All You Can Eat, or By the Ounce?

The Answer Is Transaction Costs

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There are many different pricing and packaging schemes for serving food in restaurants, and they all seem to coexist. But there are some significant differences, and thinking in terms of transaction costs and adverse selection can help us understand why.
Plus, a TWEJ on the eternal optimism of Keynesians: THIS time it might work!
Some links:

• Yoram Barzel, Measurement Cost and the Organization of Markets. The Journal of Law & Economics, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Apr., 1982), pp. 27-48 https://www.jstor.org/stable/725223
• Comeback of "all you can eat" https://www.today.com/food/restaurants/all-you-can-eat-buffets-comeback-rcna99462

Buffets, pricing, and management, seller's perspective

• https://www.cheftalk.com/threads/pricing-salad-bars-by-weight.70748/
• https://pdfcoffee.com/buffet-cost-control-pdf-free.html
• David V. Pavesic (1994) By-The-Ounce Pricing for Salad Bars, Journal of College & University Foodservice, 1:4, 3-11
• David V. Pavesic and Paul F. Magnant (2005; 2nd Ed). Fundamental Principles of Restaurant Cost Control, pp. 238-246. Prentice Hall.

Consumer's perspective

• https://www.budgetbytes.com/hit-salad-bar-like-boss/
• https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/whole-food-cheap-salad-bar-hacks

If you have questions or comments, or want to suggest a future topic, email the show at [e-mail] !

You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz

Κεφάλαια

1. All You Can Eat, or By the Ounce? (00:00:00)

2. Pricing Strategies for All-You-Can-Eat Buffets (00:00:03)

3. Equitable Pricing and Buffet Cost Trade-Offs (00:07:55)

4. Higher Taxes on Richer People Arguments (00:20:45)