Since 1966, This Utah-Based Buffet Chain Draws Crowds For Its Made-From-Scratch Comfort Foods - Tasting Table

Chuck-A-Rama is a family-friendly buffet chain in Utah with additional locations in Idaho, operating since 1966. The restaurant emphasizes a home-away-from-home atmosphere and homey, made-from-scratch comfort food. The name reflects old-fashioned cooking traditions and a Boy Scout event connection. Dining centers on a serve-yourself buffet with stations distributed throughout the room rather than a single line. The chain uses a “scatter system” with themed food areas that diners move through freely. Guests can choose from hot entrees, carved meats, soups, salads, rolls, desserts, and drinks, including a breakfast buffet with items like biscuits and gravy and sticky buns. Daily entrees include fried chicken, carved roast beef or ham, and mac and cheese.

"Chuck-A-Rama is a serve-yourself buffet with stations spread around the dining room, instead of a single cafeteria line. The company shifted years ago to a “scatter system,” with different themed food areas where diners move freely. It's almost unfathomable how many choices are brimming from streaming bins and bowls, perched on plates, and flowing from beverage dispensers."

"Family-friendly dining is at the core of this 11-restaurant chain traversing Utah from Bountiful to Logan, St. George, Salt Lake City, Provo, and more, plus Idaho locations in Boise and Idaho Falls. Even the name nods to an old-fashioned ethos, with “Chuck” coming from the old chuckwagon cooking tradition on long cattle drives, and the “-rama” part inspired by Scout-O-Rama, a Boy Scout event holding a soft spot for one of the original owners."

"We're talking endless plates of hot entrees, carved meats, soups, salads, rolls, desserts, drinks, and even a bountiful breakfast buffet featuring, depending on the day and time, biscuits and gravy and the restaurant's renowned sticky buns. Collectively, the classic roots and wide range of tasty foods are what keep customers coming back."

"The food carries an aura of homey made-from-scratch goodness, with piled-high buffet bins beckoning like your Aunt Betty holding a warm apple crisp (which Chuck-A-Rama does actually serve). It's like sitting down to supper in your own dining room, especially when it's a place you frequent."

Read at Tasting Table