The pandemic was also the death knell, it seems, for HomeTown Buffet and other chains under the Fresh Acquisitions umbrella. California Hometown Buffet locations (52), Connecticut Hometown Buffet locations (6), Massachusetts Hometown Buffet locations (1). The rise of fast casual dining chains such as Panera Bread and Chipotle Mexican Grill has made it difficult for Hometown Buffet to compete. Rowland and Jensen left in 1986 to start Homestyle Buffet in Clearwater, Florida . Anya Torres from Des Moines, Iowa, said some of the reasons shes such a big fan of buffets are the price, variety and convenience. While things may change permanently, she said shes still grateful shes able to operate hers right now. As with almost every one of our peers, buffet restaurants took the brunt of the loss of sales during the pandemic and as such, the path to success requires hard choices to be made, including the rationalization of our overall footprint, said Jason Kemp, co-founder and CEO of VitaNova Brands, in a statement this week. Amid the recession of the mid-2000s, however, Buffets declared bankruptcy in 2008 and again in 2012. Even places like Five Guys and Shake Shack (which is, after all, leading the burger revolution) are trying to make the average hamburger joint a gourmet-ish experience but it still better be quick! Related: Fast-Food Restaurants Then and Now. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Hometown Buffet - CLOSED Unclaimed Review Save Share 53 reviews $$ - $$$ American 3000 Gateway St Ste 726, Springfield, OR 97477-1033 +1 541-746-3220 Website See all (13) Ratings and reviews 53 RATINGS Food Service Value Atmosphere Details CUISINES American Meals Lunch, Brunch, Breakfast, Dinner FEATURES Seating, Wheelchair Accessible To stay up-to-date on all restaurant news, sign up for our daily newsletter! Related:Age Pays: 130+ Senior Discounts (Some Starting at Age 50!). After closing all restaurants, this list is now closed. He has a master's degree from Claremont Graduate University and a bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University. The first Lubys opened in the 40s, and the chain ballooned to more than 200 locationsin the mid-90s. Article continues below advertisement Get the best food tips and diet advice every single day, Now, you'll have the best and latest food and healthy eating news right in your inboxevery Buffet-style restaurants have always been popular among families and budget-minded diners. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Like its sister chains, it was in deep trouble before the pandemic hit, and Google News was full of stories detailing the abrupt closings of local restaurants. Old Country Buffet has been an American strip mall staple for years. With many Americans becoming more health-conscious and opting for healthier meal options, buffet restaurants have been struggling to keep up with the times. The Hometown Buffet closure is just the latest in a string of buffet-style restaurant closures. Takeout can reduce that cash-burn rate, but even with recent increases, traditional dine-in concepts are not making up for those lost sales. Auctions in Bell Gardens, Covina, and Montebello close Wednesday, Dec. 16 while an auction in Burbank closes Friday, Dec. 18. Since then, its footprint has shrunk even further, with no locations for either Ponderosa or Bonanza listed on the website. HomeTown Buffet in Redding has abruptly closed after more than 25 years in business. Two HomeTown Buffets, one Ryan's, and one Old Country Buffet are now buffets closed for good. Almost $50 million in debt is weighing the parent company, 1069 Restaurant Group, down. 3790 SW Hall Blvd, Beaverton, OR 97005-2050 +1 503-627-0336 Website Menu. Real talk: People also probably feel classier eating at Golden Corral since the word "buffet" isn't in the name. EIN: 41-0953924. The judge granted the Gages $11.37 million when lawyers failed to respond in timely manner. This North Carolina-based cafeteria buffet declared bankruptcy in September 2020, and loyal patrons have far fewer locations where they can chow down on Southern comfort staples. But by April 2021, only six locations were open, all of which were Tahoe Joes steakhouses, according to Restaurant Business. There are currently six Tahoe Joe's operating today, a spokeswoman for VitaNova Brands told Nations Restaurant News. xhr.send(payload); Per USA Today, the acquisition was a little shaky, with sales falling 22 percent below Ovations' expectations. The closure of Hometown Buffet is just the latest example of a