Buffets are back, and demand is booming despite pandemic

Cordis Auckland executive chef Volker Marecek says Eight has reopened to better-than-expected business and is preparing for a festive season boom. Photo / Dean Purcell

Fears that the Covid-19 outbreak would mark the end of buffets did not happen, and some have now returned to booming businesses.

Eight Restaurant, Cordis Hotel's flagship restaurant, is the latest to reopen and resume its buffet offerings from eight different kitchens.

A Restaurant Association survey of 16 buffet operators and 10 hotels have found that 80 per cent had returned to normal buffet settings if they had them in place in the past, with just around 20 per cent having changed.

The general consensus among members with buffet offerings was that none had permanently changed to a la carte as a result of the virus outbreak, it said. The exceptions were large hotels, some of which had been turned into Covid-19 isolation facilities.

Cordis Auckland hotel's flagship buffet restaurant Eight has been thriving since it reopened. Photo / Dean Purcell.

Social distancing rules meant it wasn't possible for restaurants to offer a buffet service during levels 2 and 3.

Many had had to adapt, with some like Five Star steamboat buffet restaurant in Rosedale offering takeaways and Eight having a buffet-to-table setting.

"Feedback from the individual operators was that at level 2, customers were a bit negative and cautious, but they seem fine at level 1 to have things back to normal," said association chief executive Marisa Bidois.

She said that the association had not heard of any instances of customers having any anxiety over eating from a buffet.

Restaurant Association chief executive Marisa Bidois. Photo / Supplied.

"Buffets are still popular choices for some establishments and this is integral to their offer," Bidois said.

"It's a great way to try a variety of different foods and can be a really fun way to eat."

She said while the association did anticipate some businesses will not return to buffet operations, there were others for whom buffet was an important part of why people choose to dine there and these will continue to champion the buffet.

Cordis executive chef Volker Marecek said business has been "better than expected" since Eight resumed full operations on October 22.

The restaurant now has new additions to its buffet spread including a Peking duck oven, rotisserie, wood-fire grill and a new dessert bar.

The Masu Sunday lunch buffet has been replaced by a "yum char" style offering. Photo / Babiche Martens.

"We are doing about 250 covers for dinner and bookings are already coming in for the festive season, with some dates already fully booked," he said.

Marecek said he had encountered some apprehension about buffet dining in the early stages of the virus outbreak, but the tide had turned.

"We are now getting enquiries about what is new at Eight buffet and how long can they stay at each sitting rather than being concerned about eating from a buffet," he said.

"People are just so ready to get out to eat and have a good time, and with fewer hotel dining options because of coronavirus and the festive season coming, we are just preparing for a boom."

Earlier in the year, some overseas travel wholesalers had specifically requested no buffet for their clients after the rapid spread of Covid-19 on cruise ships linked to that style of dining.

This also led to predictions that the virus outbreak would lead to the end for this self-service dining tradition.

Joe Kim, owner of Five Star, which resumed its steam buffet in September when Auckland returned to level 1, said the business had had to innovate to survive.

"We went from being a buffet restaurant to becoming a takeaway operations at the different alert levels," Kim said.

But he said bookings have been good since the buffet resumed and things were looking up for the summer.

Some buffet businesses, however, did not survive the pandemic.

Paldo, a buffet restaurant specialising in Korean barbecue in Takapuna, was among those that closed soon after the last Auckland lockdown.

Others like Masu by Nic Watt at Skycity has ditched its Sunday buffet brunch and is now offering a new Japanese "yum char" dining - with its signature sashimi, sushi, maki rolls and cold plates served on trolleys for sharing at the table.