The pandemic was not kind to buffets.
The thought of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with people, taking food from a communal trough, quickly became terrifying, resulting in chains going bankrupt and casinos jettisoning the loss leader. But as life creeps back to normal, people are once again making their way to buffets. And while the numbers are still nowhere close to where they were before COVID, they’re on the rise in a noticeable way.
Buffets took in $5.5 billion in 2022, according to IBISWorld research. That’s a 9% jump from the year before.
It’s not exactly a rocket ship, but it’s something that was unthinkable in 2020, when once-popular buffets like Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes shut down permanently. And two years ago, the parent company of Old Country Buffet filed for bankruptcy.
Last year, though, Golden Corral, which offers all-you-can-eat buffets for less than $20 per person, saw its sales climb 14%. And CiCi’s pizza, which was forced to close half its locations during the pandemic, has seen a bounce back as well (its owners do not report publicly).
Meanwhile, while many Las Vegas casinos did away with their buffets amid the pandemic, converting those areas to food courts with several vendors, the ones that kept them are seeing tremendous demand. A recent trip to the Palms Casino, off the Vegas strip, saw guests waiting more than an hour to enter the buffet.
Meanwhile, the Bellagio now charges patrons up to $80 per meal at its buffet, while diners at the Cosmopolitan’s Wicked Spoon now pay $49 for brunch on weekends (and another $25 per person if they want bottomless mimosas).
Part of that pricing is also due to supply and demand. Before COVID, there were 18 buffets on the Vegas Strip. Today, there are only eight.