once-popular restaurant chain struggling to stay afloat in recent years. Hometown Buffet is a chain of buffet-style restaurants founded in 1983 in Downey, California. For more restaurant news and dining tips,please sign up for our free newsletters. Some businesses are getting creative in order to survive, with one St. Louis grocery store converting their salad bar into a mini-booze bottle buffet. Models include "no-touch" buffet service where guests use a disposable glove or napkins when handling serving utensils or a "we serve you" buffet, which features endless helpings and eliminates a guest's need to touch serving utensils. Pizza Inns sales rose 1.8% last year, while Iowa-based Pizza Ranchs sales increased 7.3%. Guidelines like these are either pushing buffets to shut down entirely, like in Souplantations case, or at the very least, prompting both nationwide chains and local buffets to alter their business model and restaurant design. But now the pandemic is forcing them to shift away from the buffet into a service model. Hometown Buffet is a buffet-style restaurant chain downey with locations across the United States. Farm-to-table menus full of sustainable, locally sourced ingredients are all the rage now. DOWNEY Hometown Buffet has permanently closed its Downey location, effective Nov. 6. With the need for 75% capacity required to begin to turn a profit in the all-you-can-eat category, the short-term future of the buffet concept is heavily predicated on reopening restrictions easing further and consumers' appetite to return to large, shared spaces, the VitaNova spokeswoman said, /sites/all/themes/penton_subtheme_nrn/images/logos/footer.png, Plans call for focus on Tahoe Joes, Furrs AYCE Marketplace concepts, 2023 Informa USA, Inc., All rights reserved. VitaNova said it manages all store-level and corporate operations for ToGoKitchens.com, Zios Italian Kitchen, Sushi Zushi, the Tahoe Joes steakhouse brand, and Furrs AYCE Marketplace. Get todays need-to-know restaurant industry intelligence. In 2008, FMP filed for bankruptcy and sold Hometown Buffet to Ovation Brands. Related:Local Burger Chains the Rest of the Country Needs. By 2017, another poll indicated that the rate of weekly church attendance was down to 38 percent. xhr.open('POST', 'https://www.google-analytics.com/collect', true); But why is insulin so expensive in the first place? As the virus spread in early March, Golden Corral added safeguards to its buffets. 10 Popular Buffet Chains Closing Locations Permanently Unfortunately, despite the national spotlight, the franchise has continued to close up shops. Enhanced delivery, takeout, and curbside pick-up are available at all locations. NRN editors talk about the NRAs recent report, what happens when children are banned from restaurants, and celebrity marketing, Duffys Sports Grill Mastered Gift Cards in a Flash, Examining new ways to collect restaurant guest data, It's time to Roll Up to Win at Tim Hortons with exciting new prizes, Subway opens new dual headquarters building in Miami, Menu Tracker: New items from Burger King, KFC, and Chipotle, San Diegos Trust Restaurant Group drives retention, innovation with culture of yes, Nations Restaurant News launches new CREATE Roadshow event series, the company said it was permanently closing four buffet units, Allowed HTML tags: . Five locations reopened as "AYCE Marketplaces" in summer 2020. In addition, the restaurant offers seasonal specialties and uniquely prepared desserts. After Buffets, Inc (who owns chains like Old Country Buffet, Home Town Buffet, and Ryan's) filed for bankruptcy in 2012, they closed 16 percent of their restaurants, according to Forbes. The concept of the buffet, which was once popular among restaurants, is now declining in popularity. It opened an additional seven locations and now has 489, and average unit volumes increased. ahoe Joe's operating today, a spokeswoman for VitaNova Brands told Nations Restaurant News. The cosy atmosphere makes this place a good choice for a family dinner. We have no immediate plans to reopen any of the buffet brands, he said, reports Restaurant Business. Feeling nostalgic? The buffet concept was created by Bill Knudson and Jerry Kent, who opened the first location in Downey in 1983. Buffets just arent designed to be convenient.. This is a significant decrease from the over 200 locations that the chain once had. Gage's salmonella poisoning was particularly severe because of a pre-existing health condition. This once-ubiquitous buffet was among the chains that shuttered as a result