Letting people just eat anything they want all willy-nilly couldn't possibly be profitable, right?

任人狂吃猛吃隨便吃，這可沒辦法賺錢吧？對吧？

Well, grab a plate, because we're about to reveal how all-you-can-eat buffets really make their money.

拿好你的盤子吧！因為我們要來告訴你吃到飽餐廳究竟是如何賺錢的！

Cutting back on overhead.

減少基本開銷。

One of the things buffets have going for them is an overhead different than traditional restaurants.

自助餐和傳統餐廳的不同之處，就在於它的基本開銷。

That's because you're doing most of the work for them - and paying for the privilege.

那是因為你基本上幫他們做好了所有工作，而且還為此付了錢。

You serve yourself, and in some places, you might even get your own drinks.

你給自己上菜，在某些餐廳，你或許還要自己拿飲料。

This means there's next to no need for wait staff.

這代表不需要請服務生。

And since the menu relies heavily on a series of regular dishes which are prepared in advance, they can hire fewer and cheaper chefs.

而且因為餐點大部分都是可以事先備好的基本菜色，他們就能花小錢、少請一點的廚師。

Heck, at some buffets — like Korean BBQ places — the customers are even doing the cooking as well as the serving!

老天，更別說像是韓式燒烤這種吃到飽，消費者甚至是自己拿菜、自己煮！

Minimizing waste.

減少浪費。

Ovation Brands, which runs the Country Buffet chain, owns and manages more than one hundred buffets across America, and they have a ton of data on every aspect of their business.

旗下有連鎖鄉村自助餐的 Ovation Brands 公司，在全美經營超過一百間自助餐店，他們掌握了自己公司任何面向的大數據。

They monitor everything, including weekly waste amounts, and plug it into a massive computer model.

他們監測任何事，包含每週廚餘量，然後將這些數據輸入一個大型的電腦模擬程式。

That allows them to track exactly how much customers are eating and how much is getting thrown away, and allows them to adjust menus based on what's popular, allowing them to plan ahead and put out what people are going to want, and in the right quantities.

這讓他們得知每週消費者會吃多少，又會剩餘多少食物，還能夠根據時下流行即時調整菜單、擺出顧客會想吃的，而且分量不多不少。

When they do put it out, they use small pans to minimize how much goes to waste.

他們提供消費者小盤子裝食物，減少廚餘。

"That is beautiful!"

「真是太美了！」

"I told you, the buffet, man!"

「就跟你說了，自助餐是王道！」

"Boy, did we do the wrong thing!"

「老天，我們過去都錯了。」

Cheap ingredients.

便宜食材。

Psychology Today took a look at what's going in the buffet line, and they call it the "fill the customer's belly cheaply" metric.

《今日心理學》觀察了一下自助餐，發現他們的套路就是「花少錢填飽消費者肚子」。

For a lot of buffets, things like vegetables, potatoes, and rice are staple dishes.

在很多自助餐店，蔬菜、馬鈴薯和米飯都是基本菜色。

That's because they are both super cheap and extremely filling.

那是因為這些食物都超級便宜而且非常有飽足感。

The more rice and veggies you eat, the more money the restaurant makes.

你吃越多飯和蔬菜，餐廳就賺得越多。

"What did I teach you about buffet strategy."

「我是怎麼教你吃自助餐的？」

"Always start with your high-end meats, skip veggies, they'll only fill you up with nonsense."

「永遠要從貴的肉吃起，避開蔬菜，它們只會讓你飽得很沒意義。」

Seasonal and regional specialties.

時令或地方菜色。

Psychology Today also reported that there are two good reasons you're likely to find a lot of seasonal and regional foods in the buffet line.

《今日心理學》也指出，你之所以會在自助餐看到很多時令和地方菜色，有兩大原因。

First, if something's in season or grown, the restaurant is going to be able to buy it cheaply in bulk, as it's readily available.

第一，如果某食品在當季大量出產，餐廳就能夠便宜買到大量，因為產量很多。

And secondly, it makes the buffet look good.

第二是，他們讓自助餐檯面上看起來很棒。

When they can offer menus advertised with words like "locally-sourced" and "seasonal," it makes customers feel like they're getting something special — and it'll keep them coming back.

他們的菜單可以標榜「當地產」和「時令」，讓消費者感覺吃到特別的菜色，而且還能讓消費者一來再來。

Drink up!

喝吧！

Drinks usually aren't included in the price of the buffet, and there's a good reason for that.

飲料費用通常不會涵蓋在自助餐內，那是有原因的。

While the food being served often has a relatively modest 30 percent markup over cost, restaurants can jack up the price of drinks by as much as 90 percent.

餐廳透過提供餐點大約能夠獲利 30%，飲料則可以獲利多達 90%。

And the more you eat, the thirstier you're going to get.

而且你吃得越多，就會越渴。

As a result, they make a lot of bank off of your beverage.

因此他們靠你喝的飲料大賺一筆。

"Drinks. Cold. Are you ready? Here we go!"

「飲料。涼涼的。準備好了嗎？來吧！」

Giving you smaller tools.

