Buffets and Behavioural Economics in the Modern Age

People are naturally drawn to buffets. Going through long queues of scrumptious food would appear to be straightforward enough, but there may be something more going on than meets the eye. How does food selection take place? It certainly involves a significant amount of consideration -- assessing choices and picking out the ones that attract one's taste -- and may be guided by some form of push or motivation.

The purposeful process of buffet selection has captured the interest of economists, psychologists, and other researchers, which may provide unique economic insights and "a glimpse into the weirdness of human behaviour."

A research in 2008 at Cornell university studied the effects of discounts on an all-you-can-eat pizza deal. It found that although the amount of food that can be consumed is the same -- unlimited -- with or without the discount, when paying less, people tended to eat less. The conclusion arrived at by the researchers was that people consumed food according to their sense of value rather than their appetite.

Economist Michael Leonard, from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia, wrote about the economics of buffets at Sin City, and gave him insights about fixed costs, excesses and deficits of the marginal revenue of establishments, and cost, price, and value differences.

Buffets get people excited because, when asked to choose between a favourite dish or a wide selection, variety is the preferred choice. This behaviour, is exhibited by capuchin monkeys, echoes the primate behaviour innate in humans. In another study, when presented with ten colours of the candy, people consumed 43 percent more M&Ms than for seven colours. The more options are given, the more hunger is manifested, and the more amount of food is consumed.

This leads to another point in buffet economics -- the glutton factor. The Forbes reports the case of Bill WIsth, a man who spoke up in protest for being turned out of a buffet for eating too much. Although the buffet owner acted a little more discourteous than usual, the Forbes also makes a point by saying:

"When someone offers all-you-can-eat to any customers, those that show up should be ones for whom the amount that they can eat is worth more than the price they expect to pay. After all, if the buffet costs $10 no matter how much you eat then those who eat the most will get the most value out of it. But the average amount consumed can’t exceed the price, otherwise the restaurant will lose money and go out of business. So if the average amount consumed is $16 worth of food, then the restaurant will have to raise the price to above $16. But this means those who ate more than $10 but less than $16 worth of food will no longer find it worthwhile to eat there, so they will stop going, and the average customer left will be those who eat more than $16 worth. This process continues, until there is only one guy left going to the buffet, and he eats $300 worth of fish and is charged exactly $300 for it."

Researches have tried to correlate the number of times people have returned to the buffet table, with a variety of factors including body mass index. The proposition that people who are overweight eat more may be obvious, but researchers try to link seconds or repeat trips to the buffet table with plate size, amount of survey time before picking up the first serving, and facing position in relation to the trays and meins.

There is a perception that buffets are there to offer cheap food. However, according to science, people are happier with buffets that cost more. Cornell Food Lab supports this finding, and reports that inexpensive food, aside from causing people to eat less, also causes people to be unsatisfied with their all-you-can-eat meals. This displays a form of self-fulfilling prophecy, which also gives insight into a person's sense of value.

It can therefore be said that it is better to eat at more expensive buffets, in order to get the most satisfaction out of one's meal. Eating from a large plate, while facing the buffet table, raises the chances of "begging the house" -- that is, getting one's fill and consuming to the heart's content.

Alternatively, it is important to note that value does not equate with cost, and sometimes the people who come out of a buffet happiest are not the ones who come out with a full stomach and an indigestion.