Buffets are very straightforward. Some restaurants have them as an option, if this is the case, you can bet your server will point out this option and try to sell it to you. My previous restaurant ran a breakfast buffet; we severs loved it, because it cost $20 and all we had to do was pour endless cups of coffee and drop a check.
Sometimes a restaurant will only have a buffet. This is the case at 67 in the Edgewater Hotel, after you are seated the server will tell you that the buffet is all they are serving. He will bring you a mimosa and direct you to help yourself to the piles of fruit and shellfish and eggs benedict.
Sometimes you have to be given a plate before you can go to the buffet, but even if the plates are part of the layout, if you are in a restaurant, you always have to be given permission.
Hotels are ruining this concept.
So many of them offer "complimentary" breakfast these days. Often it is a "continental" breakfast, i.e. muffins and mushy apples, but the practice runs so rampant that many people seem to think "continental" and "complimentary" are synonyms. These strange little affairs are laid out in the lobby, or in a dining room, at a particular time, and you don't need a plate to go help yourself to donuts and coffee, you don't need permission, you only need to be staying in the hotel.
This puts hotel restaurants in an awkward position. I've worked in two of them now, my first in a big downtown hotel, my current one in a smaller neighborhood location, but they are both independently owned. Guests can charge meals to their rooms, but that's about it. Many guest's don't understand this, especially before their first cup of coffee."
"What is included with my room?" was a question I got asked frequently, when I worked downtown. The answer was "nothing". There is no way to phrase this so it sounds less like nothing. When people asked my other favorite question; "What comes with the pancakes?" I could at least smile sweetly and say "butter and syrup". Then I would encourage them to order a side of bacon, which is what they were hoping to get for free.
They would try to get the buffet for free too. The restaurant didn't help matters by having two different price levels for the buffet; the all inclusive "All American", and the, yes, "Continental" option, for those who only wanted to graze among the fruit, pastries, and cold cereal. Many people did just fine with this concept, but there were others to whom the phrase "continental buffet" meant one of two things.
1. It's free with my room!
2. I can order the lower priced buffet and then sneak a bunch of bacon and no one will notice!
I doubt you'll find it surprising that I do not miss working in a hotel restaurant with a buffet. My current location serves food only if ordered off the menu, which is wonderful, because most people, when ordering food off a menu, realize they are expected to pay for it. We do, however, have a beverage station set up in view of the guests. There is no food on this station, it is only a collection of different kinds of cups and glasses, coffee pots, hot water for tea, and an ice bucket filled with juices and coffee creamer. It is right next to the computer, and a pile of menus, but still, every day someone will make for it saying "how does this work?" or, "Do we just help ourselves?"
We added a sign to the wall above the beverage station, the sign says "employees only". It is on blue paper and it taped to an orange wall, so its very hard to miss, but people still got confused.
A few days ago we added a folding screen that partially blocked the view of the station. Things seem to have gotten better, but then today I came back from collecting silverware to find a Couple happily pouring themselves orange juice and taking napkins from the loose pile I was in the middle of folding. Even after I'd directed them to a table, taken their order and brought the lady a cup of coffee, she got up and went back to the station saying, "I help myself to the juice, right?"
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