The comforting aroma of crispy fried chicken, creamy macaroni and cheese, and warm cornbread instantly engulfs you upon entering a Southern cafeteria. Proceeding down the tray line is a feast for the eyes. These iconic eating adventures have been around for nearly a century, but are increasingly hard to find.
The cafeteria sector of the restaurant industry might be described as a shell of its former self, but the remaining elements have found a way to survive, and in some cases, thrive.
The years preceding and following World War II saw the founding of several venerable cafeteria chains. Some are still operating, albeit at greatly reduced levels. The remaining chains — including S&S, Piccadilly, and Luby’s, operate with far fewer locations than during their heydays. A number of venerable chains have closed, such as S&W, which had a Greenville location in the 1970s.
For decades, cafeterias appealed to customers of all ages, due to their reasonable prices and menus featuring favorite comfort foods. The decline can be attributed to several factors. These include changes in dining habits and the steady decline of shopping malls, which often featured cafeterias. The Covid-19 pandemic hit the industry especially hard, resulting in the shuttering of many locations.
S&S Cafeterias owner Rick Pogue is now in his 41st year in the cafeteria business. He has witnessed the industry’s downsizing over the past few decades. Pogue describes the Macon, Georgia-based chain as a resilient legacy brand. The company is healthy and profitable. Boosting the company’s bottom line has been its thriving takeout business.
“There's still a niche for what we're doing, although maybe smaller than it used to be. We still make everything from scratch. We do a lot of to-go business, which most cafeterias in the past did not do. That is about 40 percent of our sales, so that’s big for us.”
Pogue’s plans feature exploring a smaller concept, with greater emphasis on takeouts and a reduced physical footprint. He notes that S&S cafeterias are all 10,000 square feet, larger than most restaurants. S&S currently operates five locations: Greenville and Charleston, and in Georgia, two locations in Macon and one in Augusta.
Expansion is also under consideration. At one time, S&S had 27 cafeterias. Pogue says there is a big demand to return to some of the cities where the chain used to be, including Columbia, South Carolina, and Columbus, Georgia. Knoxville and Chattanooga, Tennessee, are also possibilities.
“There are a lot of opportunities for us. I just have to get the concept right, and find the right investors. I have investors who are interested, but it's a matter of timing. Once we get the Riverside store up, we will be looking to expand in the near future.”
S&S’s flagship location on Riverside Drive in Macon suffered a major kitchen fire in September 2024, and has been closed since. A major renovation has taken place, and the location is scheduled to open in late April. The reopening will be held in conjunction with the chain’s 90th anniversary.
“It's a complete rebuild on the inside,” Pogue says. “It will be a bit of modern mixed in with a bit of history. It will be interesting to see how it goes over.”
The gradual decline of shopping malls also hit cafeterias hard. Starting in the 1960s and continuing well into the 1990s, cafeterias were fixtures in many malls.
“Mall traffic started dying, and it just wasn't as convenient,” Pogue says. “When the malls aren't destinations any more, there definitely was a downfall of cafeterias.”
The latest casualty in the cafeteria business came last December, when Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based K&W closed its remaining nine locations in North Carolina and Virginia. The chain had previously closed a location in Greenville at the height of Covid in 2020. Piccadilly Holdings, which owns Piccadilly Restaurants, bought the North Carolina chain in 2022.
Pogue says his group tried to buy K&W when the chain was available. S&S may look at acquiring some of the now-closed locations in the future.
“When I was in contact with the CEO there, we looked at their financials and they had some good cafeterias, and some that weren’t so good. As far as sales volume, we think there are some opportunities in North Carolina, especially in Winston-Salem.”
The S&S locations in Greenville and Charleston are profitable, but not quite as busy as the three Georgia locations. Greenville had the most sales of all five S&S locations on Easter. Pogue says there continues to be a big following at the South Carolina stores. More than 1,000 people chose S&S in Greenville for their Easter Sunday meal on April 5. A similar number came through the doors of the Charleston location.
The demographics of cafeteria patrons continues to skew older. However, many aging baby boomers grew up going to cafeterias with their parents, and have a fondness for that experience.
“I'm 64 and when I was a kid going to cafeterias, we thought it was all old folks,” Pogue says. “People think the same thing today, but they were kids 40 years ago.”
Pogue says S&S never regained some of the business it lost during Covid, because the pandemic changed the dynamic of how people ate.
“We have a we call a Senior Early Bird special (10 percent discount for anyone 60 and older). We run it Monday through Friday between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. That used to be one of our busiest periods before Covid. When the pandemic hit, we lost about half of that business, which we've never recovered. We have what I think is the best deal in town on kid’s meals at $3.79. You can't beat that.”
Scott Taylor, associate professor and the director of the International Institute for Food Service Research and Education at USC, said he thinks there is also a nostalgia resurgence, where customers of a certain age seek out the things they remember from their childhood, or that have some kind of cultural reference to them.
“A Southern-style cafeteria has that for a number of people,” he says.
