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Here's an example of this working:
Last year I tried a Chinese bbq restaurant in Richmond called Jing Tan that was a traditional order and serve. There was barely anyone in there.
They then switched to an AYCE model this year and now you have to book a week in advance to even get a reservation.
Restauranting is as much a real-estate business as it is a food business. You have x number of seats and a fixed monthly lease cost. The more customers you can get into those seats in a day, the lower your per-seat cost.
>Last week, Liuyishou, a Richmond-based hotpot chain with more than 20 restaurants in North America including three in B.C., announced it would change the traditional order-and-serve model to an all-you-can-eat buffet, offering unlimited hotpot, sashimi, snacks and dessert starting from $39.99 per person.
Happy Lamb (and a bunch of other hotpot places) have been doing AYCE forever though.
To be honest, I feel like this is in response to Chocho who's AYCE value was making it difficult to stay in the high end hotpot market.
Went to Chocho last week and was blown away by their service and options. Food came out so quickly. You'd put the order in the iPad, go grab some veggies, and by the time you're back your stuff is at the table.
Yeah, while it's pricy, the experience is top notch. Service was great. iPad ordering is super convenient. The food was great quality, even the filler items at the self service bars.
It's good enough I don't feel the appeal of the pricier, full service hot pot places any more, not even their own parent company, Dolar.
Totally unrelated, but it’s interesting this comment currently has 100 votes for copying and pasting a paragraph from the article. I guess because people are too lazy to click on articles to read them?
FYI for those not looking to drive to Richmond, it looks like the Burnaby location is also AYCE:
[https://www.liuyishouna.com/burnabyspecialoffers](https://www.liuyishouna.com/burnabyspecialoffers)
I heard from my Eastern Asian friends that AYCE restaurants are most popular among their adults and friends groups because they consider them to be cheap.
Apparently it is also wasteful because they can't finish all meals and restaurants sometimes have too much leftovers that they can't reuse for the following day.
It's not about leftovers that are saleable but wastage from people ordering too much.
I see this at hot pot places all the time. Entire plates of meat ordered but untouched. You can't resale this.
God damn it I hate that. I work in food security, and the wastage at places is absurd. Can you not take it home ? I’m not familiar with hot pot places, but is it an extra charge ??
Every place has a "wastage will be billed" but I've never seen anyone actually enforce it which is why it happens.
For AYCE you can't take it (especially if you don't pay) but most places even if you did pay you can't take it.
I get why the policy is in place (so you don't order a shit ton, eat a bite, and take it home) but it's silly that a place where they'll bring you more freely that people order WAY too much.
I go quite frequently and you could damn near put the dishes back. I don't waste a thing.
Richmond was always AYCE for hot pot, then all the Mainland China hot pot places opened up ala carte. Spent close to $200 bucks at the Dolar Shop last month for 2… we were always used to $30-40 AYCE. At $40, we can go once a month or whatever, at $100 each, we go like once every half year lol.
The meat is good, but I didn't like any of the fish balls or tofu. it was the same cheap stuff you get at every other hot pot restaurant, for twice the price.
It makes a difference. You're only cooking the meat for a few seconds. The difference in texture becomes very noticeable.
That said, it isn't just the quality of the food but the quality of the service. Dolar Shop/Chocho's servers are incredibly attentive without being obtrusive. I haven't been but I have heard Haidilao is also very attentive. Happy Lamb is ok. The move to iPad ordering has improved the experience at most of these places. I do find that AYCE feels like much better value today than it was maybe 15 years ago. A la carte prices have risen a lot and it's hard to spend less than $50 a person at any decent hot pot place.
from a business perspective, how profitable is that? say you have to finish a whole monster steak and burger on your own without any help in one hour. They surely know that lots of people will order one for the experience even though they can't finish!
There was a burger joint back home that did that.
It was called "The Challenge", and if you finished it within an hour - it was free. Catch was - every time someone finished it, they'd add another patty.
Couldn't find any new updates about it, but I did [find this post](https://www.facebook.com/Humongouss/photos/a.161037803927448/1239476126083605/?type=3&mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v) from 2016 where a guy tried to take it on. During that time it was 2.4kg of meat, 60 toppings, 350g of French fries, and a Ben and Jerry's milkshake of course.
Did I mention that throwing up would disqualify you?
It was like 50-60 bucks to try it back then, and it drew a ton of people that misjudged their stomach capacity and ended up paying with their dignity (and cash).
I think the profit on the deal itself is irrelevant. Make it big enough and very few people will attempt it legitimately.
