The Pizza Buffet: Part 2

In Part 2 of our deep dive into the great American pizza buffet, we flip the script and explore what happened after the golden age. We break down the real reasons buffets started to struggle — rising food costs, changing consumer preferences, the rise of fast-casual dining, and health trends that made “all-you-can-eat” feel less appealing. Then we hit the moment that changed everything: COVID. From shutdowns to permanent closures here in Nebraska and across the country, we look at how the pandemic nearly wiped buffets out entirely.But it’s not all doom and gloom. We also talk about the comeback — how modern pizza buffets have adapted with fresher options, tighter menus, better sanitation, and why nostalgia helped bring them back. Plus, we play a brand-new game, “Taste It or Waste It,” where we judge some of the wildest pizza toppings from around the world as if they showed up on a buffet line.Oh — and we kick off our first-ever giveaway, where one listener will win a $25 Pizza Ranch gift card.From history and heartbreak to hope and hot pizza, this episode has it all.