During my life the iconic buffet restaurant has gone from an inner suburban strip mall/shopping center immigrant small business Chinese place to like Cracker Barrel/Golden Corral freeway exurban “country” chains
When I was younger there used to be some nostalgia for a cafeteria era, and for attempts to streamline it like the Automat. I suppose now the equivalent market targeting chairworking lunchers in workplace neighborhoods is food cart pods or standalone “food courts” with many small, not yet chain-standardized booths.
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