00:00 This podcast episode is about buffets and the hosts discuss their personal experiences with buffets, including their childhood memories and the last time they went to one.

05:25 The origin of buffets can be traced back to Scandinavia in the 13th century, where they had smorgasbords and brandvence boards that were initially meant to serve light food to travelers and guests, but later became the main meal.

10:29 The Las Vegas Strip played a significant role in the development of buffets, with the first buffet being created by a publicist named Herb MacDonald at the El Rancho Vegas hotel in the late 1940s, leading to the rise of the American buffet in Las Vegas.

15:50 Buffets in America have a long history, with all-you-can-eat deals being offered as early as the late 1800s, but it was during the Great Depression that the concept really took off due to its value and the availability of low food prices, leading to the rise of inexpensive buffet chains in the 1950s and 1960s.

21:27 Buffets like Ponderosa Steakhouse, Sizzler, Golden Corral, and Ryan's Grill were popular in the past, and ethnic buffets and pizza buffets were also common.

26:37 Pizza buffets were popular in the past, with Pizza Hut being a long-standing example, and dessert pizzas are a big draw, but some pizza buffets like CCs have been criticized for their quality; salad buffets were also popular in the 80s and 90s, with competitors like Super Salad and Soup Plantation, but people eventually realized they weren't actually healthy; there have also been fast food buffets, like the Wendy's Superbar, which had a variety of options including pasta, Mexican taco salad, and garlic bread, but it was not all-you-can-eat and eventually went away due to difficulties in controlling portion sizes.

31:54 Buffets have a narrow profit margin and face the economic theory of adverse selection, which predicts that they shouldn't exist, but they still manage to persist by using tricks to protect their profit margin.

37:42 Buffet restaurants use various strategies to protect their profit margins, such as charging customers for wasted food, not clearing plates away, and front-loading the buffet line with cheaper, filling items to discourage customers from eating more expensive dishes.

42:48 Buffets boost their profits by charging high prices for drinks, using pre-cooked and pre-packaged food, employing fewer staff, and using marketing tactics like changing "all you can eat" to "all you care to eat" to make customers feel less aggressive.

47:54 Buffets can be gross and dangerous due to shared utensils and food sitting out at unsafe temperatures, leading to frequent cases of food poisoning. Sneeze guards were patented in 1959 to help prevent the spread of germs, but there are no laws regarding how long utensils can stay out or how often they should be replaced. Food waste is also a big problem for buffets, with some companies using computer modeling to reduce waste and cut costs.

53:07 Buffets are trying to minimize food waste through computer modeling, but despite their efforts, a significant amount of food still goes to waste, and the future of buffets looks uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic and changing consumer preferences.

58:10 Buffets can hold sentimental value and have the potential to change lives, as demonstrated by a listener who discovered their passion for food technology through an episode on molecular gastronomy.