No Ryan's in Western PA that I know of, but many years ago, there was a proliferation of Old Country Buffets in this region. When Dad retired, he laid down the law -- Mom was no longer cooking on Sundays. So when Old Country Buffet opened a location nearby, that was our family's go-to restaurant on Sundays. After Dad passed, we stopped going and a while later I noticed the Old Country Buffets in this area had closed. I think there might still be a couple of them in the midsection of PA around Harrisburg/York.
It's too bad because my family loved the place. I think I might know why the restaurant failed here. Despite signs forbidding takeout, I would watch other customers try to slip food from the buffet into their purses or bags or whatever. One woman in particular had this oversized "old lady" purse. She had a disability that prevented her from going through the buffet line, so she had her table companions bring food for her. At one point, someone at her table brought back a heaping plate of rolls. The lady opened her purse, pulled out this big plastic bag and proceeded to dump all the rolls into that bag, then put the bag in her purse. Then another person brought back a plateful of creamed spinach. Again, the woman reached into her purse, this time pulled out a Tupperware container, dumped the creamed spinach into the container and slipped the container into her purse. This went on for some time till the lady ended up with fried chicken. potatoes and God knows what else -- enough food to feed herself for a week.
Wanted to say something to the manager, but my mother said, don't cause trouble, or something. I don't think she realized thst when customers steal food like that, the restaurant loses money. The eatery has to make up the shortfall somehow, so the prices go up. And if raising prices doesn't offset the losses, thr restaurant goes under.
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