TThe Arizona Republic
Friday
November 9, 2001
All you can eat
Buffet lures Tempe's hungry collegians
By Patricia Bathurst
Special for The Republic

Locate near a college campus, offer hungry patrons their choice of ingredients, then add the word "buffet." It's a sure-fire success recipe, especially if the buffet steps away from standard fare and offers a variety of meats and veggies that customers choose themselves and then get to watch being cooked on a humongous grill.

"We get a pretty good crowd," said Geoff Stanisic, owner of YC's Mongolian BBQ in Tempe.

Good enough that he changed the restaurant's opening hour from 11 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. after daily lines of potential diners rushing into the lunch hour began to take a toll on his staff.

"This type of buffet began in Taiwan about 25 years ago," Stanisic said. "We appeal to a wide demographic, everyone from retirees to little kids. And the college kids love us."

Arizona State University students Jacob Zubal, James Kramer, Jason Braun and Daniel Drisler were universal in their aggreement.

"Hey, I'm here three or four time week," Braun said. "It's really healthy food."

Unlike other buffets, Mongolian barbecues begin with uncooked food. Customers choose from a selection of meats, seafood, poultry, vegetables, noodles and rice. Seasoning is added by choosing one or more of half a dozen sauces, garlic, onions or ginger.

Filled bowls are then handed over to the barbecue chef, who tosses everything onto a sizzling stone grill.

Voila. It's dinner, served back in the same bowl used to make your choices.

After years of being considered passe, all-you-can-eat buffets are gaining popularity in the East Valley and elsewhere, according to restaurant industry experts.

One factor is the introduction of ethnic variety to all-American comfort foods. In the East Valley, patrons can choose from Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican, Italian (well, OK, it's pizza), or Mongolian stir-fry like YC's, in addition to contemporary soup and salad, and traditional American fare.

About 1.4 percent of sales at the nation's top 400 restaurants are in buffet restaurants, but that is slowly growing.

National buffet chains are sprucing up their menus and décor, according to Restaurants & Institutions, and carving a bigger niche. Chains catering to health-conscious diners have helped spur this popularity, and broadened the appeal of buffets.

San Diego-based Garden Fresh Restaurant Corp. operates more than 95 salad buffets in 15 states, including several Sweet Tomatoes restaurants in the area, including one in Tempe.
 By offering an assortment of fresh produce, as well as several signature salads, the restaurants tap in to the lucrative boomer market, and their children - even in a region like this, where traditional buffets wield a strong appeal to senior adults and retirees.

Buffets, Inc., which operates more than 400 Old Country Buffet and HomeTown Buffets nationally (including one HomeTown in Chandler and two Old Country Buffets in Mesa), claims in its reports that more than half its customers are baby boomers. The chain saw a 41 percent growth in profits over the past two years, and revenues topped $1 billion last year.

How do they - and other buffets - do it?

At full-service restaurants (where diners are served by staff) net income is about 6 percent of sales. At quick service restaurants (including fast food and buffets) net income is 5 percent of sales. But most buffets serve twice as many customers in a week, according to the National Restaurant Association.

One key to maximizing profits is the layout - a closely held secret by both chains and individual owners. Traditionally, higher priced items will be harder to reach, and at the end of a counter or station. For example, by the time you reach the carving station at a traditional buffet, plates are nearly full of salad, vegetables and rolls - with not a lot of room for meat.

Stanisic said he's often astonished at the amounts his customers squeeze into the super-size bowls.

"People make engineering marvels of the things," he said. "They'll put the zucchini slices around the edges to make the bowls hold more, or put the noodles right on the tray."

At lunchtime, he allows diners to take home leftovers for an extra 50 cents.

"But not at dinner. People make monster bowls at lunchtime and walk out of here with two bags. I can't do it at dinner."

Not that his customers wouldn't love to.

Eric Hammersmith of Mesa and Gina Gordon of Gilbert are regulars.
"I wish they'd open one in Mesa," Hammersmith said.

"It's a great place with great energy." Gordon said. "The people are so friendly."

Hammersmith noted, "The food is great. You know exactly what you're getting, and it hasn't been sitting around waiting for you to eat it. It's cooked right in front of you, so you know it's really fresh.
"And you can always get a second bowl if you're still hungry."

And that's the heart of a buffet's appeal - all you can eat, one low price.
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