A buffet is a meal system where customers generally serve themselves. It is a popular method for feeding a large number of people with minimal staff. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels and many social events. Sideboards are also known as buffets as they may be used to offer the dishes of a buffet meal to guests. It is widely thought that in general the quality of foods at buffets is not on the level of an average "sit down" dinner. The reason being that because buffet food has to be produced in such large quantities, it is often cost and time prohibitive to focus on detail oriented aspects of food such as presentation and perfecting seasoning. However, this is not an across the board rule