Why Buffet Restaurant Chains Comeback

Buffet restaurant chains are making a comeback in 2025. It became a very popular destination for food lovers. Most of the people have visited a buffet dining at least once in their lifetime.

So, if you are the one who enjoys food, then a buffet restaurant is a place to enjoy. But, due to the covid-19 pandemic and changes of food habits, unexpectedly, the chain falls back. However, recently, buffet chains are coming back to their previous positions.

And becoming the popular choice for the generations. Here, we will go through the reason for buffet restaurant chains comeback. Don't go anywhere; know about the outstanding comeback and start your own buffet restaurants.

What is Buffet  Restaurant

Buffet restaurants are known as all you can eat restaurants. It is one of the most popular and trendy dining establishments. And you can eat everything from heavy meals to fast food, drinks to dessert, and seafood to salad. 

In general, a buffet restaurant offers plenty of menus and food items. And the food items are decorated and placed in common areas, and diners enjoy the food. 

Moreover, it is a dining place where guests have the flexibility to choose the food from diverse menus. It is mainly a self-service establishment. 

In buffet restaurants, menu items are ready; as a result, you don't need to wait for the food. You just arrived at the restaurant on time and are ready to pick your food according to your choice.

History: Rise, Fall, and Return of Buffet Dining

The concept of a buffet restaurant was first found in Sweden in about the 16th century. In Sweden people gather traditionally and have some snacks like bread, cheese, fish, cold meat, etc. Then the form of the social gathering turned into a self-service eating establishment and became popular in Europe. 

In Europe, the buffet system was first featured by France in the 18th century. Then, it became very famous for social gatherings and royal events.

Modern and Global Expansion

In the 20th century, the buffet dining system was established as a commercial type of restaurant in the USA. And it particularly happens in Las Vegas and other states in the USA. They mainly wanted to attract more customers and provide offers for an all-you-can-eat system. 

The Buckaroo Buffet is known as the first buffet restaurant where people are allowed to eat all they want. After that, the buffet concept spread into Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and other regions. There are many popular buffet chains worldwide, and they include Golden Corral buffet, Pizza Hut, Cicis Pizza buffet, Mr. Gatti's Pizza with Pizza POS software, etc. 

The Buffet in the 21st Century

Buffets are popular for their variety of menus and social gatherings. It is a place where a large number of family or friends can enjoy their time with food. But, at the end of the 2010s, buffets started to lose their popularity.

Most of the reasons are rising food and ingredient costs, labor shortages, and excessive food wastage. Additionally, people are increasingly choosing casual restaurants over buffets.

Moreover, the covid-19 pandemic came, and it made revolutionary changes in buffet restaurant chains. Due to covid-19, most of the buffet dining gets permanently or temporarily closed. As it involved social gathering and self-service, it became the thread for the covid infection.

But, after the covid outbreak, buffet restaurant chains comeback and the industry began to grow with the best restaurant management system. They now have more standard concepts, hygiene, and focus on customer service. So, finally, the buffet restaurant has established itself as the most popular dining establishment. 

Reasons Behind the Buffet Restaurant Chains Comeback

The buffet restaurant chains comeback is driven by different factors. It was an outstanding comeback after the years. And it becomes more appealing and popular to the customers for the extraordinary services. There are multiple factors that influence the buffet chain comeback, such as social, economic, food habit changes, or technology. 

Here we will discover the key reason for the best buffet restaurant chains comeback.

1. Menu Variation and Customization

One of the major reasons for buffet restaurant chains comeback is menu variation and customization. Modern dining has changed its strategy and brings variation in menus. Customers are also interested in trying different menus at a time rather than sticking to a single menu. 

By remembering the concern, the buffet restaurant has brought the variation and customization to the menus. They provide plenty of menus, including salad, heavy meals, fast food items, cuisine, dessert, and so on. 

It allows the customers to mix and match the menus so that they get their food. In terms of customizations, buffet caging brings the dining to the next level. They include live cooking stations, dessert corners, sushi bars, etc. So, it becomes fun to have food in buffet restaurants.

2. Family and Group Dining Culture Return

The return of family and group dining culture is another important reason for the buffet comeback. After the covid pandemic, people started communicating and socializing less. 

