Buffet restaurants again. And, after the COVID-19 lock down is over, they may even come back in person…

~  Maggie J.