The 265 lb man is quoted in the article as saying he wasn't that fat. But by my calculations, his BMI was just over 33, putting him firmly in the obese category. Admittedly BMI isn't always the most accurate measure of someone's fitness, but unless he's a professional weightlifter, 33 is way too high to be healthy.

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If they don't want people to eat all that they can eat then they should not be an all you can eat buffet! I have friends that barely weigh 90 lbs. soaking wet that could probably eat those gentlemen under the table, so size is not the issue here and shouldn't be. If they want control over what people eat, then have them sit down and order from a menu and pay ala carte`. What about all the people who eat like birds does that restaurant give them some of their money back?
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I'm 6'2", and about 230 lbs. I'm far from fat. I'm certainly not skinny, but most people would call me perhaps on the heavier side of normal. I'm down in weight from my top of about 365, at which point I was fat. At 255 pounds (just 25 up from now) I'd be a little chunky, but far from full-on fat, and I'd also be proportional to these guys, who would be 1 inch and 10 pounds bigger than me.
Call them heavy, chunky maybe, but unless they carry their weight entirely in their bellies (entirely possible) they probably aren't actually that overweight, certainly not enough to impair them at all.
Oh, and BMI is a crock. Really, it doesn't work at all, particularly for people who are fit. I suspect it doesn't work at all for tall people, either.

In any case, these men went in expecting the posted prices to apply to them, and were told nothing different until they were billed double the quoted rate, and personally insulted. That's crass, and probably illegal. If you want to charge someone extra for something, let them know before they buy it at the posted rate.

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"Y'all fat, and y'all eat too much" (it helps if you picture Paula Deen saying it).


But it's funnier if you picture an Asian person saying it.

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Seems to me that an eatery that is designed for this approach to food service should be operating on averages. Although they may feel they could predict that the men in question would eat more than their model their prices should reflect the fact that other people will eat much less or chose foods of lower price points.

If they're not planning to be charging some lettuce-munching people half-price, then singling out a couple people to humiliate and charge double price is clearly discriminatory.

The problem is not with who those patrons were or how they ate but with the restaurant's business plan. Their customer relations could use some work too.

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Businesses can serve who they want. If that isn't the image they want in their restaurant, more power to them.

I once walked into a cracker barrel and was so disgusted my the nicely plumped folks stuffing their faces there, I walked out.

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You mean you were disgusted by the patrons in a Cracker Barrel but NOT the food? See, that's where you lost me...

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I'm not a fan of obesity or the enabling thereof, which is what these eat-all-you-can-eat places really do, but the overcharging in this case is actually illegal--it's called "false advertising." The restaurant should be happy that these two men don't file a civil suit against them. Unbelievable!

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I read a different article on this topic, and the restaurant manager stated that the real issue was not neccessarily the size of the men, it was that they were routinely coming in and filling up only on the more expensive seafood offerings (crab legs, lobster, oysters, sushi, etc.). That is supposedly why they were charged more, not because of their size. But if the restaurant wants to charge more for seafood, they should post a sign stating that fact.

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A restaurant is a business, not a fat-person fan club.
Those two men, EACH, were probably eating two or three times what one person could.
The restaurant would be loosing money; they weren't singled out because they were big. They were exploiting the all-you-can-eat offer.

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There's an all-you-can-eat Japanese buffet here in Boston that has cheap items on the buffet (salad, veggies, rice) as well as pricey seafood (sashimi, uni, crab legs, giant prawns).

A recent newspaper article quoted the owner as saying, "Some people come in and just eat crab legs, tons of crab legs. Our restaurant is for them as much as anyone! It's a buffet!"

The point being, if you have an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant, you're gambling that people will eat enough of the cheap stuff to balance the cost of the expensive items. If people call your bluff and eat the crab... well, tough tits. You run a restaurant, time to make more crab!

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I recall when Margret visited Dennis the Manace at his "all you can drink" lemonade stand Dennis settled any argument by stating "if that's all I give ya, that's all you can drink." Wouldn't the same theory apply to a all u can eat buffet?

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No, Bill, unless they had a sign up (as #13 claims) that stated that they could change the price for patrons at their discretion, they are ALL YOU CAN EAT. Cutting people off mid-meal is bad business.

And by the way, "Margret" is spelled "Margaret"... "Manace" is spelled "Menace"... and "u" is spelled "you".

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Hey Gobo lighten up, I spelt Dennis right!

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Rachel, you dumb broad, that's the entire point of an all-you-can-eat buffet. You simply can't change the rules because you feel like it. Stop posting garbage from your mommy's computer.

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It can't be an 'all you can eat' restaurant unless it really is all you can eat. And, you know, plenty of thin people can pack it away, too, so it IS discrimination if you charge a person more simply because they are fat. However, if they want to have a charge structure based on serving size, that would be different. i.e. charge less for a one plate limit serving and charge more for true 'all you can eat'. I bet a hell of a lot of skinny people would pick the larger serving too.

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All you can eat buffets are the true fast food restaurants. I travel thoughout the US for 3 weeks out of the month, and it is nice to stop at one of these buffets, pay your ticket, and eat what you want, and as much as you want. In my case it is seldom more than a plateful, sometimes I go back for a few items as a second helping. As for the big people there wolfing down copious amounts of food, yes it is all you can eat, and they certainly taking advantage of this. These people inccrease the overall price at these truly convenient places to eat. Their addiction to food also increses our healthcare costs. I've seen some huge people their in wheel chairs, unable to walk, but still able to lift a fork to their mouths. Yes, I think managers are right to cut these types of people off, and ban them from all you can eat buffets!

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As a professional cook in the foodservice industry. The restaurant has no right to charge a customer double on an all-you-can-eat buffet. Just because they eat too much! Here in the Philippines some establisment charges DOUBLE only if you have left-overs left in your plate. That discourages people from getting too much food that they couldn't eat. Another tactic restaurants do is limit the release of high-priced dishes on a set time interval. Smart dinners often watch out for this, they often stand and line up when the waiter comes out. Yesterday we ate buffet on a japanese restaurant, all of our meals are ordered ala carte. Which is nice since the meals are made new and not left standing on a chaffing dish. But the few minute interval wait before the next dish arrives gives our stomach time to feel full. Therefore the customers tends to order less.

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in memory of a family guy episode, 'fat people need love too.. but they gotta pay!' i think this statement applies here.
i think that it would also be a wonderful idea for all you can eat buffets to weigh people before they come in and have prices determined by your weight.... or BMI.. and have the 'fat/obese' category be more $$.
being fat is not okay and people need to understand that. so, the prices should reflect this.

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I dont see what the big deal is. I have eaten ate this place a few times and one of the first things I saw when I walked in is a sign that says "if you eat only seafood you may be charged more". There you go folks. You dont like it dont eat there. I also heard Mr. Labit made a habit of eating only seafood and taking it all and not leaving any for other customers. The sign in the place is the disclaimer no law suit here. I ate there the very same day of the incident at lunch time and the sign was there and every one was very nice.

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