Modern Buffets: Blueprint for Success

• Offer variety. Give your customers not only a variety of food options but also price points and types of buffet service.


• Provide a la carte or “upsell” options on your buffet menu. A seafood station or adult milkshake bar can go a long way to enhancing a standard buffet.


• Sell buffet stations a la carte even for sit-down dinner events. For example, for a wedding, offer the couple a “Bride and Groom’s Celebration of Pastries,” rather than the standard plated dessert choices of various finger pastries. And serve desserts in a separate room, where guest can enjoy them at their leisure. This allows for more social interaction, and guest can choose not only what they would like to eat, but how much and when.


• Describe the menu items in clear, easy-to-understand language. That does not mean you can’t also use words that entice and excite. A well-written menu will have the guest saying, “Wow! I am hungry just thinking about the food on this buffet.”


• Know Your Limitations. There is no sense in featuring a buffet menu from a five-start property if your operation does not have five-star talent to produce it, along with the necessary equipment and all the other means required to properly execute the buffet.

Tips & Recipes from Modern Buffets: Blueprint for Success

Omelet Bar

Lobster Eggs Benedict

Eggs Benedict Buffet