700-seat Norfolk buffet proves a recipe for success

NORFOLK

Beyond the vast dining area, past a waterfall and palm trees and behind a swinging door, the kitchen crew braced for the onslaught.

Dishwashers rattled buffet pans in deep metal sinks. Cooks stirred mammoth woks of bubbling pepper steak and lo mein. In a separate prep kitchen, two men in chef's whites chop-chop-chopped two cases of jalapenos.

Rolling, head-high racks of spareribs, egg rolls and 300 pounds of chicken stood ready for the heat.

"That will be all gone in two to three hours," said Song "Sam" Huang, part-owner of Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet in Norfolk, during the lull between lunch and dinner.

On Fridays like this one, the kitchen typically sends out 600 pounds of chicken, 400 pounds of shrimp, 300 pounds of rice and 200 pounds of noodles. Sushi chefs turn out 300 rolls, "easy," Huang said.

And maybe more.

The Supreme Buffet, near Janaf Shopping Yard, seats 700. It opened in April and is Norfolk's largest restaurant. The former CompUSA store, with soaring ceilings, spans 28,295 square feet, about half the size of an NFL field.

On an average day, 1,000 customers thread their way through the steam tables, hibachi line and sushi bar, paying less than $8 for all they can eat. On special occasions - Mother's Day, graduations and military homecomings - crowds sometimes swell to 3,000 or more, an unthinkable number for a full-service place.

Like Walmart, the gargantuan buffet is a business model based on the economy of scale - buy more, pay less and offer goods at a discount. The buffet style allows for a small staff - the Supreme Buffet operates with 30 employees, including the kitchen and wait staff, who serve nonalcoholic drinks, and cashiers at the exit.

Add a nice dose of atmosphere, and Huang, 28, thinks he has a formula to achieve his American dream: to become emperor of the East Coast buffets.

Huang already owns the 400-seat Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet in Newport News and the 300-seat Yukai Japanese Buffet in Virginia Beach, the upscale flagship of the chain-to-be.

Next up is the 500-seat Hibachi King Buffet & Grill, set to open in Norfolk's East Beach next year. For this and future ventures, Huang has teamed up with Doug Aronson, a local television news reporter turned commercial real estate broker. Their new development corporation is scouting sites for more outsized buffets.

"It's just the beginning," Huang said. "I think we are capable of opening five or six a year. Right now, we are building a foundation."

The stuffed mushrooms, buffalo chicken wings and sweet potato tempura on the buffet are not the sort of food that Huang was weaned on. His beginnings stretch back to a one-road village in Fujian province, China, where his family lived "a very simple life." He studied only two subjects in school, Chinese and mathematics.

His father, Ming Huang, immigrated to the United States in 1992, and within three years opened a Chinese takeout restaurant in New York City near John F. Kennedy International Airport. Sam Huang, his identical twin, Dave, and his mother, also named Ming Huang, followed a few years later.

Huang was 13 and didn't speak a word of English when he arrived in New York. He worked at the takeout establishment, doing everything his father did - cooking, cleaning and passing out menus on the street. His first glimpse of a buffet came at an uncle's restaurant in Clearwater, Fla. It wasn't the rivers of food or the variety that impressed him. It was the concept.

"You don't have to wait," he said, still excited by the potential. "Even faster than fast food!"

Huang's family relocated to Virginia Beach to take over an Asian buffet owned by another uncle. Today, Happy Buffet in Lynnhaven is owned by Dave Huang.

When Sam Huang's fledgling chain of buffets expands to East Beach next year, it will be on a smaller scale than the Supreme Buffet. At 15,150 square feet, the new restaurant will be about half the size but will follow Huang's philosophy of low-priced food in an inviting atmosphere that's kept as clean as Betty Crocker's kitchen.

Huang's partners in the Supreme Buffet are his childhood friend from Fujian, Aaron Feng, who manages the restaurant and owns two buffets in Georgia, and Feng's friend, Dai Chen.

The bill to transform the former CompUSA store for the Supreme Buffet came to about $1 million. Renovations included adding a moat, footbridge and waterfall at the hostess stand, a starry sky high over the buffet area, palm trees and sectioned-off dining areas with padded chairs and carpeting.

Friends of Huang's father, carpenters from China, built the buffet's centerpiece, a gracefully curved, 30-foot-long boat that houses the salad bar. They also handcrafted the banquet room tables that have Asian-inspired sunken centers.

This Friday between lunch and dinner - a slow time when many restaurants close - a steady trickle of customers arrived at the Supreme Buffet. At the hibachi station, where the lines form first, placards in Chinese, English and Spanish identified meats and vegetables, and a cook behind a flattop grill made dishes to order.

The adjacent sushi bar was stocked with a dozen choices, including spicy tuna and volcano rolls. Around the buffet, an elderly man with a dustpan and broom swept up any crumbs as soon as they hit the floor.

Tabitha Stoudemire traveled from Virginia Beach to the restaurant for a late lunch along with her family, who had eaten there the day before.

"The food, it's pretty good, and the price is pretty good," Stoudemire said. "My 3-year-old daughter can eat for $1.99, and I was surprised at the types of sushi - real volcano rolls."

Although the dining room was calm at lunch, dinner - with a Navy carrier back in port - brought 1,800 diners, Aronson said.

"Whether it's in the time of recession or more robust times, our feeling is that people will always look for value," Aronson said. "People always have to eat."

Lorraine Eaton, (757) 446-2697, lorraine.eaton@pilotonline.com