Golden Corral Wasn't Always A Buffet Restaurant — Here's How It Started

If you take one lesson from the largest buffet restaurant chain in America, Golden Corral, it's that you should never rest on your laurels. While there are plenty of regional chains and great local buffets in the United States, Golden Corral is the undisputed champion of the buffet industry nationwide, with over 350 locations. That puts it in the top 50 of all restaurant chains in the country, regardless of category — only Cicis Pizza really comes close in terms of buffets. But Golden Corral didn't start as a buffet. It actually began as a steakhouse.

The first Golden Corral was founded in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1973 by James Maynard and William Carl. It opened on a stretch of Bragg Boulevard in the city that was already filling up with chains like KFC and Burger King. Even from its inception, Golden Corral was focused on bringing great value, with a 7-ounce sirloin meal for $1.69 being its signature offer. This was the first era of budget steakhouse chains, like Bonanza, Ponderosa, Western Sizzlin', and Ryan's Steakhouse, and competition was fierce.

Still, Golden Corral thrived. Its early menu offered affordable family favorites like steak tips, ham steaks, and gravy-covered chopped steaks, alongside a full lineup of ribeyes and sirloins for quite reasonable prices. The steakhouse chain grew quickly, and by the '80s had expanded north into Virginia and westward all the way to Texas. But times were changing, and so was the competition.

Tough competition meant better deals, which sparked the era of the all-you-can-eat chain restaurant salad bar at spots like Sizzler. Golden Corral followed suit with its own salad bar but also began to expand the size of its restaurants with more menu offerings. American culture was also changing around it. A wider variety of foods were becoming nationally popular, like pasta, and there was a growing concern around the health effects of red meat.

By the mid '80s, the company shifted direction. It was here that the transition from steakhouse to full-on buffet commenced. Golden Corral also started franchising around the same time. The wider variety of food helped the growing chain appeal to budget-conscious diners outside of the Deep South, and the rest was food history. What's fascinating now is that the company is coming full circle.

Golden Corral's massive buffet menu still offers plenty of red meat, but the company has also been experimenting with spin-off concepts, including a new steakhouse called GC Grill House, which has opened in Lake Placid, Florida. It offers a full steakhouse menu at affordable prices to compete with fast-growing all-stars like Texas Roadhouse. While no plans have been announced for a secondary location, it's both a step back in time and forward into a new market for the chain. For a company that talks a lot about its traditions, Golden Corral never stops evolving.