Want to make your money back by eating at a buffet? What kind of sweet dream is that?

Audit expert: Zhou Jiaojiao

Associate Professor, School of Food Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology

When it comes to buffets, they are once very popular. The dazzling array of delicious food deeply attracts all the foodies. Which of us has not had the joy of eating at a buffet without restraint?

Source: Movie "Spirited Away"

I believe that everyone who has walked into a buffet restaurant has a common goal in mind - to eat their money back . More ambitious people may even make a bold statement that they want to eat the buffet restaurant out of business! In order to eat their money back or even "get the best deal" at a buffet restaurant, various buffet strategies have appeared on the Internet, and countless experiences have been summarized: studying the differences in satiety of various foods, rationally planning dining time, designing the best eating order, and choosing a dining location to grab expensive ingredients. Some people will deliberately eat less before eating a buffet and go hungry for two meals, just to eat their money back.

Source: pixabay

However, if everyone can eat their money back, how do buffet restaurants make money? Today, let’s learn the truth about why buffet restaurants cannot make their money back.

Why do you feel full easily after eating buffet?

When we go to a buffet, we will find that we, who usually have a good appetite, feel full before we have eaten much. Could it be that the buffet owner can cast magic and make us eat less?

First of all, although the buffet has a wide variety of dishes, it is not difficult to find that most of the dishes are high in oil, salt and heavy in taste. On the one hand, if you don't eat much, you will be unable to eat because of the greasiness; on the other hand, excessive salt intake will cause osmotic pressure imbalance, thereby stimulating the nerve center, causing thirst, and you will involuntarily want to drink water. At this time, when you look at the beverage area, you will find that it is almost all soda. After drinking a few sips, the carbon dioxide will fill your stomach.

Source: pexels

Secondly, many people eat buffets with the idea of ​​"leaving the wall to go in and leaving", so they have been hungry for one or two meals or even one or two days before. When the human body is too hungry, it will lack energy and have low blood sugar, which will lead to a great desire for carbohydrates, that is, staple food. Just imagine, when you eat a plate of relatively cheap fried rice, how much space is left in your stomach?

In addition, desserts are also an indispensable part of the buffet. Not only are they diverse in style, but they are also exquisitely made and placed in a very conspicuous position, making you unable to resist "grabbing". However, these exquisite pastries are also high in fat, containing a large amount of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. These things require the liver to participate in digestion, but due to limited digestive capacity, some undigested fat will cause bloating and nausea, and then lose appetite.

Source: pixabay

Specific “routines” affect eating

In addition to putting effort into the food itself, buffets also have many "tricks".

For example, slightly more expensive ingredients, such as wagyu beef, abalone, lobster, etc., are usually placed in a relatively far place, and are also limited in supply, with a batch released every 30 to 40 minutes. When you have worked hard to line up, when it is almost your turn, you may be told to wait for the next batch. There are also common foods such as oysters and scallops. Although many buffets also provide them, they are often very small. Garlic oysters may taste like garlic when you bite them. Not only is so much time wasted in vain, but your mood is also ruined.

Source: pixabay

Even if you are lucky and get what you think are relatively expensive ingredients, in fact, the merchants lower the prices of ingredients through wholesale purchases , so the cost you think is much higher than the actual cost of the merchant.

In fact, we can eat more food at a relatively cheap price, which is also due to the cost control of the buffet restaurant. Unlike Haidilao, where you can buy a variety of services with your money, in a buffet restaurant, you can buy a variety of food with your money. Under the buffet business model, the main task of the merchant is to provide food continuously. Except for cleaning up the tableware, there are basically no waiters at other times. The buffet restaurant does not need to order and deliver dishes like ordinary restaurants, which saves a lot of labor costs.

In addition, there is the setting of plates. When eating at a buffet, many people like to pile up the plates they have eaten and put them aside. Looking at these plates gives them a strong sense of satisfaction. But in fact, this is also a "routine" of the merchants. The tableware in the buffet restaurant is smaller than that in ordinary restaurants, which requires us to take small amounts of food multiple times, giving people the illusion of "eating a lot".

A study by food psychologist Brian Wansink of Cornell University and his team showed that people judge how much they eat with their eyes, not their stomachs . In simple terms, although plates of different sizes hold the same amount of food, the eyes will have an illusion that the small plate has more food.

Source: Brian Wansink

There are also regulations on dining time. Many buffets will limit the time to about 2 hours. Most restaurants also have clear regulations on food waste. For example, if it exceeds 100 grams, a fine will be imposed. These make customers have concerns when taking food.

Source: Internet

The buffet industry is going downhill

Although we cannot bankrupt buffets, it is undeniable that the buffet industry is already on the decline.

In the 1980s, buffets began to develop and become popular in the Chinese catering market, which had a lot to do with the social environment at that time. At that time, China was in the tide of reform and opening up, and people were curious about new things. At the same time, with limited consumption capacity, the variety of ingredients and the form of buffet deeply attracted the masses.

Later, as China's economy took off, people's consumption levels began to rise, and they had more demands on catering. The buffet industry, which was once popular in the streets and alleys, began to decline.

According to the "China Catering Report (White Paper 2017)" jointly released by Meituan Dianping and Catering Boss Insider, in 2016, the turnover of buffets in my country was about 1.15 billion yuan, ranking second in the total catering turnover, second only to hot pot.

Source: China Catering Report (White Paper 2017)

According to Tianyancha data, after 2018, the growth of buffet-related companies has become increasingly slow, and has declined sharply for two consecutive years in 2020 and 2021, with the number of buffet restaurants decreasing by 32.8% and 35.6% respectively.

Source: NetEase

According to data from Tianyancha, as of November 2022, only 17,278 of the 33,012 buffet restaurants in China are still alive. In other words, nearly half of the buffet restaurants have closed down.

With the rapid development of the economy, people's material living standards are constantly improving, and various specialty restaurants are constantly emerging to meet the dietary needs of different groups of people. At the same time, people pay more attention to health, safety and taste than affordability. Although the buffet looks like a variety of seafood, fruits, beef and mutton. However, in order to reduce costs, the operators purchase mostly unfresh ingredients, and incidents of food safety exposure are not uncommon.

In short, this is no longer an era where people only pursue having enough to eat. Don’t think about making up for your money by eating at buffets. Instead of eating too much and making yourself uncomfortable, you might as well pay more attention to your health. After all, your body is the capital of revolution.