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How American Is the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet?
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May 20, 2025
Weird History Food is grabbing an extra plate to show you the History of Buffets. The term "Buffet" may bring back memories of going to your local restaurant and gorging yourself while creating cooky culinary concoctions. But where did the buffet start?
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Today on Weird History Food, we're loading up our plates
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with a history of the buffet. In the 16th century, visiting guests to Swedish feasts
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would first be greeted with the Bransvinsbord. This table would often contain finger foods
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like cheeses, breads, smoked fish, and cured meats. After a century of binging out on these Bransvinsbords
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the Swedes expanded it into an entire meal. And thus, in the early 18th century
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the first ever smorgasbords were born. Meanwhile, the 18th century French aristocracy
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would showcase their expensive plateware on long, bedazzled tables filled with the day's most extravagant delicacies
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all of which were meant to be eaten while standing. It is thus from the middle French word
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for a side table, buffet, that the modern English buffet finds its origins
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Over in America, all-you-can-eat dining options began popping up as early as 1837
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However, these options relied on servers bringing individual orders over to the table
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But in 1912, it was Sweden's turn to host the Winter Olympics
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Stockholm's restaurants fed their hungry masses with smorgasbords, which became a defining experience for those who attended that year's games
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It didn't take long for someone to take the smorgasbord idea and turn it into an American classic
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And that bold visionary was Herb McDonald, the publicist for El Rancho Vegas
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The first ever casino resort to open on what would eventually be known as the Las Vegas Strip By laying out tables of food on the casino floor guests could grab a bite whenever they got hungry and then get straight back to gambling
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Soon after, El Rancho took Herb's idea and opened up the Buckaroo Buffet
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a 24-hour, all-you-can-eat dinner. Soon, virtually every casino had its buffet, and the trend outgrew Las Vegas to become a national phenomenon
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The first buffets to pop up elsewhere in the country didn't serve the all-American dine-in experience found in Las Vegas
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Instead, they focused on Chinese food, like Chang's Restaurant. As early as 1949, Chang's had adopted the buffet model
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And by 1960, they were just about everywhere. As Chinese buffets became commonplace
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the groundwork was being laid for some of today's most prominent national buffet chains
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For instance, the first Shoney's opened up in 1947, just one year after the creation of the Buckaroo Buffet
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Sizzler opened in Culver City, California in 1958. Golden Corral first opened its doors in 1973
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By the 1980s, the nation entered what is now known as the Golden Age of the American Buffet
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Fast food brands tried to get in on the massively popular trend. Both Pizza Hut and KFC buffets still exist in some locations to this day
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Though several buffet chains, including Old Country Buffet and Sizzler, had to file for bankruptcy during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic
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Buffets the nation over have made a big comeback since things started opening back up in 2021
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Reportedly, buffet traffic is up 125% over the last two years
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