In 1991, the first seven "Metro Market" concept restaurants opened. They were and seated between 400 and 450 customers. These new Golden Corral restaurants more than doubled the size of the old, which were typically with a capacity of 175 people. There was the addition of the Brass Bell Bakery, named for the brass bell which rang every fifteen minutes to signal that fresh bread, rolls, and pastries were coming out of the oven. An expanded buffet, dubbed the Golden Choice Buffet, was also added, which had a new layout to showcase its items. The location of these new restaurants, the majority of which were in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and North Carolina, was also a change for the company, moving away from small towns and into metropolitan areas. In 2001, system-wide annual sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time. As of 2019, there were 498 restaurants in 42 states covering most regions of the country aside from: Oregon (no locations), Hawaii (no locations), New England (only two restaurants - Springfield, Massachusetts, and New Haven, Connecticut), the New York City Metropolitan Areas (none aside from one in the Bronx) and the low population states of Nebraska, Delaware and Wyoming. In some other larger metropolitan areas, such as the San Francisco Bay Area (only one location, in Concord to the northeast), Philadelphia, Washington, and New Orleans, there are only locations in the far-flung suburbs. The first Puerto Rico location opened on October 25th 2020 in Canovanas with plans to open more locations throughout the island.