Buffets after reopening?

jimmykitefan

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Anyone heard what the buffet restaurants will be like once the World reopens. Will they go to only family style or cafeteria style, where someone serves you? Also, will they go to all packaged baked goods like muffins, brownies, cupcakes & etc. My though is prepackaged at the values & moderates but maybe fresh baked goods, behind a counter at the deluxes. What's every ones thoughts?
 
I would think that in the short term they will opt for handing out paper menu's and having food be brought out on an "all you can eat" basis. In the long run, I think that they may opt for having CM's behind glass with all the food, and you just tell them want you want on your plate. That's just my guess though, it's all speculation.
 


Sweet Tomatoes are closing for good. They certainly saw no future in their buffets.

Yes.... very sad. Certainly hard to know how or when buffet goes forward, but at same time I think too quick to just drop everything and say “No way it can happen anymore.” I dunno...
 


Everyone is saying "we don't know" but we do know that the Orange County, FL order clearly prohibits buffets, and WDW is not going to set a lower bar on safety than the rest of the Orlando area. I suspect many of the breakfast buffets will switch over to the "skillet style" AYCTE at Garden Grill or Ohana, and lunch and dinners may change to a la carte or platter style again like GG. Cafeteria style is still problematic because you are constantly handing your plate up to the server behind the buffet for each item, so unless the staff changes gloves in between each guest, they are going to be accumulating and transmitting a lot of guest germs on their gloves.
 
I agree, we just don't know yet. Both at Disney and at home restaurants! A lot of good meals will go by the wayside though. Not everything can be served in an AYCTE manner. And for families like mine, there's waste in those, because of our family eating style. We may have to switch to a resort with a kitchen and just cook for ourselves from now on!
 
I could see buffet venues (like Chef Mickey's) opening with a more "traditional" menu. They could include items that were on their buffet, but offer them app/entree/dessert style.
 
There are a few concepts that are used in Vegas for AYCE and buffet settings that may work at Disney. The Border Grill allows you to order anything from their brunch menu and they bring the small plated servings to your table. They allow you to continue ordering until you are full, returning to your table every 10 minutes or so to see if you want to order more. This requires a smaller menu and washing a lot of dishes, but will work in a higher end environment.

Some high end buffets prepare small servings in small dishes and you just grab the dishes you want with no need to ever touch serving utensils. I love this concept. Check out pictures of Wicked Spoon at the Cosmo and the Bacchanal buffet at Caesars. The buffet at Caesars is huge and they have many options. There needs to be a lot of staff clearing tables but it should work at Disney without limiting food choices. It works for anything from prepared salads to desserts and is much faster than table service since at least 4 small plated items can fit on one dinner size plate.
 
There are a few concepts that are used in Vegas for AYCE and buffet settings that may work at Disney. The Border Grill allows you to order anything from their brunch menu and they bring the small plated servings to your table. They allow you to continue ordering until you are full, returning to your table every 10 minutes or so to see if you want to order more. This requires a smaller menu and washing a lot of dishes, but will work in a higher end environment.

Some high end buffets prepare small servings in small dishes and you just grab the dishes you want with no need to ever touch serving utensils. I love this concept. Check out pictures of Wicked Spoon at the Cosmo and the Bacchanal buffet at Caesars. The buffet at Caesars is huge and they have many options. There needs to be a lot of staff clearing tables but it should work at Disney without limiting food choices. It works for anything from prepared salads to desserts and is much faster than table service since at least 4 small plated items can fit on one dinner size plate.
That’s true—the Disney cruise line dining works similarly. You can order as many menu items you like (I love ordering all the appetizers for the table and mix and match desserts).
 
I think it will be skillet /family dining style. Every family style meal we've had has been awesome, and the character buffets are hard to time getting up to get food with seeing a character, they seem so rushed and the food is on par with Golden Corral at them all. I'm hoping for skillet/family style with improved food quality.
 
I think it will be skillet /family dining style. Every family style meal we've had has been awesome, and the character buffets are hard to time getting up to get food with seeing a character, they seem so rushed and the food is on par with Golden Corral at them all. I'm hoping for skillet/family style with improved food quality.

Yup, I think the likeliest will be AYCE family style with NO characters. Just like at Liberty Tavern in MK. I mean there’s no character interaction or photos at the Shanghai park right now. So, definitely won’t be any characters at restaurants in the near term.
 
Yup, I think the likeliest will be AYCE family style with NO characters. Just like at Liberty Tavern in MK. I mean there’s no character interaction or photos at the Shanghai park right now. So, definitely won’t be any characters at restaurants in the near term.
Well, what they did at 1900 Park Fare right before they closed down the resort in March was to have characters appear for a kind of "show" where they kept a distance from the guests. So it could be done as a character appearance rather than a character interaction. Of course, not the same thing, but better than no characters at all.
 
We had a family discussion last night about the fact that Coronavirus may have killed buffets. Saw a news story out of Asia I believe where to run a test they set up a buffet, put some kind of black light substance on one person's hands, and then switched the lights over once everyone went through the line and was eating. The substance was on the hands of every single person, on utensils, and even on a few people's faces. Now for purposes of the experiment I suspect that these people didn't wash or use hand sanitizer after going through the line (I don't even think it was related to Coronavirus, I think it may have been a study done sooner), but while I force my family to do this it has always seemed like we were among the minority in this.
 
Short term, buffets are toast. I think the risk of touch contact via buffets is very low compared to just being around other people in a buffet (even with masks) but the risk is still there. I don't see this being permanent once the pandemic passes though. If people are going to be that scared of touching shared objects to not get the regular flu then everyone should wear masks forever when out and about. Besides, shared touch objects are everywhere (groceries, gas pumps, clothing racks, playgrounds, etc) and if you're not going to get rid of those, tongs in a buffet don't seem that bad.

On the bright side, I think we're going to get individual soap and shampoo bottles back at the the Disney resorts! :)

Edit: just got a phone call from a family member who is eating at a just reopened restaurant. Which one? I asked. The local buffet. So uh... then again, maybe not! :P
 
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We had a family discussion last night about the fact that Coronavirus may have killed buffets. Saw a news story out of Asia I believe where to run a test they set up a buffet, put some kind of black light substance on one person's hands, and then switched the lights over once everyone went through the line and was eating. The substance was on the hands of every single person, on utensils, and even on a few people's faces. Now for purposes of the experiment I suspect that these people didn't wash or use hand sanitizer after going through the line (I don't even think it was related to Coronavirus, I think it may have been a study done sooner), but while I force my family to do this it has always seemed like we were among the minority in this.

They didn't wash hands or sanitize the first time. When they did and sent them thru, the substance wasn't spread.

It isn't the buffet per se that is the problem. It is people not washing or sanitizing.
 

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