![]() ![]() Obviously, since I have written an article about it, I know the answer. When did our hearts grow cold toward buffets, and why? The buffet is affordable, and a lot of us love a deal. ![]() The buffet is a symbol of the American dream. In 2016, Eater’s Dana Hatic blamed the fall of the buffet on America’s “newfound focus on fast casual dining farm-to-table menus,” as well as “widespread attention on the health effects of obesity and overconsumption.” This makes some sense, and at the same time, it does not. ![]() Salad bar-goers at a Souplantation in 2003. ![]() filed for bankruptcy twice more by 2016, at which point USA Today noted that it had “the dubious and relatively rare distinction” of entering what finance guys like to “jokingly refer to as Chapter 33 - that is, Chapter 11 bankruptcy for a third time.” The same year, Garden Fresh Restaurants, which owns Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes, filed for bankruptcy as well, citing $175 million in debt. The Ponderosa parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008, the same year as the company that owns Old Country Buffet (and four other buffet chains). There were, at one point, 305 Ponderosas (and sister buffet Bonanzas) in the US, and today there are 75 locations total - including 19 in Puerto Rico and a handful scattered in Egypt, Qatar, Taiwan, and the UAE. Yet the Ponderosa Steakhouse in Canandaigua, New York, is now a parking lot for a Starbucks. A buffet is a glamorous idea it provides you with the otherwise difficult-to-accomplish joy of eating many small servings of many different delicious things all at the same time, regardless of whether they are meant to be served together. Most of this love affair was actually with the ability to play grown-up and select my own food and carry my own stuff - and serve my own ice cream! - but I stand by it. When I was 5, as I was in 1999, I did not care about these facts - I had no concerns at all, personally, and Wikipedia did not exist, generally - but I deeply cared about Ponderosa Steakhouse. Ponderosa was the name of the ranch on Bonanza. The chain of buffets was founded in 1963 by Dan Blocker, who played Eric “Hoss” Cartwright on Bonanza, and enjoyed its peak popularity when TV Westerns were still big. Chicken wings aren’t good, yet the ones at Ponderosa Steakhouse in 1999 were delicious. ![]()
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