of parent company Fresh Acquisitions bankruptcy in 2021. The demise of Hometown Buffet is a sign of how much the all-you-can-eat buffet model has fallen out of favor with American diners. The chain is known for its all-you-can-eat buffet style, which allows customers to sample a variety of dishes. Choose your state to find the nearest one or view the Hometown Buffet menu. As with almost every one of our peers, buffet restaurants took the brunt of the loss of sales during the pandemic and as such, the path to success requires hard choices to be made, including the rationalization of our overall footprint, said VitaNova Brands CEO and co-founder Jason Kemp, according to Nations Restaurant News. Although Hometown Buffets closure will be a setback for the 1,800 employees who will be losing their jobs, it is not expected to have a significant impact on the overall restaurant industry. The company is privately owned, byInvestors Management Corp., a company chaired by the same man who opened the first location. Anyone who's trying to shed some pounds might see images of endless bins of greasy food as a straight-up recipe for fatness, so more than likely, they're staying away. There are also other operations outside of restaurants that rely on self-serving stations, which include grocery stores like Whole Foods. The closure of Hometown Buffet marks the end of an era for buffet restaurants. The company faces stiff competition from other buffet chains, as well as from fast casual restaurants that offer made-to-order meals. Auction Nation has held recent auctions at Hometown Buffets in other states. Yet buffets might be in a bind for a while. One of the big differences between the chains, according to Restaurant Business, is consistency in ownership. Then Old Country Buffet declared bankruptcy a third time in 2016 (so much for inspiration from Aaliyah). Three states have 28 Hometown Buffets. As of today, 284 Golden Corral dining rooms have safely reopened across the country. Overall the spaces are more efficient for a high volume of people, but staff and patrons alike have plenty of room to prepare and scarf down some legit Southern style pot roast and fried chicken. Hometown Buffet lists 20 locations in California on its website, where it describes the liquidated restaurants as reopening soon. But it, too, was already struggling, and was ultimately brought down for good in parent company Fresh Acquisitions bankruptcy. The company has recently announced that it will be closing all of its Hometown Buffet locations, including their flagship location in Downey, California. Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically. By Jonathan Maze on Jun. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you. Amid the upheaval, VitaNova Brands began managing Fresh Acquisitions restaurants in Jan. 2021, and Fresh Acquisitions went into bankruptcy in April 2021. New service models have been developed to comply with variations in local guidelines and provide our guests an enjoyable Golden Corral experience. He underwent a two-week hospital stint and multiple surgeries, and as of 2015 remained in constant chronic pain. But in the 21st century, despite the promise of delicious cheese biscuits awaiting you behind those ubiquitous red letters, Old Country Buffet has definitely had some setbacks. } ); It also creates a sense of self-reliance and food security within communities. Most guests point out that the staff is courteous here. But BBQ Holdings CEO Jeff Crivello said a day after the auction that the buffet restaurants would stay closed. to reopen as many Furrs as possible, contingent upon pandemic restrictions and landlord negotiations, she said. He's also been a section editor and copy editor for The Desert Sun in Palm Springs. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. The future of Hometown Buffet is uncertain. "Recovery has been steady, but slow, and some franchisees will not be able to continue to operate without additional financial relief.". According to the location finder on its site, today there are only a total of 17 Old Country Buffet restaurants left in the country, and sales were down more than 37 percent in 2017. Still, it couldnt escape market forces, and Gattis parent company filed for bankruptcy in early 2019, a decision that spurred an undisclosed number of closings. Broad-menu buffet concepts now face a longer timeline for that reopening. Sherry Buenrostro has operated La Nacional Mexican Buffet in Columbus, Georgia, along with her husband and parents-in-law, for nearly 20 years.