Pogue was a senior vice president with Texas-based Luby’s Cafeterias in 2018 when the Smith family, owners of S&S, decided to sell to a group of venture capitalists. S&S was founded by J.A. Smith Jr. in Columbus, Georgia. At one time, Pogue oversaw operations at 65 Luby’s locations, so the concept of owning a chain was appealing.
“They had the money people, but they needed an operator, because the Smith family wouldn’t do the deal unless they knew their legacy was going to be taken care of. So, I partnered with them as the sweat equity of the deal. Part of my contract stated that after five years, I could buy them out, which I did. My wife and I are now 100 percent owners of S&S.”
Pogue, who has been in the cafeteria business for 41 years, serves as the company’s CEO, while his wife, Beth, is the creative and marketing director.
When Pogue’s group of investors acquired S&S, they wanted to tweak the menu. There was considerable pushback from employees who preferred not to change the menu, which had been in place for 70 years.
“But we did try some new things, and we continue to experiment. We’re always trying to evolve, but our core menus are what the Smith family started in 1936. Obviously, ingredients have changed, and we’ve had to change recipes, but we still use, for the most part, the original S&S menus. That’s what people want.”
S&S’s top sellers, by a wide margin, are fried chicken, baked chicken, liver and onions, and smothered steak.
“You can put a million other things out there, but people will go to those four. We’re also one of the few places where you can get carved roast beef. That’s very popular, also. It’s basic Southern food. We serve a lot of vegetables, and our No. 1 vegetable by far is turnip greens.”
Desserts are a big deal at S&S, all made from scratch. About 40 percent of customers pick up a dessert as they progress through the line, a percentage Pogue describes as huge in the restaurant business. Egg custard pie, sweet potato pie, and strawberry shortcake are among the most popular.
“Our desserts are $3, so it’s not like you are going to Cheesecake Factory and spending 10 bucks or something for dessert. They are very popular. We run 14 to 16 different varieties of pies and cakes every day.”
Whole cakes and pies also sell well, especially during the holidays.
“We sell a big four-layer cake for 20 bucks. A lot of places sell them for $40 or $50. Around Christmas and Easter, they sell very well. During the week of Thanksgiving, we will sell 2,000 to 3,000 pies and cakes.”
A few regional cafeteria chains are still in operation. Besides S&S, there are Luby’s and Piccadilly. Luby’s, founded in 1947 and currently headquartered in Houston, has about 32 locations. Founded in 1944, Piccadilly has around 40 locations left. The chain had two locations in Columbia, but both closed several years ago.
In the Midwest, MCL Restaurants, which recently downsized, operates eight locations, mostly in the Indianapolis area. Founded in 1950, it also has two locations in Ohio. There are some single-location cafeterias, including the popular Matthews Cafeteria in Tucker, Georgia, which was founded in 1955, and Swett’s in Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1954.
Despite all of the challenges, Taylor sees a successful path forward for cafeterias in select areas. He says cities with healthy tourism, such as Charleston and Greenville, provide fertile ground for cafeterias. Cafeteria chains target the locations they want to maintain because these locations continue to perform well.
“You’ve got tourism, but you’ve also got different demographics of folks moving to these cities. There is still hope (for cafeterias) in certain pockets of the state, especially highly populated ones.”
Cafeterias could also emphasize the potential health aspects of their menus, including the use of real ingredients and locally produced food, Taylor says. Marketing that aspect could allow them to steal market share.
Cafeterias try to keep prices relatively low, so margins are slim. Keeping up with inflation is a constant challenge. For example, Pogue says a piece of chicken prior to Covid cost about $1. That same piece costs $2.50 now, but S&S has only raised the price by 40 cents.
“There are a lot of things about the business people don’t understand. They think because you are busy, you’re making tons of money. That’s not always the case. That’s why you must have good operators and good co-workers, because the margins are so tight.”
Taylor says a well-managed operation always has a fighting chance in the restaurant world. He worked in the restaurant industry before joining the academic world.
“Your margins are very tight,” Taylor says. “That is one concern I had when I was running restaurants, or working in catering, is when you do cafeteria style or buffet style, the potential for wasted food is high, and anytime you're wasting food, your margins are even thinner. An operation run efficiently and effectively, where the managers and the kitchen managers know their numbers, and they're not putting out stuff that is not going to sell, they're going to maintain capital and always be able to open their doors the next day.”
Cafeteria managers and employees tend to be loyal. Pogue says the tenure of employees at S&S’s two stores in Macon averages about 20 years, a rare figure in the restaurant industry.
“We have great co-workers, and we have tenured managers. Our South Carolina restaurants are the same way, with high tenure. We pay our general managers well, and they work hard. We try to provide a good quality of life. They have two days off every week, and normally work 50 to 55 hours. Having dedicated workers is the key.”
Cafeterias are a significant source of employment. For example, the Greenville S&S employs about 45 full-time employees, and three managers.
“The manager there is Tabatha Turner, who started out as a co-worker about eight years ago, and worked her way up. She does a great job.”
Pogue is optimistic about the future of the cafeteria business.
“It (cafeteria management) is the only thing I’ve ever done. I strongly believe in this. I have my life savings invested, so we have to make it work. I don’t see retirement on the horizon.”
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