All You Can Eat Buffets: Good Prices, Bad Food? Accelerated Learning Resources

All You Can Eat Buffets: Good Prices, Bad Food?

A buffet is a meal where there are several different kinds of food, usually put into large pots, bowls, or plates and placed (put) on a long table. Each person takes his or her own plate and serves themselves (puts the food they want on their own plate). Buffets are very popular in the United States, and can consist of (be made up of) a variety of foods or just one type of food (Indian and Chinese buffets are very popular in Los Angeles, for example).

One of the reasons buffets are popular is that the food is “all you can eat,” meaning you can eat as much food as you want for the same price. (Remember that 30% of Americans are overweight (too fat); now you know one reason why!) The problem with some buffets is that the quality of the food is often not very good. Does this matter to American eaters?

One recent study tried to answer that question by comparing two groups of people. The first group paid full price (the regular price) for a pizza buffet, which was $6.00 for all the pizza they could eat. The second group paid only half of that ($3.00) for the same all-you-can-eat meal. Which group ate more? Which group liked their food more?

On average, the group that paid more, ate more (about 25% more). But that same group of people also said that the pizza tasted worse than the group that paid less! In other words, even though they thought the pizza tasted worse, they ate more of it. One possibility suggested by the researchers is that the full price group thought that each slice (piece) of pizza was worth less due to the poor taste, and that therefore they had to eat more of it to get their money’s worth (the full value or benefit for the price you pay).

I’m not sure if this explanation is correct. If I’m at a buffet, I would also eat more food if I paid a higher price. When I pay more for food at a restaurant, I expect the food to be better than if I had paid less, and if it isn’t in fact better, then I am more disappointed. But I can also imagine thinking that the food was better than it actually was because I paid a lot of money. I might think: Well, if it is this expensive, then it should taste better, and so I think it does.

What do you think? What is the relationship between food and price at the restaurants you eat at?

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