But as time goes on, people are more into social and family gatherings. As a result, the group dining culture is returning to the previous positions. So, a buffet is the perfect place for family and friends to gather with plenty of food items. 

Moreover, buffets have become popular destinations for celebrations such as family or friend get-togethers, birthday parties, business meetups, or others. 

3. Technological Innovations

Technological innovation plays a vital role in the business industry. Its impact is noticeable in every business sector, including the food and hospitality industry. Buffet restaurant chains are returning with advanced technology. 

There are some important terms that make revolutionary changes in the buffet business. It includes contactless and QR code-based accounting and operating systems, flexible table reservation, online order management, smart inventory control, etc. 

Moreover, temperature control is a really advanced technology for the buffet industry. It helps to keep the food fresh and healthy by controlling the temperature. And these provide business operations with more insight and flexibility.

4. Improved Hygiene

In the food industry, hygiene is important. It plays a big role in business sustenance and reputation. However, in that case, buffet restaurants had a bad reputation before the pandemic in terms of hygiene. 

As it involves an open food table station and sharing utensils. So, it becomes harder to maintain hygiene in a buffet restaurant. But today's buffet is completely different. 

They come with higher food safety and health protocols. It includes frequent cleaning, surface sanitation, sneeze guards, staff-served stations, etc. These all are quite effective to build trust and food safety for the customers. 

5. Value for Money

Value for money is another key reason buffet catering comes back. As the prices increase for this and other ingredients, customers are more concerned about value for money. 

As a result, they are more into the all-you-can-eat restaurants so that they can eat a variety of menus at a fixed price. 

Moreover, for families and larger individual corporate groups, buffet menus are the best option. They do need to worry about the individual cost of the platter. So, for those who are really concerned about money value, they prefer to choose a buffet. 

6. Experienced Based Dining

Modern dining is not only limited to having a meal. It also sought different experiences and flavors. So people go for dining to have some outstanding food with experience. 

A buffet restaurant is a place where customers go with family or friends, enjoy a live kitchen, and taste different items and flavors. 

There is more creativity found in buffet dining, such as live BBQ and grills, food fusion, chocolate fountains, etc. Definitely experience-based dining is a major term that helps to boost buffet restaurant popularity. 

7. Waste Management Improvement

Food waste improvement is the core reason for buffet chains going back to trends. In buffet establishments, a large amount of food becomes wasted. So, it was a threat for the business industry. 

Moreover, it increases costs, which plays a role in reducing or decreasing profits. But now, the buffet comes with the solutions. They used a food waste management solution to reduce wastage in the buffet. 

Different types of food waste management companies work to collect food from buffet restaurants and serve or deliver it to the customers who need it. So, the buffet restaurant can easily manage their food wastage by using restaurant food waste management solutions.

How Buffet Chains Are Rebranding Themselves

As we can see, the buffet chains are making a huge comeback. They come with new innovations, technological improvements, and power. So, forget those days when buffet dining was under the unhygienic food habits. Now, most of the buffets are rebranding themselves and making more of an impact in the restaurant industry. 

Here we will cover how they are rebranding themselves with real examples. 

The Recovery of Cici’s Pizza

1. Rise and Growth

In 1985, a pizza buffet named Cici's Pizza became very popular. They established themselves as an all you can eat buffet chains. However, their unique menus and entertainment through the arcade games help them to grow in popularity very fast in Texas. Within a very short time they got popular all over the USA. 

2. Fall Down 

But when the pandemic came, they were stuck very badly, and they announced chapter 11 bankruptcy. So it was a huge fall down for them. But they never stopped and started to do the recovery after the pandemic. 

3. Recovery Phase

And, finally, they started to grow again in 2024, and they succeeded. At present, they have more than 270 locations all over the United States. Moreover, they are celebrating the 40th year of their anniversary as a Cici's Pizza buffet in 2025.

4. Current Status

Their strategy is very different, and they provide some special offers on certain days where an adult person can eat for only $4.99 USD. So, it was a great achievement, as they are now competing with the famous Domino's Pizza or Pizza Hut. And the renowned Cici's pizza is dominating the buffet pizza chains. However, they changed the pizza business and made it more profitable.

The Recovery of Golden Corral

1. Rise and Growth

Golden Corral was first established in 1973 and spread the concept of buffet restaurants in the USA. And they got very popular for their dining establishment. Golden Corral is one of the famous buffet chains in the USA that has a long-standing reputation in the market. 