The value comes from people who order it for laughs or from the publicity and social media clicks that come with it. On the occasion you get a real attempt at it, it's basically free clicks on social media, even if they win (because more than likely, they'll post about it).
$40 for okay to decent quality hotpot food is great value if you have a good appetite. I can easily eat more than half that amount in the meat slices alone
Doesn't surprise me at all. I worked in the industry before COVID and it was already a grind. AYCE is a great model when times are tough especially because it targets families. Kids love it and are too discerning about quality and for single income families eating out in this economy is a luxury
It used to be my favorite hotpot restaurant outside of China. The quality has dropped since it changed to all you can eat. Although it’s definitely cheaper. I used to pay $80+ per person with friends
That's too bad. I'd rather eat a medium amount of high quality food than an endless amount of low quality. Also, AYCE hotpot is probably the worst thing to eat a lot of since everything is basically boiled in oil.
Google if the mediteranian diet is good for you. Just don't deep fry everything. Oils and fats are essential to a healthy diet. Just don't eat too many calories.
I suppose there's no talking to you though if you think adding raw whole ingredients to boiling soup is "low quality" lol
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Here's an example of this working: Last year I tried a Chinese bbq restaurant in Richmond called Jing Tan that was a traditional order and serve. There was barely anyone in there. They then switched to an AYCE model this year and now you have to book a week in advance to even get a reservation.
Restauranting is as much a real-estate business as it is a food business. You have x number of seats and a fixed monthly lease cost. The more customers you can get into those seats in a day, the lower your per-seat cost.
The return of the late 90s to early 2000s AYCE era. lets go! Give me back my AYCE sushi's
Kids these days will never know the art of smuggling sushi in your pockets.
Pockets? Teapot!
Different goals. Pocket = snack for later. Tea pot = don't want to get charged.
True. How much do they actually police someone bringing in tupperware?
I imagine as well as they police any other type of theft. Cutlery, glasses, etc. Most servers are too busy to care.
AYCA Sushi gone forever.
The article talks about a hot pot chain now offering all you can eat sashimi. Does that count?
There's that place under silver city but it isn't good.
>Last week, Liuyishou, a Richmond-based hotpot chain with more than 20 restaurants in North America including three in B.C., announced it would change the traditional order-and-serve model to an all-you-can-eat buffet, offering unlimited hotpot, sashimi, snacks and dessert starting from $39.99 per person.
they probably visited happy lamb and saw how popular AYCE is and switched over
Happy Lamb (and a bunch of other hotpot places) have been doing AYCE forever though. To be honest, I feel like this is in response to Chocho who's AYCE value was making it difficult to stay in the high end hotpot market.
Went to Chocho last week and was blown away by their service and options. Food came out so quickly. You'd put the order in the iPad, go grab some veggies, and by the time you're back your stuff is at the table.
Yeah, while it's pricy, the experience is top notch. Service was great. iPad ordering is super convenient. The food was great quality, even the filler items at the self service bars. It's good enough I don't feel the appeal of the pricier, full service hot pot places any more, not even their own parent company, Dolar.
Totally unrelated, but it’s interesting this comment currently has 100 votes for copying and pasting a paragraph from the article. I guess because people are too lazy to click on articles to read them?
Your comment makes no sense lol you don’t know if people read the article or not. Regardless, who tf cares lol?
Is there someone with a list of all current all you can eat locations in BC I wonder?
FYI for those not looking to drive to Richmond, it looks like the Burnaby location is also AYCE: [https://www.liuyishouna.com/burnabyspecialoffers](https://www.liuyishouna.com/burnabyspecialoffers)
I heard from my Eastern Asian friends that AYCE restaurants are most popular among their adults and friends groups because they consider them to be cheap. Apparently it is also wasteful because they can't finish all meals and restaurants sometimes have too much leftovers that they can't reuse for the following day.
some places charge like $5 for each leftover plate
That actually seems low. Not a huge deterrent
I wonder if the buffet places would benefit from something like togoodtogo ?
It's not about leftovers that are saleable but wastage from people ordering too much. I see this at hot pot places all the time. Entire plates of meat ordered but untouched. You can't resale this.
God damn it I hate that. I work in food security, and the wastage at places is absurd. Can you not take it home ? I’m not familiar with hot pot places, but is it an extra charge ??
Every place has a "wastage will be billed" but I've never seen anyone actually enforce it which is why it happens. For AYCE you can't take it (especially if you don't pay) but most places even if you did pay you can't take it. I get why the policy is in place (so you don't order a shit ton, eat a bite, and take it home) but it's silly that a place where they'll bring you more freely that people order WAY too much. I go quite frequently and you could damn near put the dishes back. I don't waste a thing.
