How Chinese Ingenuity Destroyed Salad Bars at Pizza Hut | Hacker News Reader

How Chinese Ingenuity Destroyed Salad Bars at Pizza Hut

kotaku.com

34 pointsot24 comments

From what I remember about Pizza Hut history in Poland, they first removed some ingredients that made it easy to overload (there used to be some crackers that could be used to stabilize the layers of salad) but then just went for unlimited refills.

I haven't been there for 3+ years so I might have gotten this totally wrong :)

I'm from Poland too and last time I was in Pizza Hut (about year ago?) it was like that. Unfortunately with the refill they introduced one person limit (only one person is allowed to eat one salad; just as in soft drinks refills).

Well this still sounds better than the single-trip limit which created the pressure to overload (and later not being able to eat it all.)

And thanks for the update!

Before this turns into racist rage thread, please remember Chinese people posting these kind of stuff on the Internet only for the lulz. it's not like that every Chinese in every Pizza Hut are doing this.

Is it really likely to turn into a racist rage thread?

Although I agree the tall towers are probably more for the lulz than a serious attempt to maximize ROI at the buffet, the article title does make the explicit claim that the practice has "Destroyed Salad Bars at Pizza Hut".

I remember watching at least one Hong Kong comedy lampooning this.

I really, really don't understand where this comment is coming from. Why would this turn into a "racist rage thread"? Does HN have a history of these? I don't think so. And seriously, why would it even have to do anything with race? To be honest, I don't get why the article claims this is about "Chinese ingenuity" either, it's a few assholes ruining it for the rest of us, as it happens eventually with every abusable service on the planet. Why would anyone assume all Chinese in all the Pizza Huts are doing this? Before you made that comment this insane possibility didn't even cross my mind.

> I really, really don't understand where this comment is coming from.

Fear, really. Whenever a demographic is mentioned, comments quickly go on about the demographic (or about how it's not relevant). See also: topics about women.

So we're preempting this expectation in an attempt to... what? Force blanket demographic views back into the discussion?

Isn't bringing this up a rather cheap way to get upvotes while (over)stating the obvious? It doesn't strike me as particularly constructive to have a post essentially saying "I know how much you guys want to, but please let's not descend into rabid discrimination again" in every thread that is remotely about non-caucasians or women?

Salad Bars probably abandoned due to very banal reason that fresh vegetables are much more expensive that synthetic souses and ingredients and its freshness doesn't last. In other words, dealing with freshness is incompatible with cheap, crappy, cost-optimizing fast foods. Freshness is a luxury.

I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to line the edge of the bowl with cucumber so he could pile the salad a bit higher. But this is a whole new level.

I doubt that everyone in China was doing this. I imagine you'd be standing at the salad bar a long time making a master piece like that.

It is actually a very common practice. Usually one family member will compose the plate, but everyone will share it.

It is amazing that the corporation did not take the simple route of removing the single serving limit instead of the route of removing the salad bar all together.

Can someone explain me what is this link doing on top of Hacker News?

It's a hack. And a really clever one. Kinda pointless but fun.

Clever? Not really. Every school kid tries this, it's hardly original, is just really juvenile and increases the cost for every body else. And I really don't think it's that difficult to stack up a huge pile of cucumbers.

I agree. This story is at least as old as self-serve buffets.

Furthermore, sliced cucumbers are well known for their stiction.

While looking at those salads, I was imagining being stuck behind a patron making one. That would be the worst.

People will probably start doing that here now

If you're unfortunate enough to be in americuh, I suspect people will never do that with salad. Hot-wings, french-fries and anything else deep-fried... /r/fatpeoplestories is going to be flooded!

I kinda think college kids been doing this type of thing in dorm cafeterias since the dawn of time.

it's really sad to see this on hacker news (point taken, comment changed)

couldn't agree more. this is bullshit.

I agree it shouldn't be here but there's no need to insult the person who wrote it - it's not there fault it made it to the front page of HN. Flag it.

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