National Buffet Day

Cast your New Year's weight loss resolution to the wind, it's National Buffet Day! Buffets present something for everyone, so there is no need to choose or make compromises about where to go when eating with a group. Food at buffets is located in a public area where it can be viewed and selected by diners, who can take whatever amount they want. Buffets operate at low profit margins. In general, it's a quantity-over-quality system where low-cost, filling foods are pushed. While buffets usually are self-serve, sometimes there are serving stations where employees carve meat or prepare dishes like crepes or omelets. The popularity of all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants in the United States has ebbed and flowed over decades, contingent on cultural tastes, diets, and changing economies. Buffet meals are not only served at restaurants but at large social events and in hotels.

As of 2024, some national buffet chains are still in operation, such as Golden Corral, Cicics, Shoney's, HuHot Mongolian Grill, and Shakey's Pizza. Some buffet restaurants focus on a specific cuisine, such as Chinese, Mediterranean, or Indian, or a specific type of food, such as pizza, sushi, or grilled meat. Some national and local buffet restaurants celebrate National Buffet Day, usually with special offers.

In the early eighteenth century in England and France, breakfast began being displayed and served from sideboard furniture. The French word for a sideboard, buffet, came to apply to the food and the way it was served instead of the furniture that held it. In the late nineteenth century, buffet-like meals began being served at large balls, the buffet making it easier to serve a large number of guests. In the first half of the twentieth century, hotels began serving buffet-style luncheons.

A smörgåsbord is a Swedish buffet-style meal that emerged in the eighteenth century, based on the earlier brännvinsbord. Often served to guests who had traveled a long distance, it had both warm and cold foods and featured Swedish delicacies like salted fish, eggs, fruit, and vegetables. It was first brought to international attention with the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games when restaurants put out smörgåsbords for those who had traveled to the city for the games. The smörgåsbord was once again on the world stage when it was used to showcase Swedish cuisine at the Three Crowns Restaurant inside the Swedish Pavilion at the New York World's Fair in 1939. It influenced the development of buffets within the United States.

During the Great Depression, as budgets tightened, buffets became popular at home, not at restaurants. Chase Brass & Copper Company debuted their electric buffet server to keep food warm. Released in 1933, it set the stage for the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants that emerged following the Great Depression.

In the early 1940s, as Las Vegas was becoming the country's casino capital, it also was revolutionary when it came to food. Late one evening, Herb McDonald, an employee at El Rancho Vegas, a hotel that had opened in 1941, was hungry and laid out a cold cut board on the hotel bar for himself. Hungry gamblers took notice and wanted some too. This gave McDonald an idea and he opened the Buckaroo Buffet inside of the hotel in 1945. The first commercial all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant in the United States, it was open 24 hours a day and meals cost a dollar. It kick-started the buffet trend in the United States, and independent and national chain buffet restaurants proliferated and skyrocketed in popularity in the decades that followed.

The 1980s were the golden age of all-you-can-eat buffets in the United States. Golden Corral was founded in 1973 and Cicis in 1985. Old Country Buffet, HomeTown Buffet, Ryan's Buffet, and Ponderosa were some other powerhouse buffets. Even Pizza Hut was known for its buffet. During this era, more hotels began offering buffets as well, especially during breakfast.

There became an overabundance of buffet restaurants, and their popularity began to wane. Dietary changes also wreaked havoc on buffets, as low-carb, low-sugar, and low-fat diets were in conflict with the all-you-can-eat buffet model. There also was a shift from consumers wanting quantity to quality. Consumers also began caring more where their food came from, and farm-to-table restaurants and haute cuisine were in vogue.

By 1998, over a quarter of the buffet restaurants in the United States had closed. HomeTown Buffet filed for bankruptcy in 2016. After having hundreds of locations, Ponderosa was down to 75 in 2019, and the number continued to drop. Around the same time, most all-you-can-eat buffets at Pizza Huts closed. The COVID-19 pandemic also affected buffets, shutting down a limping industry. Some of these shutterings were permanent, as Old Country Buffet never fully recovered and closed all their doors in 2021. Some restaurants that pivoted for the time being, like Golden Corral, which offered no-touch buffets and delivery, remained after the pandemic.

Indeed, all-you-can-eat buffets also saw an increase in visitors after the pandemic receded. As inflation hit wallets and there was less eating out as a whole, some buffets actually did better, as consumers once again eyed food that was available in large quantities at a fixed price, seeing it as a good option for eating out on a budget. It's especially a good day to go to a buffet today because it's National Buffet Day!

How to Observe National Buffet Day

Head to your favorite buffet-style restaurant and eat to your heart's desire! Some national and local buffet restaurants celebrate the day, so check to see if any near you are offering specials today. You could also host a buffet-style meal at your home with family and friends. Another way to get into the holiday spirit is by watching an Old Country Buffet training video from the 1990s as well as a video of the star of it, Fred, almost thirty years later, or by reading Buffets [A Story].

Exclusive Content

Enjoying Checkiday? It takes a lot of support from fans like you to run a free website. For exclusive content and other perks, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Thank you!

Sponsor

This event does not currently have a sponsor. If you'd like to increase visibility for this event while gaining exposure for yourself or your brand, you can learn more here!

Something Wrong or Missing?

We would love to hear from you! Please contact us using this form.

Observation Notifications

Would you like to be notified before the next observation? Add this event directly to your calendar with this link. You may also sign up here to be told when other notifications are available!