{"id":9128,"date":"2017-08-24T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T15:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/?p=9128"},"modified":"2017-08-22T22:09:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T03:09:53","slug":"end-of-the-buffet-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/2017\/08\/end-of-the-buffet-line\/","title":{"rendered":"End of the buffet line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kcrg.com\/content\/news\/Ryans-Steakhouse-closes-suddenly-in-Cedar-Rapids-430189653.html\">closure of Ryan&#8217;s Steakhouse<\/a> on Collins Road in Cedar Rapids in June was so abrupt that the employees weren&#8217;t notified. I was reminded that it was closed when I drove past it this week. And then it hit me: <em>Every buffet restaurant my family frequented is gone.<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Old Country Buffet in Waterloo, which wasn&#8217;t around all that long, <a href=\"http:\/\/qctimes.com\/business\/buffets-inc-to-keep-moline-restaurant-open\/article_6007d95c-51e9-5e63-84cc-4607947d0db6.html\">closed Feb. 9, 2006<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Bonanza in Marshalltown closed in 2007. This was a favorite place to go after ISU football games, but this happened not too long before 1 PM kickoffs went extinct, so its effect wasn&#8217;t as noticeable.<\/li>\n<li>Bishop&#8217;s Buffet in Waterloo \u2014 the original of what became a chain \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/wcfcourier.com\/news\/breaking_news\/waterloo-bishop-s-buffet-closes\/article_3afa8e6d-bf02-51a1-898e-f769d15163fb.html\">abruptly closed in 2007,<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/wcfcourier.com\/business\/local\/bishop-s-buffet-to-reopen\/article_9ca083be-2662-5866-8839-d1a8d61c38fd.html\">reopened in 2009<\/a>, and abruptly closed <a href=\"http:\/\/wcfcourier.com\/business\/local\/pay-delay-frustrates-bishop-s-staff-restaurant-closed-saturday\/article_e2a454f8-fdbf-5841-8304-0eb7bbdc70b2.html\">again in 2011<\/a>, apparently for good.<\/li>\n<li>Bonanza in Cedar Falls closed in 2010, replaced by a Buffalo Wild Wings, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/2012\/11\/more-changes-in-crossroads-mall-area\/\">Waterloo location followed in fall 2012<\/a>, with demolition following soon after.<\/li>\n<li>Ryan&#8217;s in Clive and Old Country Buffet in Des Moines <a href=\"http:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/money\/business\/2016\/03\/07\/buffet-restaurants-metro-close-abruptly\/81447892\/\">both closed abruptly<\/a> \u2014 there&#8217;s that word again \u2014 on March 6, 2016. The parent company of both filed for bankruptcy.<\/li>\n<li>Then, finally, Ryan&#8217;s in Cedar Rapids, in June.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Does this mean something, big-picture-wise? I&#8217;m not sure. All of the above involve only three corporate parents, and in the case of the Waterloo and Cedar Falls Bonanzas the owners were looking to get out. I will miss the option of a buffet for special occasions, but Texas Roadhouse is a fine substitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The closure of Ryan&#8217;s Steakhouse on Collins Road in Cedar Rapids in June was so abrupt that the employees weren&#8217;t notified. I was reminded that it was closed when I drove past it this week. And then it hit me: &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/2017\/08\/end-of-the-buffet-line\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iowa-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9129,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9128\/revisions\/9129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/iowahighwayends.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}