2. Fall Down

But, like other restaurants, Golden Corral also faces challenges due to the COVID pandemic and changes in customers' preferences. But Golden Corral always trusts that any situation can be improved with the right technology and strategy such as food cost management software, accounting and POS. They are continuously trying to improve the situation and bring modification to the buffet concept. 

3. Recovery Phase

Finally, they change their business model and look forward to a positive outcome. At the end they launched a new concept called the fast casual buffet concept. It is more creative and customer-friendly. The customers can come enjoy their meal and have the freedom to choose their favorite items. 

4. Current Status

However, they changed the entire system used before. It includes restaurant POS software, a kitchen display system, a wifi system, and the dining culture. In 2024, the golden corral near me comes with a new cloud-based POS system, where they control the entire restaurant through a central platform. 

Now, they have seen positive signs of growing revenue. They estimated their order will be increased by about 5% to 10% by 2025. And, definitely, it will bring revolutionary changes in profit margin. This is how Golden Corral recovered from the previous situation and is still growing now.

The Recovery of Mr. Gatti’s Pizza

1. Rise and Growth

Mr. Gatti's Pizza is a popular buffet chain. They are one of the established chains that was founded in 1969 in Austin, Texas. 

2. Fall Down

But, in 2019, Mr. Gatti's Pizza declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, owing creditors anything from $10 million to $50 million. The major reason for these difficulties is financial mismanagement. So, the situation is much harder for them. 

3. Recovery Phase

They reverse the situation and are able to build up new locations. And finally, Mr. Gatti’s Pizza owns 234 buffet restaurants. Most importantly, they are able to boost up their sales by 0.4% and profits. This was possible by being creative and making more awareness. 

4. Current Status

So, it is an excellent example of how to recover from the hardest situation and show well-timed growth. In 2025, Mr. Gatti's Pizza has shown encouraging indications of resurgence through strategic alliances, an increased territory, and nostalgia.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Most frequent question asked while you are managing or planning for a buffet restaurant. 

1. What Is the Biggest Buffet Restaurant?

The biggest buffet restaurant worldwide is Golden Kinnaree Buffet Restaurant. It is situated in Phuket FantaSea in Phuket, Thailand. However, it got official recognition as the largest buffet restaurant due to its seating capacity, size, and menu diversity.

Size: Around 5,220 square meters

Seating Capacity: Approximately 4,000 guests

Location: Phuket FantaSea Theme Park, Kamala Beach, Phuket, Thailand 

2. Are Buffets Making a Comeback?

Definitely, buffet restaurant chains are making a powerful and strong comeback. With the change of advanced strategy, technology, and following customer demand, buffet restaurants are on the improvement. So, in general, the traffic and revenue of a buffet restaurant are showing a strong comeback.

3. What Is the Biggest Buffet Chain?

The biggest buffet chain in the world is Golden Coral.

Founded: 1973

Headquarters: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Number of Locations (2025): Around 360+ restaurants across the United States

Employees: Over 9,000 nationwide

Annual Revenue: Estimated at over $1.5 billion

Concept: All-you-can-eat buffet

4. Do Buffets Waste a Lot of Food?

Yes, buffets waste a lot of food. Different strategies show that buffet restaurants wasted around 30–40% of what they prepared. But, with the newer technology and smart food waste management system, buffets have reduced their food wastage percentage.

5. What Is the Most Popular Buffet Item?

Due to its widespread popularity, low cost, and capacity to maintain its flavor and crispiness while on the serving line, fried chicken is constantly the most popular buffet item. Moreover, other popular buffet items include pizza, mashed potatoes, roast beef, salad, dessert, macaroni and cheese, etc.

Conclusion

An interesting fact is that buffet restaurants have not just come back; they have become cleaner, more hygienic, and smarter. They establish the modern concept of all-you-can-eat restaurants. 

The safety standard and strong operational management are the main reasons for the buffet restaurant chain's comeback. People are now more into buffet dining. They just look for an all you can eat buffet near me, find the restaurant, and join the dining. 

So, the industry has become more stable than before. With the mix of menus, flexibility, customer choice, and technology, the buffet is moving forward to high growth.