10 Beloved Chain Buffets That Have Closed for Good
One of the first chain restaurant buffets in the United States was Chuck-A-Rama, which opened its first location in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1966. Golden Corral soon followed in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1973, satisfying American diners’ growing appetite for serving themselves at buffets and led to other chain buffets such as Old Country Buffet, Souplantation, York Steak House, and Furr’s, to name a few.
Sadly, rising costs and the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out or drastically reduced the number of buffet-style chain restaurants in the United States. Sure, you can still find an independent buffet at a Las Vegas casino or hotel, but chain buffets remain scarce.
How many of these once-popular chain buffets would you line up for if given another chance?
Souplantation
Sweet Tomatoes, operating as Souplantation in Southern California, was an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant featuring a 50-foot salad bar, a baked potato station, a pizza station, plus various soups and desserts. The first location opened in 1978 in San Diego, the headquarters of parent company Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation.
Although the company once had 97 restaurants that leaned toward healthier cuisine than other buffet chains, Garden Fresh Restaurant Corporation closed all locations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic before filing for bankruptcy. Today, a single Sweet Tomatoes location in Tucson, Arizona reopened in 2024.
Old Country Buffet
At one time there were more than 600 Old Country Buffet restaurants in the United States, serving comfort food such as fried chicken, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, pot roast, baked and fried fish, pasta, and pizza. The restaurants also featured salad bars, a dessert bar, and even a carving station with roast beef, ham, and turkey.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, parent company Fresh Acquisitions, LLC and Buffets LLC filed for bankruptcy. The new owners decided not to reopen any Old Country Buffet restaurants, so the IP is now defunct.
HomeTown Buffet
The same parent company that owned Old Country Buffet owned HomeTown Buffet, which offered the same variety of American comfort food as its sister chain. At one point, there were an estimated 250 HomeTown Buffet restaurants, most of which were located on the West Coast and in the Northeast.
When Old Country Buffet and HomeTown Buffet merged in the 1990s, several HomeTown Buffet restaurants adopted the Old Country Buffet moniker. Today, there is no home for any HomeTown Buffet locations, all of which have closed.
Furr’s
The first Furr’s family restaurant opened in Hobbs, New Mexico in 1946 by brothers Roy and Key Furr. Initially known for its cafeteria-style setting, Furr’s transitioned to a buffet setting as more restaurants opened over the years in states such as Nevada, Texas, Colorado, and Kansas.
Furr’s had several owners over the years, the most recent being Fresh Acquisitions LLC and Buffets LLC — the same parent companies that shut down all the Old Country Buffet and HomeTown Buffet restaurants. Like those buffet chains, Furr’s followed them into restaurant oblivion.
Ryan’s Buffet and Grill
Alvin A. McCall founded Ryan’s Buffet and Grill in 1977, which begs the question: Who the heck is Ryan? Regardless, Ryan’s Buffet and Grill won the honor of Top Family Steakhouse in America for 10 consecutive years and at one time operated more than 400 restaurants, most of which were located in Midwest and South.
The last Ryan’s in Horn Lake, Mississippi got converted into a Golden Corral after VitaNova Brands went belly-up in 2022.
Fresh Choice
Fresh Choice operated a chain of buffet-style restaurants in California, Washington, and Texas under the names Fresh Choice, Fresh Plus, Fresh Choice Express, and Zoopa. Fresh Choice marketed itself as a healthier alternative to fast food, offering an expansive salad bar, various soups, artisan pizza, and pasta.
The cost of providing fresh, locally sourced vegetables and other ingredients proved too much for Fresh Choice, which permanently closed all of its locations in 2012. Two San Francisco Bay area locations reopened under the new name California Fresh.
Horn & Hardart
Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart opened their first restaurant in Philadelphia in 1888. The duo opened their first New York Automat in Times Square in 1912. Their Automats became very popular during the Great Depression, offering low-priced macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and creamed spinach to hungry Americans.
At one point, Horn & Hardart operated more than 100 Automat buffets across the United States. The last Horn & Hardart restaurant closed in 1991.
Wendy’s Superbar
Of course the Wendy’s fast food chain is alive and well, but Wendy’s had to retire the Superbar, which it introduced in 1998. Attempting to cash in on the salad bar craze of the 1980s, Wendy’s Superbar had three areas: Pasta Pasta, Mexican Fiesta, and Garden Spot, the latter of which was a full salad bar with dessert options.
The overwhelming popularity of Wendy’s Superbar proved to be its downfall as the company struggled to find a way to make the all-you-can-eat Superbar profitable. By the end of 2006, the too-good-to-last Wendy’s Superbar became the stuff of legend.
York Steak House
York Steak House was a cafeteria-style restaurant that filed diners past cold items on one side of an aisle and hot items on the other. Founded in 1966 in Columbus, Ohio, York Steak House at one point operated nearly 200 restaurants in 27 states during the height of its popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. York didn’t permit tipping at its restaurants, but it might charge more for an extra dab of sour cream.
Today, only one York Steak House remains in Columbus, Ohio near a demolished mall. It reportedly still retains the cafeteria-style setup of the original chain.
Todai
In 1985, Japanese brothers Toru and Kaku Makino opened their first Todai seafood buffet in Santa Monica, California. Todai offered all-you-can-eat sushi, cooked fish, soup, and bite-size desserts in a buffet-style setting. At one point, there were 19 Todai locations in the United States.
Given the cost of fresh seafood and its limited shelf life in a buffet setting, Todai went bye-bye by 2017. The official Todai website still has a posting promising that renovated restaurants would reopen in December 2017, but it never happened. Although all Todai restaurants are gone, some have reopened and rebranded as Makino Sushi & Seafood.
