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COVID-19 permeates our lives in ways we barely realise – like eating. Canberra’s biggest eat-all-you-like buffet has just reopened after a COVID-safe revamp and diners there say the new system means they are wasting less food. Where once they piled it high at the Star Buffet, now they get smaller portions and return for more if they are still hungry. It’s still eat-all-you-want but the COVID-safe change means more deliberate choice rather than pile-it-high first time round. There’s less waste – and maybe smaller waistlines. Under the old system at the Burns Club in Kambah, customers would serve themselves by going down the lines of bowls and tureens and pile the mountains of food on. Under the new system, waiters hand out plates and dish out food so customers don’t pick up plates that others might have handled or pick up spoons and put them back down for the next person. Diners then take the plate down the food line and more waiters serve. Some of the food is in individual portions. The new service has put a bit of restraint into diners where self-restraint used to fail. You can still keep going back for more. “If you are still hungry, you’ve paid for it,” chief executive John Weir said. But the result is fewer people seem to be eating as though food is about to be abolished. “Everybody is wasting less,” luncher Sophie Rolfe said. “Previously, people would just load up the plate. We don’t do that now. “You would see people get far more chicken nuggets than the kids could eat but now they wouldn’t.” David Qu welcomed the change. So did his wife. “I prefer this way because I don’t want to make waste,” he said. “I would take two pieces or three pieces which I couldn’t finish but now I take one piece and try it and if it’s good I go back for more.” Zia Qu said her husband would previously finish everything even if he was full. “He always cleans up the plate,” she said. The revamp at the Burns Club in Kambah has cost $1.6 million. It includes a dishwasher which can clean 4500 plates an hour. But mostly it’s designed to prevent people coming into contact with each other and picking up plates and implements like tongs and ladles and then putting them back down for others to touch. That means, for example, that portions of dessert are placed in individual bowls rather than being put there in big bowls for customers to scoop up massive quantities. Staff hand out individual portions so the customer does less self-serving. “It’s a lot more personal. There’s a lot more staff interaction,” Mr Weir said. It means he’s had to increase staffing. Pre-COVID, the buffet would get about 5500 customers a week. There were about 1000 customers over the last weekend – not quite as many as before but getting there. The club has also reconfigured the dining rooms so more people can eat and keep their distance. Bookings are timed so numbers aren’t exceeded. The whole dining area and kitchen are much more open.
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COVID-19 permeates our lives in ways we barely realise – like eating.
Canberra’s biggest eat-all-you-like buffet has just reopened after a COVID-safe revamp and diners there say the new system means they are wasting less food.
Where once they piled it high at the Star Buffet, now they get smaller portions and return for more if they are still hungry.
It’s still eat-all-you-want but the COVID-safe change means more deliberate choice rather than pile-it-high first time round.
There’s less waste – and maybe smaller waistlines.
Under the old system at the Burns Club in Kambah, customers would serve themselves by going down the lines of bowls and tureens and pile the mountains of food on.
Under the new system, waiters hand out plates and dish out food so customers don’t pick up plates that others might have handled or pick up spoons and put them back down for the next person.
Diners then take the plate down the food line and more waiters serve. Some of the food is in individual portions.
The new service has put a bit of restraint into diners where self-restraint used to fail.
You can still keep going back for more. “If you are still hungry, you’ve paid for it,” chief executive John Weir said.
But the result is fewer people seem to be eating as though food is about to be abolished.
“Everybody is wasting less,” luncher Sophie Rolfe said. “Previously, people would just load up the plate. We don’t do that now.
“You would see people get far more chicken nuggets than the kids could eat but now they wouldn’t.”
David Qu welcomed the change. So did his wife.
Canberra Burns Club CEO John Weir. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong
“I prefer this way because I don’t want to make waste,” he said.
“I would take two pieces or three pieces which I couldn’t finish but now I take one piece and try it and if it’s good I go back for more.”
Zia Qu said her husband would previously finish everything even if he was full. “He always cleans up the plate,” she said.
The revamp at the Burns Club in Kambah has cost $1.6 million.
It includes a dishwasher which can clean 4500 plates an hour.
But mostly it’s designed to prevent people coming into contact with each other and picking up plates and implements like tongs and ladles and then putting them back down for others to touch.
That means, for example, that portions of dessert are placed in individual bowls rather than being put there in big bowls for customers to scoop up massive quantities.
Staff hand out individual portions so the customer does less self-serving.
“It’s a lot more personal. There’s a lot more staff interaction,” Mr Weir said.
It means he’s had to increase staffing.
Canberra Burns Club Star Buffet diner Sophie Rolfe. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong
Pre-COVID, the buffet would get about 5500 customers a week. There were about 1000 customers over the last weekend – not quite as many as before but getting there.
The club has also reconfigured the dining rooms so more people can eat and keep their distance.
Bookings are timed so numbers aren’t exceeded. The whole dining area and kitchen are much more open.
