Buffets: Encouraging Appetites

Buffets have become an attractive force for the millenials as well as those who want to savour variety of dishes and want to pick and choose after having a look at the dishes. As the saying goes: you eat with your eyes first! So the lavish spread set out in front of you allows you to feast your eyes and then sate your appetite with all the delicacies. With increasing demand for buffets, more and more hotels are now laying lavish spreads for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But can they afford these spreads at economic prices? Ashok Malkani tries to find out the secret behind an increasing number of hotels preferring to offer buffet and much more – like how they prepare the menu, and controlling food wastage, et al.

- Ashok Malkani

Be it marriages or Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events (MICE) buffet seems to be the order of the day. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, one finds several F&B outlets offering buffets. When a friend of this writer was asked why he preferred buffets he replied with a smile, “Have your fill. No worry about the bill.” Well, when one thinks about it the statement seems to be quite true. At buffets you eat at your will and pay a fixed amount, irrespective of the quantity. But is this the only reason for the success of buffet. There are other variables which define the success and profitability of the buffet business.

Buffet is less expensive, with more food choices and it also allows you to socialize with the other diners. These three reasons are also the rationale behind why people hosting parties or organizing business meetings opt for buffets.

There is something magical about when you walking up a row of brightly lit fresh fruits with an option to pick and choose a few strawberries, a couple of chunks of pineapple, some pieces of watermelon plus some red and green grapes. And that’s just the first trip through the line!

So how did the concept of buffet start?

It is believed that it started in the 18th century, in France. The term buffet originally referred to the French sideboard furniture where the food was served, but eventually became applied to the serving format. It was in the second half of the 19th century, especially in the English speaking world, that buffets became popular for meals. Today, buffets are popular for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

So what is the reason for its popularity?