讓你用較小的器具。

One of the biggest factors impacting your eating habits at a buffet are the tools you're given.

影響你在自助餐吃飯習性最大的一個因素就是他們提供的餐具。

You'll almost never see full-sized dinner plates or actual soup bowls and instead, you'll be given small plates and even tiny dessert bowls instead in order to limit the amount of food you take.

你幾乎不會見到全尺寸的餐盤或是真的湯碗，你用的是小小的盤子，甚至是迷你甜點碟，餐廳才能限制你吃的食物量。

Restaurant suppliers know this, and buffets can even purchase miniature tableware especially designed for buffets.

餐廳業者心知肚明，他們甚至買來專為自助餐設計的小小餐具。

That even includes silverware, which tends to be smaller — but not small enough you'd really notice unless you already know their sneaky tricks.

甚至連你的刀叉都會更小，但不會讓你察覺，除非你已經知道他們的伎倆。

You're welcome.

不客氣啦！

A strategic layout.

策略性的動線。

Buffets spend a lot of time figuring out the right layout for the food.

自助餐業者花很多功夫搞清楚擺設食物的最佳動線。

Those cheap, filling foods like salads, veggies, rice, and noodles are likely to come right at the start, so you can load up before you get to the expensive stuff like meat and fish.

那些便宜、飽肚子的食物，像是沙拉、蔬菜、飯和麵，通常會擺在前頭，這樣你就會在吃肉和魚那類昂貴食材前，先墊一些肚子。

Check out the way things are served, too.

也瞧瞧那些拿來取餐的餐具。

You can grab a massive ladle-full of rice and veggies, but it's tongs when it comes to those inevitably small portions of meat.

你可以舀一大勺飯和蔬菜，但卻是用鉗子夾小小塊的肉。

They'll take longer to get on your plate, and most people don't like the pressure of holding up a line, so they tend to move quickly through.

夾起來比較費時，大多數人不喜歡拖到排隊隊伍，所以通常草草夾一下就快速走過。

Also, pans with more expensive foods are generally less full — a subtle encouragement to take less — while cheap ingredients will be served in giant, overflowing pans.

還有，昂貴食物用淺盤裝也裝得比較少，這是在告訴你的潛意識夾少一點，便宜的食材倒是用大盤子裝得滿滿滿。

There's plenty for all, and people like that.

滿滿的食物，大家看了都開心。

Cheaper isn't always better.

便宜不見得比較好。

The Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University conducted an experiment to see how the price of a buffet influenced customers.

康奈爾大學的「食物暨品牌實驗室」做了一個實驗，看看自助餐的價格會如何影響消費者。

They offered two groups of customers the same pizza buffet, and charged one group $4, while the other group was charged $8.

他們提供給兩組消費者一樣的披薩自助餐，跟一組收費 4 美金，另一組收取 8 美金。

The group who paid more was overwhelmingly more satisfied with the entire experience.

付比較多的那組對自助餐的滿意程度大大壓過了另一組。

That kind of psychology has filtered down even to Las Vegas.

這樣的心理機制甚至滲透進了拉斯維加斯。

Just a few years ago, $1.99 all you can eat buffets were everywhere, as a lure to bring hungry patrons into casinos.

就在幾年前，為了吸引餓肚子大夥進賭場，「1.99 美金吃到飽自助餐」遍地開花。

By 2013, though, they had suddenly vanished, with the average buffet price hovering between $20 and $25.

但是在 2013 年，它們忽然都消失了，自助餐平均要價變成 20 至 25 美金。

Why?

為什麼？

Because people now will pass on the cheaper buffets because they feel like they get better food and a better experience if they are paying more.

因為現在大家會避開便宜自助餐，選擇到比較貴的，感覺花比較多就能得到更好的食物、更好的體驗。

You know what they say: one way or the other, the house always wins.

你知道的，不管怎樣，莊家一定不會虧。

People absolutely get banned.

真的可能進黑名單。

Finally, you may not want to take the "all you can eat" part quite so literally.

最後跟你說，你或許不該把「吃到飽」看得太認真。

People can and have been banned from buffets for eating too much food.

真的有人因為在吃到飽吃太多而成為拒絕往來戶。

For instance, a Wisconsin man named Bill Wisth was not only banned, but had the cops called on him for abusing his local buffet.

講個例子，一位叫做 Bill Wisth 的威斯康辛男子不止上了吃到飽黑名單，甚至引來警察上門、說他濫用當地吃到飽餐廳。

"But the sign said 'All-You-Can-Eat'!"

但是招牌寫「吃到飽」誒！

So before you go back for that fourth plate of rice and veggies, ask yourself how much you might like the taste of jail food.

所以在你裝第四盤飯和蔬菜前，捫心自問一下，自己想不想吃牢飯。

Because the buffets there aren't nearly as good.

因為牢中的自助餐肯定好吃不起來。

Thanks for watching!

感謝你的收看！

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點一下我們的頻道，訂閱我們吧！

Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!

也看看這些影片，你們肯定會喜歡！