In China, Pizza Hut had a rule that you could go to the all-you-can-eat salad bar only once. So it wasn't really all-you-can-eat. It was all you can fit into (and eventually onto) a salad bowl. The result of the one-trip rule, was, as one should expect, that people began filling their salad bowls quite full. Quite full. And then they started taking pictures of how full they had filled and stacked their salad bowls and posting these pictures online. And then it became almost a contest. To the extent that people were building salad castles on a salad bowl, it became a costly operation for Pizza Hut. It really isn't surprising that they changed their menu and policies. From the Daily Mail, (via MA):
Several years ago Pizza Hut announced it was removing salad bars from its restaurants in China as part of a menu revamp.
But many believe the real reason behind the change in policy was because crafty Chinese customers were getting around a 'one-trip' rule by creating these incredible towers of salad.
Unlike the comparatively generous British and U.S. Pizza Hut branches, customers in China were told they could only have one trip to fill a single plate at the salad bar.
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Salad stacking: This practice is believed to be the reason Pizza Hut removed salad bars from its restaurants in China
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That's your five a day... Crafty Chinese diners came up with the salad towers as a way of getting around the 'one plate' policy
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Impressive: Salad stacking fast became a fad, with stackers sharing pictures of their creations on the internet