I once saw a man and his wife hovering protectively around the meat chafing dish and not letting anyone approach. I was laughing at their bizarre behavior until I saw what they were up to---they had taken all of the bacon! It was piled 6 inches high on each of their plates. I saw them take their plates to their table and come back for more goodies. I formulated a theory to explain their behavior: In order to maximize your buffet yield (kind of like maximizing FF points), take the most valuable dish in quantity first, when that runs out, only then go on to the less valuable items. Leave the bread for last. I later saw them putting the bacon into plastic zip-loc bags.