Why don't buffet restaurants let you take home a doggie bag?

Have you ever noticed the size of people that constantly eat at buffets? the majority of these people are real porkers. they not only eat, eat, eat, but their children eat, eat, eat. taking a doggie bag home for one of these people, could feed this family dinner and breakfast tomorrow morning. some people just have no etiquette, when it comes to being a normal human. i have seen this many times. here is the way it works: first round of food, eat what you want till full. second round, fill your plate to the brim, take the food to your table, and then request a doggie bag. (in this case, a porkers bag). folks, its called greed. greed for the food itself and greed by not having to cook a meal for the family.

This is why buffets go out of business. bring in a bus load of porkers and watch the buffet go bankrupt. the real pity is, the children will grow up to be just like their parents. lets bankrupct the buffet and bring on the porker bags!

Actually some buffet do allow you to use a doggie bag. However, all-you-can-eat is now replaced with how-much-you-can-fit in the recepticle they provide you. And on top of that, they have a fixed weight for "all-you-can-eat" and will weigh your doggie bag and add whatever extra to your bill. So it may just be cheaper to eat at the restaurant instead.

Perhaps they are afraid that they will be sued later if you die from obesity.

At a normal restaurant you pay for a plate of food with a certine amount. If you don't finish it then you can take it home. You've already payed for that food so it's yours to eat later. At a buffet you pay for what you can eat there. You don't pay for a specific amount of food, but what you eat while you're at the place.

Buffet resturants would let everyone take home doggie bags, (if everyone was honest). Some people would take a doggie bags and fill it up with more than the $8 of food you had payed for. The resturant would not make any profit because of this.

Because if everyone just took doggie bags they wont make money because u couls pay like 7$ and all you can eat.but u just take a lot of food they make no profit.

They don't let you because of the extra money it would cost them to produce the extra food. However, what they should be able to do is let you take home what is left on your plate because it's only going into the garbage.. the waiter/waitress should take the plate to the kitchen and make up the doggie bag for you instead of you being tempted to go for another round at the buffet..

It's against their policy.
If you can't eat it then don't complete it.
You may leave with a full tummy but that better be the only thing that is full.
This sign hangs over the entrance to the buffet.

I think buffet restaurants know that fat old ladies will stuff cookies in their purses anyway.

All the answers given are correct. It concerns the cost of the food. There was a lawsuit filed by a party that was denied further acccess to a "Buffet" restaurant because they would abuse the accepted practice of using responsible use of the buffet. This party would load up as many plates as possible, eat what they wanted and left the rest. They apparently left more food on the table than what they actually ate. The restaurant won the lawsuit.

My seond answer. where i live, there was a buffet called "the lazy suzan". it soon went out of business and here is why.....

This buffet had big picnic-style tables with large rotating trays of food on each. several strangers would sit together. no privacy here. my wife and i decided to give it a try. big mistake! the family, across the table from us, had a combined weight of at least 800 lbs.!
each of them filled their plates with 2 lbs. of food. by the time the rotating trays came to us, the food was gone! vanished! the side hogs had taken it all. we were so disgusted, we left the restaurant. and you know they took home a 5 lb. doggies bag, just for a late-nite snack. no wonder the "lazy suzan restaurant" went out of business. the side hogs forced the restaurant into bankruptcy. maybe, this is why now that buffet restaurants do not allow a take home doggie bag. they learned from the "lazy suzan".

While some do, most of them don't. The reason doggie bags in most buffet-style restaurants are not allowed is that it is not cost effective for them. People would take advantage of the privilege and not only load up their plates, but take home enough food for Sunday dinner, snacks during the week, and a few tidbits for the dog or cat. That's why the ones that do allow take-outs, monitor them by restricting the amount taken, and charge additional fees. I frequent a popular buffet-style restaurant in my area that does not allow carryouts. The sign over their vast display of culinary delights clearly states: "Take all you want, but eat all you take."

my sister does all the time you just put a ziplock freezer bag in your purse and no one suspects anything

If it's for the food on your plate, they have to give you a doggy bag, if you ask for one.

Because a buffet is all you can eat THERE, not at home. If you can't eat it there, then you don't get to take it home. IF they allowed take home, someone could take home more food than they ate there for 2-3 or more other people. It only makes sense for them to require you to eat it there.

If you was a owner of a All-You-Can-Eat buffet would you want someone stuffing their stomachs and than ask for a doggie bag that can feed your family for a couple of days? I'm guessing no. But i do think that if you ate about half of you're plate than you should be able to bring it home because it's going in the garbage after all. But if you're some fat honky and fills your plate and only took a bite and request for a doggie bag, you should be slapped.