Group Food Pizza Buffets Paid Ate Quality All You Can Eat

Buffets are very popular in the United States, and can "consist of" (be made up of; contain) a variety of foods or just one type of food. One of the reasons buffets are popular is that the food is all-you-can-eat. The problem with some buffets is that the quality of the food is often not very good. Does this matter to American eaters?

One 2011 "study" (piece of research) tried to answer that question by comparing two groups of people. The first group paid "full price" (the regular price) for a pizza buffet, which was $6.00, for all the pizza they could eat. The second group paid only half of that, $3.00, for the same all-you-can-eat meal.

Which group ate more? Which group liked their food more?

"On average" (typically), the group that paid more ate more, about 25% more. But that same group of people also said that the pizza tasted worse than the group that paid less! In other words, even though they thought the pizza tasted worse, they ate more of it.

One possibility suggested by the researchers is that the full price group thought that each "slice" (piece) of pizza was worth less due to the poor taste, and that therefore, they had to eat more of it to get their "money's worth" (the full value or benefit for the price one pays).