What inspired you to open Good Time Country Buffet in New York City, and what gap did you see in the city’s dining scene that you wanted to fill?

Every restaurant we’ve opened comes from our personal experiences. C as in Charlie, our first restaurant, expresses who we are today: Korean Americans with roots in the American South. With KISA, we wanted to celebrate our Korean heritage. When we started thinking about a third restaurant, we kept coming back to the American childhood memories that helped shape us.

When I immigrated to the U.S. in 2000, McDonald’s and country buffets were two of the places that felt most distinctly American to me. As a kid, going to a country buffet felt almost like visiting an amusement park—the choices, the excitement, the freedom to fill your own plate. I remember going with my parents and eating all the fried chicken I wanted. Those memories were about much more than food.

There was also a personal connection through my father’s work. Growing up around Atlanta, I knew small, independent country buffets alongside the bigger chains like Golden Corral. Some were operated by Korean immigrant families, a part of the Southern restaurant community that people may not be familiar with. My father supplied food to those businesses, and in high school, I would sometimes ride along in his truck to help with deliveries. Getting to try a little food at each stop was my favorite part.

We wondered what it would feel like to bring that experience to the East Village, especially at a time when going out in New York has become so expensive. The city has wonderful Southern restaurants, delis and cafeteria-style places, but we saw room for an all-you-can-eat country buffet serving comforting, home-style food. Affordability matters, but what we really wanted to bring here was that feeling of generosity, freedom, and being welcomed in.

Buffets can be challenging from an operational standpoint, particularly around food costs, waste, labor and keeping the food fresh. How have you approached those challenges at Good Time, and what have you learned since opening?

We knew it would be challenging. We have restaurant experience, but this is our first buffet, and it operates very differently from a traditional restaurant. There are also fewer people in our immediate network running this kind of business whom we can turn to for advice. Some challenges were expected, and others only became clear once we opened.

The biggest lesson has been timing and balance. Cooking larger batches may reduce how often the kitchen needs to replenish the buffet, but food can lose quality if it sits too long. Smaller, more frequent batches help keep things fresh, but they require more coordination and labor. If the timing is off, guests end up waiting for fried chicken, which affects their experience and the rhythm of the dining room.

It took us about two weeks to start getting a feel for that rhythm. We’re still refining it—learning how quickly different dishes move and when the kitchen needs to get the next batch ready.

Waste control is especially important toward the end of service. The last guests should still find a generous selection and feel just as welcome as the first guests. At the same time, replenishing too much right before closing can create unnecessary waste. We’re learning how to adjust quantities without compromising that experience. A buffet may look effortless from the dining room, but there’s a lot of careful timing behind it.

How do you think about pricing and value in a city where restaurant costs are so high? What does it take to make an all-you-can-eat model work financially today?

Fortunately, Kisa gave us experience operating a restaurant built around one set price. One of the biggest lessons is that you need a consistent flow of guests. With a buffet, you also have to understand that people will eat different amounts and build a model that works across the dining room as a whole.

Our approach is to keep the starting price as accessible as we reasonably can while protecting the quality of the food and the experience. Guests should be able to come in, enjoy the buffet, and feel they’ve had the full Good Time experience without needing to order anything extra.

For those who want to add something, we offer optional supplements and drinks, including our boozy frozen drinks. Those choices give guests another way to enjoy the restaurant and help support the business, but we want the buffet itself to stand on its own.

Long term, the challenge is earning steady business beyond the initial excitement of opening. That means giving people a reason to make us part of their regular routine. The pricing has to work for our guests, and the operation has to be disciplined enough for us to keep offering that value.

There’s a strong sense of nostalgia and fun built into the buffet concept. How important is that experience—the atmosphere, presentation and feeling of abundance—to getting people through the door and bringing them back?

It’s central to what we’re trying to do. Country buffets have a long history, and Southern food is already familiar and comforting to many people. Our contribution is to share that experience through our own memories and perspective.

We thought a lot about the feeling of walking in, seeing the food laid out and knowing you’re free to build your own meal. There’s something playful about that. You can try a little of something unfamiliar, go back for your favorite or put together a plate that makes sense only to you. That freedom is part of the hospitality.

Of course, the food has to be delicious and the service has to be warm. Nostalgia might bring someone through the door once, but the everyday experience has to give them a reason to return.

I think people increasingly choose restaurants for how they want to spend their time and how they want to feel. At Good Time, we want them to relax, enjoy the abundance and have fun with the people they came with. Some guests will recognize something from their childhood; others will be experiencing a country buffet for the first time. We hope both leave with a memory they want to come back to.

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