To Buffet or Not To Buffet W

hat can be learned from other industries to cross-transfer into casino resorts to improve the customer experience? I discussed last time how our industry is adapting to new operating models to optimise customer engagement and satisfaction. One point that is triggering discussions among operators and customers is the buffet – or lack of. Buffets seem to be getting replaced by food halls, with operators using the pandemic as the primary explainer to customers as to why their beloved buffet has been removed. Ask customers and they often say how they really liked the buffet. Ask operators and many consider them a lossmaking, inefficient space.

It’s a tricky one. A good buffet makes a big difference. It can be a differentiator that drives footfall to land-based properties as customers actively choose the property with the buffet over other F&B options in the neighbourhood. But getting and maintaining a good buffet is a skilled art rather than a science – buffets are easier to get wrong than to get right. Even in EMEA casino resorts, which are smaller than the properties in North America, a good buffet can deliver over 100,000 covers in a year. And with the cost of living presenting an increasing challenge, a buffet can be a welcome option for specific cohorts who frequent casinos. I always use the quality and excellent price of food in casino resorts as an explainer to people when I tell them I work in the casino industry – and how operators such as Casino Cosmopol have a very significant focus on responsible gaming. Casino resorts are still seen in EMEA as being a bit too far on the ‘dark side’, and great F&B options such as buffets (as well as excellent live entertainment) help to nudge the needle of people’s perceptions of casinos.

I know a lot of people attended ICE London, with records set. It was a great show and all of our team reveled in being at an in-person exhibition and learning about developments and innovations that we’ll soon see in casinos and resorts across the EMEA region.

Raucous Caucasus https://www.linkedin.com/groups/1813053/

As our industry grows and adapts, we at Casino Life are too. Our newest media is Casino Life Georgia –that’s the country in the Caucasus, not the state in America. Casino Life Georgia is the new temporary home of Casino Life Ukraine. It will be printed and published in Georgia, with our print editions delivered to all of the land-based casinos across Georgia. Casino Life Georgia is a media partnership between the publishers of Casino Life Ukraine and the operators of the Tbilisi Gaming Fest exhibition and conference. Casino Life Georgia will be published and printed in Georgian, and its digital edition will have translated content in both Ukrainian and English and be hosted on the Casino Life Ukraine website.

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Damien Connelly