Dear Cecil,
When my wife and I go to WHOLE FOODS, we see a display of abundance that must rival the past splendors of kings and emperors.
They don’t throw everything away and start over every day, do they? How do they, and other places that put out vast daily culinary displays, store all that stuff, so it remains fresh?
Thanks,
Max
Walnut Creek, CA
When you are posting here, it’s much more likely that one of us, the Dopers, Cecil Adams’ adoring fans, will answer.
Replica foods may be the answer.
These folks–
http://www.incredibleinedibles.shoppingcartsplus.com/page/page/1252403.htm
have a line of items like this.
Example–
http://www.incredibleinedibles.shoppingcartsplus.com/catalog/item/2822204/3288615.htm#image_1
It is fake.
BTW–Mods? I am not connected to that site in any way, & do not derive any material benefit from it.
Well, like at Whole Foods, for example, it’s all real food. Enormous amounts put out each day–salad bar items and all sorts of gourmet delicacies behind glass, that you can order from their deli.
Or, say, the Indian buffet we went to today. Lots of items. Do they just throw them away every day?
Well, I have never worked in a Whole Foods but the proit margin on such things is usually so high that they can afford to throw some away. They probably have a pretty strong idea how well each type of thing sells allowing them to predict how much to make with reasonable accuracy. I bet the staff takes home any overruns.
Some supermarkets have arrangements with groups like Second Harvest to collect unsaleable but edible food for soup kitchens and other charities.
To add to this statement. Not only does the profit margin cover the loss. They WANT to throw some away. Let’s say they make 100 loaves of bread. The next day, they throw out 10 and make 100 more. That’s perfect. On the other hand, if they make 100 loaves of bread and the next day they have none left, they have to wonder how many sales they lost out on, was it 1? 10? 20? Also, some things can be re-used. Bread becomes bread crumbs. Those rotisserie chickens might be chicken sandwiches or chicken salad tomarrow etc etc etc.
Depends.
Depends on the hold date for the food. Typically you can hold hot foods from an hour up to eight hours. Any hot foods at the end of the night are to be discarded.
Cold foods are the same, except some types can be used the next day. Jello being a random example.
I’m not saying that these practices are always used, and while you should be getting fresh foods from your buffets, that’s not always the case.
-Labelless (Who worked as a manager at a KFC for five years, it had the buffet. And I was very strict on holding procedures, but know they are abused heavily on buffets.)