Since you know everything about everything, what is the status of the Monte Carlo buffet? I heard that it is closing the beginning of September. Is this for a remodeling or just plain closing?
The shutdown is, we regret to say, permanent. Multiple high-ranking sources at MGM say that the buffet is going away and not coming back, part of the property’s up-market transformation through a “new luxury brand” into Park MGM.
While even high-roller MGM casinos like Bellagio and Aria have hewed to tradition and prominently featured buffets, MGM seems to have decided that Park MGM won’t be sufficiently chi-chi if it has one. This is the latest in a series of moves to upgrade its overall image.
Writing in Global Gaming Business magazine, former Borgata president and CEO Bob Boughner offered this rationale for ditching buffets: “Buffets have long been a means of attracting people to a casino through price-driven meals. But buffets are usually inefficient and result in large amounts of food waste. Often casino management believes a buffet is necessary; they think the patrons love it. But are those patrons gamers or families coming in to enjoy the low price? Also, while customers may say they love the buffet, perhaps there’s an alternative solution they would enjoy even more, one that would turn a profit.”
While MGM spokespeople promise an array of new food and beverage options when Monte Carlo officially turns into Park MGM in late 2018, they're not committing to any specifics as yet. Of course, high-price-point buffets have proven successful on the Strip — think of the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace — but MGM evidently thinks that, with the reinvention of Monte Carlo, it needs to set itself apart. Mission accomplished.
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Jul-11-2017
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