How do breadcrumbs help meatloaf

How do breadcrumbs help meatloaf?

My mother has never used them and her meatloaf comes out great. I tried some with breadcrumbs at Golden Corral and it was soft, mushy and flavorless. I know the flavorless part is GC's fault but I'm pretty sure the soft and mushy part comes from the breadcrumbs. Why do people put it in their meatloaf?

Other Answers:

Bread was probably originally used as an extender and to use up old bread. Bread varies the texture of meatloaf so that it is not dense like a hamburger. The trick is to not use much bread. I have made it with cooked steel cut oatmeal and that was quite interesting.

It helps hold in the moisture. I think you have used to much and haven't mixed it together well enough
Never blame the product if you are a bad chef, the product should make no difference.
Chetak

The bread crumbs are used as a binder/filler to hold everything together. If you had meatloaf from the horrible Golden Corral then it was probably made with way more bread crumbs than meat - yuck!

the bread crumbs soften the meat up is why people use it. I use them in my meatloaf and comes out nice and tender.