Big Changes May Come to Boise’s Buffet Restaurants

The next time you belly up to the buffet, someone else may be piling the green beans on your plate for you.  Self-serve buffets are transitioning to more cafeteria-style service, and kids won't be able to go through the line without a parent.

My girls love the Chinese buffet, and if they're happy I'm happy. Finley gets the noodles she craves, Kallan gets her favorite green beans, Piper gets all the Jello she wants, and everyone eats a chicken kabob for a little protein. 

But from now on for health reasons, kids 12 and under will probably have to be accompanied by an adult each time they go through the buffet  And there may be workers stationed at different points to do the scooping for us, so there is only one person touching the serving spoons. 

The Today show said some buffet restaurants are making other changes including taking employee temperatures daily and requiring workers to wash their hands at least once every 20 minutes.  There will also be fewer tables in the dining room and markers to keep us all six feet apart as we make our way through the line.

Some companies are still figuring out exactly how to handle the situation, but most seem to agree that they'll have to change with the times and give up on the idea of using common utensils and letting stacks of plates sit out in the open.  Six months ago we didn't think twice about this stuff, and now we're thinking three times about everything.

Should we be afraid of buffets?  Probably not.  Dr. Shira Doron is an infectious disease doctor who told the Today show she could see herself eating at a buffet in the coming months if the right cautionary measures are in place.  It will all depend on what health experts in Idaho say is safe, what the government decides to allow, and how restaurants respond.

The workers stationed at different points on the buffet might look at me funny if I insist they scoop that many hard-boiled eggs onto my salad and go mostly for whites, but I'm gonna do it anyway.  A buffet isn't a buffet if we're not getting exactly what we want, even if it's a little weird.  The scoopers will have their work cut out for them.