Mississippi casinos on the Gulf Coast are legendary for their all-you-can-eat (AYCE) buffets, headlined past crabby person legs. COVID-19 temporarily suspended the feasts, and several casinos say they won’t return.
Despite land wellness officials allowing the self-serve spreads to resume, many resort properties are opting to forego bringing backwards their buffets.
Gulf Coast gambling casino executives say the pandemic changed their operating thought inwards a change of ways. And the mandatory closures of their buffets led to casinos realizing that the long-assumed dining necessary power not be as critical as erst thought.
We missed a lot of money operating a buffet, because for the most part, you gave the counter away,” LuAnn Pappas, CEO of the Scarlet Pearl Casino Resort inward D’Iberville, told WLOX. “We learned we didn’t want to get along that inward dictate to draw in customers and hold them.”
Once considered as important as having the latest slot machines, buffets have got apace become a thing of the past tense at vi Mississippi River Gulf Coast casinos. Along with the Scarlet Pearl, buffets are no more at Golden Nugget, Hard Rock, Harrah’s, IP, and Boomtown.
Buffets Canceled
Gulf Coast gambling casino buffets began reopening inward April after res publica wellness officials gave the go-ahead for the high-touch feeding arrangements to resume. Most reopened, but they did so without crabmeat legs, or made the crustacean specialties available for an additional cost.
Golden Nugget, for example, returned its dinner party batter with a toll of $19.99. Diners had the alternative to spile on 1.5 pounds of snow crabmeat legs for an additional $14.99.
Ongoing nutrient be increases, however, resulted inward many of the casinos rethinking their AYCE buffets.
Caesars Entertainment, the nation’s largest cassino manipulator inwards terms of sum properties, has announced that all but single of its buffets will not return. The elision is the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace inward Las Vegas, where entry costs roughly $100.
In Mississippi, Caesars’ no-buffet conclusion impacts Harrah’s Gulf Coast inwards Biloxi and Horseshoe Tunica inwards Robinsonville. In neighboring Louisiana, Caesars operates Harrah’s New Orleans, Harrah’s Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Horseshoe Bossier City, and Belle of Baton Rouge.
“I don’t take issue with our CEO,” said Harrah’s Gulf Coast GM Jonathan Jones. “I hold no intention of opening night a buffet.”
Some Buffets Remain
Though half a dozen Gulf Coast casinos feature 86’d their buffets, those who fancy the AYCE smorgasbords stock-still hold options. Of Mississippi’s 12 coastal casinos, Captain Hicks proceed to offer interminable eating.
Palace Casino, Beau Rivage, Treasure Bay, Island View, Silver Slipper, and Hollywood preserve to operate their gambling casino buffets. Beau Rivage, an MGM Resorts property, is reassuring its guests and longtime trueness members that its buffet is on that point to stay.
Beau Rivage executives say COVID-19 has reconfigured its counter operations inwards an effort to confine overhead. Certain items feature been removed, and the casino has initiated a qualification scheme to bound intellectual nourishment waste.
We’re able-bodied to hold in how many people add up through the eatery through the reserve system,” revealed Beau Rivage Executive Chef Kristian Wade. “It makes it a lot meliorate for the culinary staff, because we know what we’re going to get.”