Cafeteria and Buffet
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Wikipedia-Article "Cafeteria"
A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is no table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a canteen. Instead, there are food serving counters/stalls, either in a line or allowing arbitrary walking paths, and customers take food they require as they walk along, placing them on a tray, and pay at the check-out (buffet system). For some food items there may be the system that while at the counter one orders it and it is served by personnel behind the counter.
Sometimes, for some food items and drinks, one collects an empty cup, glass, etc., pays at the check-out, then fills that after the check-out. This system may be combined with being allowed to take a free second serving. Due to the consumption pattern of people, this system is rarely or never used for alcoholic beverages.
As cafeterias require few employees, they are often found within a larger institution, catering to the clientele of that institution. For example, schools, colleges and their halls of residence, department stores, museums, and office buildings often have cafeterias.
At one time, cafeteria-style restaurants dominated the dining-out culture of the Southern United States, and there were several prominent chains of them: Bickford's, Morrison's, Apple House, K&W, and Blue Boar among them. These institutions, with the exception of K&W, went into a decline in the 1960s with the rise of fast food and were largely finished off in the 1980s by the rise of "casual dining". However, newer chains, notably Luby's and Piccadilly Cafeteria, have arisen to fill some of the gap left by the decline of the older chains.
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Other names
A cafeteria in a US military installation is known as either a chow hall, a mess hall, or, more correctly, a dining facility, whereas in common British armed forces parlance, it is known as a cookhouse. Some monasteries and boarding schools refer to their cafeteria as a refectory. Students often refer to cafeterias as lunchrooms, though breakfast as well as lunch is often eaten there. Cafeterias serving university dormitories are sometimes called dining halls. A food court is a type of cafeteria found in many shopping malls and airports.
College cafeteria
A college cafeteria is one that is designed to serve college students at the university. These cafeterias can be a part of a residence hall or in a separate building. Many of these colleges employ their own students to work in the cafeteria. The amount of meals served to students varies from school to school, but is normally around 20 meals per week. Like normal cafeterias, a person will have a tray to select the food that they want, but instead of paying money, they pay beforehand by purchasing a meal plan.
The method of payment for college cafeterias is commonly in the form of a meal plan, whereby the patron pays a certain amount at the start of the semester and the details of the plan are stored on a computer system. Student ID cards are then used to access the meal plan. A meal plan is not necessary to eat at a college cafeteria however. Meal plans can vary widely in their details to best fit the needs of the students. Typically, the college tracks the student's usage of their plan by counting either the number of pre-defined meal servings, points, dollars, or number of buffet dinners. The plan may give the student a certain number of any of the above per week or semester and they may or may not roll over to the next week or semester.
Many schools offer several different options for using their meal plans. The main cafeteria is usually where most of the meal plan is used but smaller cafeterias, cafés, restaurants, bars, or even fast food chains located on campus may accept meal plans. College cafeterias are prone to having poor food due to the lack of competition. A college cafeteria system often has a virtual monopoly on the students due to an isolated location or a requirement that residence contracts include a full meal plan.
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See also
Wikipedia-Article "Buffet"
A buffet is a meal-serving system where patrons serve themselves. It is a popular method of feeding large numbers of people with minimal staff.
The term is also used to describe a sideboard, an antique form of furniture which was sometimes used to offer the dishes of a buffet meal to guests, in private homes.
One form of buffet is to have a line of food serving stalls and foods and customers take food they require as they walk along and pay at the end. This form is most commonly seen in cafeterias. Another form known as the "all you can eat" buffet has a set fee and customers can help themselves to as much food as they wish to eat. This form is found often in restaurants, especially in hotels. Another form is the Swedish Smorgasbord. In North America, buffets specializing in Chinese cuisine are common, as are ones for other ethnic foods.
Buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people. They are also popular in that they give customers a great deal of choice and the ability to closely inspect food before selecting it. Since a buffet involves people serving themselves, it is generally viewed as a less elegant form of dining.
A buffet car is a passenger car of a train, where snacks and drinks can be bought at a counter and consumed. Typically it is not allowed to consume brought-along food and drinks in this car. Compare dining car.
References
- Pearson, William (1965). The Muses of Ruin. McGraw-Hill.
External Links
- How to Prepare and Serve a Meal, Project Gutenberg etext of the 1922 book by Lillian B. Lansdown