All-you-can-eat restaurants are popular, as are high-end buffets at big weddings and posh hotels.
But what’s the trick to making money out of them, and what happens to the leftovers?
Ruth Alexander finds out the tricks of the trade with John Wood of catering software company Kitchen Cut, Sandeep Sreedharan of Goa, and Michael Brown of Cosmo, in Manchester, UK.
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk
(Picture: Hands of someone serving out chicken at a buffet. Credit: Getty/BBC)
Producer: Elisabeth Mahy