Our Success Story
Reinventing the buffet One plate at a time. Traditional “home-cooked” meals instead of just food. Quality instead of quantity. Guests instead of customers. Together, Roe Hatlen and Dennis Scott, founders of Buffets, Inc., and Neal Wichard, co-founder of HomeTown Buffet, changed the perceptions and raised the standards of buffet-style restaurants.

Success stems from collaboration, devotion, and passion. Committed to exceptional service and a variety of choices, their inspiration has motivated our employees to exceed expectations every day, creating a very successful family restaurant.

Delicious food and great ideas Buffets’ popularity spread like wildfire throughout the country thanks to our co-founders’ meticulous attention to quality food, exceptional cleanliness, and people-friendly innovations, such as the “scatter-bar” system we popularized. Guests no longer had to wait in line to get the foods they craved; in the scatter system, different varieties of foods are grouped in “islands” allowing diners to help themselves to whatever they like…whenever they like. It was all about “choice.”

Buffets’ co-founders also focused on delicious, traditional American ‘home cooking’ where carefully prepared salads, soups, entrees, and desserts were made in small batches and presented fresh, hour after hour.

Today’s Buffets, Inc. Buffets, Inc. has continued to grow and thrive under the leadership of President and CEO Kerry Kramp. Diners coast to coast visit our stores in record numbers. Today we’re the nation’s thirteenth largest restaurant chain with revenues of approximately $1 billion.

The meals America craves We’ve become known throughout the industry for exceptionally high standards when it comes to the food we serve. Our kitchens are some of the most organized and admired in the business.

We serve over 90 items on our buffets; menus change daily to give our guests even more variety and value. Local managers have the opportunity to “customize” many of the daily offerings to meet local tastes.