Brawl erupts at Golden Corral in Pennsylvania after buffet ran out of steak

A brawl broke out at a Pennsylvania Golden Corral buffet, possibly because the restaurant ran out of steak.

A video captured the incident in which a large group of customers are gathered near the buffet yelling at each other. Tensions escalate and a customer tosses a chair, which results in chaos at the buffet as others begin picking up tables and chairs to toss at other customers.

Police are unsure of exactly what started the fight, but an employee reportedly told law enforcement it may have started after a customer became irate that the restaurant ran out of steak.

CBS 3 Philadelphia reported that people were punching each other during the restaurant melee.

According to police in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, the fight may have involved more than 40 people.

“I’ve never seen nothing like that in Golden Corral before,” a former employee, Dylan Becker, said.

He was told about the fight by a current employee.

"From what I heard it was over steak, apparently somebody cut in line," Mr Becker said.

He also noted that one of his friends can be seen in the video trying to stop the violence.

"My friend, she’s in the video trying to break it up, and she told me she got hit by a table and her ankle got bruised up pretty bad. And yeah, it’s scary stuff,” he said.

His friend, the current employee, explained what he saw to the outlet.

“There was a shortage of steak and two parties were involved and one family cut in front of another family, they were taking their time and they ran out of steak and it got into a heated exchange at the tables,” Gaven Lauletta said.

Steak does appear to be at the centre of the battle; during the video, a man can be heard saying "all I wanted was some steak."

A customer, Alexis Rios, told ABC6 he was in line and asked for his steak rare, and as a result got his steak before someone else got theirs.

"[The cook is] trying to understand what you want and give you what you want," he said. "I had a rare steak, which is a lot faster to cook than a well-done steak. That's why I got my steak first."

He also noted that everyone was wearing masks, which made it difficult for people to understand each other. He believes that lack of communication may have contributed to the tensions.

"With Covid right now, masks and everything, nobody can hear nobody sometimes," he said.

He said he grabbed a chair to defend himself before the scene descended into a punching match.

According to Mr Rios, there were no serious injuries that resulted from the brawl.

JK Hospitality LLC, which franchises the Golden Corral restaurant where the fight happened, issued a statement to CBS 3 Philadelphia acknowledging the fight.

"Thankfully, no serious injuries have been reported. The safety of our guests and co-workers is our top priority," the statement said.

Police are still investigating the incident, and said that the individual who started the fight could face assault charges.