Neil Freiman

Then the 2000s happened and that ratio completely flipped.

It was 75% money coming from

entertainment and dining and 25% coming from gambling.

So when those when that economics changed, no longer was it viable for for a resort casino to have a buffet as a loss leader.

And that's what these were.

And that's why we're seeing basically the death of them from over 100 to now six.

But we shouldn't eulogize the buffet in general because they're seeing a revival.

It just doesn't look exactly like what you might see in Vegas.

According to Yelp, their 2026 trends forecast, they said there was a 252% increase in searches for all-you-can-eat buffets near me.

Perhaps that is driven by affordability concerns and inflation, but it's also driven by Asian cuisine.

So if you look at a hot pot chain like

K-Pot, which also does Korean barbecue, they had three locations in 2020.

Now they have more than 150 open.

They're expecting to have that by the end of the calendar year.

So buffets haven't really gone anywhere.

They're just changing.

What is your buffet strategy?

What are you doing?

My buffet strategy is a little bit of everything because that's what I like.

I want to taste every single thing there.