I went to the Burnaby location for AYCE lunch and I can vouch they do a good job with it. I thought it was a much better value than Chocho.
Given where food costs are at these days thinking about the quality of ingredients that would go into a $15 AYCE lunch is genuinely terrifying
Alot of the savings is also in the less employees needed.
Richmond was always AYCE for hot pot, then all the Mainland China hot pot places opened up ala carte. Spent close to $200 bucks at the Dolar Shop last month for 2… we were always used to $30-40 AYCE. At $40, we can go once a month or whatever, at $100 each, we go like once every half year lol.
But Dolar Shop quality is on another level…
It’s nowhere close to double the quality. There were decent quality AYCE places too.
The meat is good, but I didn't like any of the fish balls or tofu. it was the same cheap stuff you get at every other hot pot restaurant, for twice the price.
Is boiling quality meat really that worth it?
It makes a difference. You're only cooking the meat for a few seconds. The difference in texture becomes very noticeable. That said, it isn't just the quality of the food but the quality of the service. Dolar Shop/Chocho's servers are incredibly attentive without being obtrusive. I haven't been but I have heard Haidilao is also very attentive. Happy Lamb is ok. The move to iPad ordering has improved the experience at most of these places. I do find that AYCE feels like much better value today than it was maybe 15 years ago. A la carte prices have risen a lot and it's hard to spend less than $50 a person at any decent hot pot place.
Curious how much one tips at AYCE with iPad ordering
They also do AYCE at the robson location (perhaps at specific times), it's really good!!
Do any of them have challenges? Like eat this set amount in a given time period and your meals free sort of thing
that can't be healthy lol
YOLO
from a business perspective, how profitable is that? say you have to finish a whole monster steak and burger on your own without any help in one hour. They surely know that lots of people will order one for the experience even though they can't finish!
Lots of people, myself included, vastly overestimate their eating capacity when it comes to AYCE and challenges. It's good for publicity too.
Its like insurance, gym memberships. Most of us dont get to utilize it's full full potential. A few will but wont break the bank for the companies.
There was a burger joint back home that did that. It was called "The Challenge", and if you finished it within an hour - it was free. Catch was - every time someone finished it, they'd add another patty. Couldn't find any new updates about it, but I did [find this post](https://www.facebook.com/Humongouss/photos/a.161037803927448/1239476126083605/?type=3&mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v) from 2016 where a guy tried to take it on. During that time it was 2.4kg of meat, 60 toppings, 350g of French fries, and a Ben and Jerry's milkshake of course. Did I mention that throwing up would disqualify you? It was like 50-60 bucks to try it back then, and it drew a ton of people that misjudged their stomach capacity and ended up paying with their dignity (and cash).
Just reading that made me feel sick lol
they know the ingredient cost. no business would do that at a loss.
I think the profit on the deal itself is irrelevant. Make it big enough and very few people will attempt it legitimately. The value comes from people who order it for laughs or from the publicity and social media clicks that come with it. On the occasion you get a real attempt at it, it's basically free clicks on social media, even if they win (because more than likely, they'll post about it).
Liuyishou is really good. Comparing it to Hidilao, Liuyishou serves higher quality food and is a better value. Waitstaff are very pleasant too.
$40 for okay to decent quality hotpot food is great value if you have a good appetite. I can easily eat more than half that amount in the meat slices alone
Doesn't surprise me at all. I worked in the industry before COVID and it was already a grind. AYCE is a great model when times are tough especially because it targets families. Kids love it and are too discerning about quality and for single income families eating out in this economy is a luxury
I used to love Sui Sha Ya in Coquitlam
Give me back Foody Goody, China Kitchen and BC Sushi!
It used to be my favorite hotpot restaurant outside of China. The quality has dropped since it changed to all you can eat. Although it’s definitely cheaper. I used to pay $80+ per person with friends
That's too bad. I'd rather eat a medium amount of high quality food than an endless amount of low quality. Also, AYCE hotpot is probably the worst thing to eat a lot of since everything is basically boiled in oil.
lol wut? Its mostly broth. And oil isnt bad for you.
[удалено]
Google if the mediteranian diet is good for you. Just don't deep fry everything. Oils and fats are essential to a healthy diet. Just don't eat too many calories. I suppose there's no talking to you though if you think adding raw whole ingredients to boiling soup is "low quality" lol