COVID-19 Outbreak (Update: More than 2.9M cases and 132,313 deaths in US) (6 Viewers)

[Optimus Prime]

The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating for restaurants across the board. But the pandemic may spell the end for one genre of restaurant in particular: buffets.

Buffets were already on shaky footing. From 1998 to 2017, the number of buffet restaurants decreased by 26% while the number of overall restaurants grew by 22%, according to The NPD Group, a market research company. Old Country Buffet's parent company, Ovation Brands, filed for bankruptcy three times in the last twenty years. Ponderosa/Bonanza Steakhouse's parent company, formerly Metromedia Steakhouse, went bankrupt in 2008, eventually selling the buffet brand to FAT Brands in 2017.

Why have buffets suffered so much in the last two decades? There are several possible factors. One is that at the turn of the millennium, Americans began a shift away from quantity and toward quality when it comes to food. "Super Size Me" and "Fast Food Nation" forced Americans to confront their fast-food habits — and their growing waistlines. Nutrition has become more of a concern when choosing where to eat, and in the 2000s, fast-food chains struggled to climb back into vogue while the farm-to-table movement flourished...…...

Buffets were already on their way out. The coronavirus pandemic may have dealt them a final blow.

 

[Booker]

The coronavirus pandemic has been devastating for restaurants across the board. But the pandemic may spell the end for one genre of restaurant in particular: buffets.

Buffets were already on shaky footing. From 1998 to 2017, the number of buffet restaurants decreased by 26% while the number of overall restaurants grew by 22%, according to The NPD Group, a market research company. Old Country Buffet's parent company, Ovation Brands, filed for bankruptcy three times in the last twenty years. Ponderosa/Bonanza Steakhouse's parent company, formerly Metromedia Steakhouse, went bankrupt in 2008, eventually selling the buffet brand to FAT Brands in 2017.

Why have buffets suffered so much in the last two decades? There are several possible factors. One is that at the turn of the millennium, Americans began a shift away from quantity and toward quality when it comes to food. "Super Size Me" and "Fast Food Nation" forced Americans to confront their fast-food habits — and their growing waistlines. Nutrition has become more of a concern when choosing where to eat, and in the 2000s, fast-food chains struggled to climb back into vogue while the farm-to-table movement flourished...…...

Buffets were already on their way out. The coronavirus pandemic may have dealt them a final blow.

I've consciously avoided buffets for years. For some reason I tend to lose my appetite watching people cough and sneeze in the line while they use their hands to pick through the food. Every time I see a commercial for Golden Corral all I wonder is how many fingers have been in that chocolate fountain.

 

[mb504]

Look, you can't say that any of these Southern GOP governors are violating CDC guidelines if you simply instruct the CDC to stop issuing any guidelines.

 

[gboudx]

That isn't an option when someone keeps breaking the law. And, IIRC, this woman was warned several times and just kept doing it. At some point there is no choice.

Exactly. Cruz’s personal freedoms ideology is most on display when he thinks he can benefit. I wonder is she was being attacked for her stance, rather than applauded would he still go sit in one of her chairs? I bet no. But I’ll admit I don’t like him and didn’t vote for him so my opinion is biased.

 

[superchuck500]

South Carolina moving to phase 2.

Here’s SC’s chart.

 

[Booker]

Here’s SC’s chart.

 

[PurpleBlack&Gold]

Perhaps mistaken, but I thought Hawaii didn’t really like tourist coming into the State anyway?

You are very mistaken. Tourism is the foundation of the economy here and it isn't even close.

 

[DaveXA]

Imo there is nothing to applaud about an opportunistic politician using a person’s reckless act of defiance that was/is endangering her community to signal boost and harden his concerted attempt to turn scientifically backed practices meant to save lives and minimize harm in a pandemic into a partisan wedge issue he can score brownie points for by enflaming and then politically profiting from that well poisoning.

Well, that's nothing new for Cruz. I'm just looking for a silver lining here, thats all. Lol.

 

[PurpleBlack&Gold]

Not even for food? What are you supposed to do to eat and drink?

Not even for food. It is a strict quarantine. When we were flying people from the cruise ships to military bases for quarantine should we have let them out for food as well?

Medical emergencies only.

 

[DaveXA]

That isn't an option when someone keeps breaking the law. And, IIRC, this woman was warned several times and just kept doing it. At some point there is no choice.

I agree to some extent. But at the same time, this is all fairly new territory and she was released only after the law was changed by the governor (iirc). I still think a fine rather than imprisonment would have been better suited here.

 

[bclemms]

I watched a video on youtube that shows we can increase GDP by 40% over a 10 year period, reduce costs to medicare by 40%, save social security in the next 10 years, bring unemployment down below 2% and double the stock market by 2030 if we just cull 20% of people over 80 years old. I know we can't exactly choose who to kill but we use a RNG and do a draft. Not only would we get all of these benefits but it would also significantly reduce the death toll of Covid since there would be so many less high risk people in the USA.

 

[PurpleBlack&Gold]

I lived there for 3 years. The locals don’t like it but the government and businesses love it. Their only source of income is tourism and pineapples, and the pineapple market isn’t big enough to sustain a state economy.

We also have a huge cattle industry. Not just pineapple. Pineapple is quite small overall but agriculture in general is huge, by far tourism is the largest segment of the economy though. Not all locals are against tourism. Most understand its why the economy works. There are always some that disagree of course but the vast majority of people understand that their livelihoods depend on tourism. I've been here for nearly 8 years and have had nothing but aloha since arriving. Its why you always hear about aloha. If people treated tourists badly they wouldn't come back. They understand that here for the most part.

 

[bclemms]

We also have a huge cattle industry. Not just pineapple. Pineapple is quite small overall but agriculture in general is huge, by far tourism is the largest segment of the economy though. Not all locals are against tourism. Most understand its why the economy works. There are always some that disagree of course but the vast majority of people understand that their livelihoods depend on tourism. I've been here for nearly 8 years and have had nothing but aloha since arriving. Its why you always hear about aloha. If people treated tourists badly they wouldn't come back. They understand that here for the most part.

Just avoid Pahoa during a crisis, Pele consumed all of the aloha in that area.

 

[PurpleBlack&Gold]

Just avoid Pahoa during a crisis, Pele consumed all of the aloha in that area.

I'm not sure if there was a lot of aloha there to begin with. That's the flip side of the coin. There certainly areas to avoid like anywhere. You can buy an acre of land over there for 10k for a few reasons. One of those is the fact you would live on an active volcano. It's certainly the poorest area of our island.

Edited to add: Might be better to just avoid Pahoa all together. There were only a few really great things to see over there but Pele decided she didn't want those around anymore. Just like Katrina there was a lot of similar talk that she did it to purge the nefarious people from the island.

 

[DaveXA]

I watched a video on youtube that shows we can increase GDP by 40% over a 10 year period, reduce costs to medicare by 40%, save social security in the next 10 years, bring unemployment down below 2% and double the stock market by 2030 if we just cull 20% of people over 80 years old. I know we can't exactly choose who to kill but we use a RNG and do a draft. Not only would we get all of these benefits but it would also significantly reduce the death toll of Covid since there would be so many less high risk people in the USA.

I know this was posted to highlight what some people think. Yeah, to them it's a business decision and life has little worth. Makes me sick, and disturbed that people actually believe that crap. Meh.