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Seoul Garden ends ‘All You Can Eat’ buffet line as Covid-19 pandemic drags on

SINGAPORE — After more than 30 years of operating as a buffet restaurant chain, Seoul Garden is overhauling its business model as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has made it too challenging to offer buffet lines, the company said on Thursday (Aug 19).

A buffet spread seen at Seoul Garden's branch at Nex mall in Serangoon in 2019.

A buffet spread seen at Seoul Garden's branch at Nex mall in Serangoon in 2019.

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SINGAPORE — After more than 30 years of operating as a buffet restaurant chain, Seoul Garden is overhauling its business model as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has made it too challenging to offer buffet lines, the company said on Thursday (Aug 19). 

The change begins on Thursday itself, with its seven outlets now operating with an a la carte menu instead, the Korean grill restaurant chain said in a statement.

The decision was a response to the announcement that Singapore is soon to embark on a strategy to live with Covid-19 as an endemic disease circulating in the population, as well as to the challenges faced by the food-and-beverage industry here in the past year-and-a-half, it said.

“F&B operators have been challenged to meet the urgent need to provide diners with a safer dining environment under the safe management measures,” Seoul Garden, which was founded in 1983, said.

“Changes to the rules have understandably needed to be frequent in response to a climate of uncertainty in face of clusters in the community. Seoul Garden’s decision to pivot its dining concept aims to answer this call.”

Aside from Covid-19, Seoul Garden said that another reason it is moving away from buffets is the growing “clarion call” — here and abroad — to reduce and eradicate food waste around the world.

Its latest move is therefore also a recognition that food waste, a common consequence of buffet dining, “does not resonate with the ethical, environmental and social concerns of a growing group of socially conscious diners”, it said.

The newly adopted a la carte style of dining is a “more sustainable way towards achieving zero food waste in the long run”, it added.

Related topics

Seoul Garden Covid-19 buffet food waste F&B

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