I never met a buffet I didn’t like, and one of my favorites, back in the day, was BuddyFreddy’s in Plant City, Florida. In business since 1954, Elton and Evelyn Johnson’s place evolved from a gas station that sold sandwiches into the favorite of locals and tourists alike for Southern comfort food, served buffet style. We made many pilgrimages as a family for their righteous Southern breakfast feast: eggs, waffles, French toast, pancakes, bacon, sausage, grits, home fries, consumed in a large gracious room decorated with the glorious large-scale paintings of John Briggs. TImes change, though, as did the fortunes of this restaurant. The restaurant was sold, there was expansions, then the other locations closed. Folks said that BuddyFreddy’s just wasn’t the same. We no longer made the trek to Plant City for breakfast.
Then, there was good news. The Johnson family was back in the restaurant business when Elton and Evelyn’s son Fred Johnson and his wife Tammy opened another buffet-based restaurant, Fred’s Farm Market. Being situated right next door to the State Farmer’s Market in Plant allowed Fred and Tammy to get fruits and vegetables “as fresh as it gets” for the restaurant. On our first family outing, we were not disappointed.
The fare was abundant and excellent: amazing fried chicken, light-as-a-feather biscuits, fried green tomatoes, okra, pole beans, carrot soufflé, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes.… 37 different hot items and desserts, plus a bountiful salad bar. We gorged ourselves. I immediately resolved to go back to try out the adjacent restaurant, Johnson Barbeque, which was launched by a member of the 3rd generation of Johnson restauranteurs, Fred’s son Owen.
In the meantime, however, when business took me and my dear husband to Winter Haven, we were thrilled to find that Fred’s Market Restaurant had expanded with the addition of Fred’s Southern Kitchen in Winter Haven as well as Lakeland and Bartow. It offered the same tantalizing menu choices — with a new twist. As our server explained it to us, we could enter into a “consumption contract” of sorts. At Fred’s they call it “Waste Not, Want Not”, and the premise is simple: you can eat as much as you want, as long as you eat what you take, and for doing so, you get a discount on the buffet price: $9.29 instead of $11.29 at lunch and $12.49 instead of $14.29 for dinner and Sunday lunch. In these austere times, this seemed like a win-win to us: for the restaurant, not having to throw away so much wasted food and thus keep their costs down; and for us, to be more mindful of our consumption, not letting our big eyes overwhelm our not-so-big stomachs.
The result? We both left the restaurant sated, but not stuffed. (Okay, I might have wavered for a moment with the cornbread; my husband had to bat clean-up for me!) I didn’t miss any of my favorites, but I found that I was more judicious in my portion sizes. What a wonderful antidote to our “Supersize” mentality in this country, to be given an incentive to rediscover moderation. Eat less, spend less, dine out more and support your local Mom & Pop eateries. Here’s hoping the Clean Plate Club concept catches on!
Restaurant locations and menus: http://fredsmarket.com/
