Analysis of Epicurean & Co.’s buffet pricing features a flat rate for food options, allowing restaurant patrons to strategize over how to maximize the bang for their buck.
A pound of food at Epicurean costs $6.99 at breakfast and $8.99 at lunch and dinner. But each buffet offering comes at its own wholesale price for the restaurant, leading to high variability in profit margin depending on a customer’s selection. Preparation costs enter into the equation, but the restaurant’s business model is premised on the fact that diners will overspend for traditionally cheaper foods.
For example, pork, on average, goes for $3.99 a pound. Eggs cost Epicurean half of that, so a customer who purchased a pound of eggs would bring Epicurean greater profit, though he would pay the same $6.99 as someone who ate a pound of pork for breakfast.
According to a Houston Chronicle report, successful restaurants generally have food costs that are between 25 percent and 38 percent of total revenue. Epicurean’s food costs, however, are at 40 percent.
“We could cut food costs down to 33 percent of revenue if we used lower-quality food,” Epicurean owner Chang Wook Chon said. “We try to provide our customers with high-quality food choices, which is why our customers keep coming back.”
Based on the Chronicle’s measure, Epicurean maximizes its business model when it sells food that costs between $2.25 and $3.42 per pound, though it averages slightly above that cutoff.
After comparing many of the Epicurean buffet options to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ food averages, roughly 30 percent of what Epicurean sells is below the 25 percent recommended threshold.
Chicken, strawberries and cheese are among the options that would hurt Epicurean’s profit margins if they were purchased in excess. Grapefruit, turkey and rice are among the restaurant’s safe bets when it comes to profitability.
The restaurant is open 24 hours a day, six days a week, closing late Sunday night and early Monday morning. The buffet closes at 10:30 p.m. every night, while the restaurant’s other options remain open.
In general, food costs in D.C. are 5 percent higher than the national average.
“The cost is way too high. I eat here because it’s more convenient for me because I’m so close,” Lamar Holmes (NHS ’14) said. “At buffets I’ve been to, I can get twice as much for half the price of Epi.”

Hoya Staff Writer TM Gibbons-Neff contributed reporting.