The psychology of restaurant menus and what influences our food choices
How much impact does menu design have on what we order at a restaurant? A lot.
So much in fact that restaurants can hire “restaurant engineers” to ensure they’re putting their best foot forward. Their work is probably 30% about design and 70% psychology. If the menu does its job, we guests will spend more than we had planned — not because the restaurant has raised its prices but because subtle strategies will get us more involved with the menu.
This has nothing to do with the restaurant “upselling” us, but with it making effective use of the best marketing tool it has. Menu design, menu pricing, menu presentation, and service are science and art when it comes to how much money we will spend.
Some of the best menu practices are to limit the number of options; place more expensive items first so the ones below them seem more reasonably priced; and to eliminate dollar signs (so that steak is 32 instead of $32).
Here’s an example, using one particular menu item, of how menu psychology can work.
Let’s look at the same item presented in three different ways and determine which one you will be more inclined to order. Quickly review the options below:
CHICKEN WINGS $7.99
6 wings plain, in sweet BBQ sauce or Buffalo Sauce with celery & blue cheese dressing.
CHICKEN WINGS $7.99
6 wings plain, in sweet BBQ sauce or Buffalo Sauce with celery & blue cheese dressing.
CHICKEN WINGS
6 wings plain, in sweet BBQ sauce or Buffalo Sauce with
celery & blue cheese dressing. 7.99
Obviously, they are all the same item and the same price. It is quite possible you may not have been planning on having chicken wings, but how items are placed on a menu can get you to change your mind. What is the difference between the three presentations?
Option 1:
In the first option the price is all the way to the right, is in bold type, has a dollar sign, and is the same size font as the menu item. No matter how we try, our eyes will always be drawn to the far right. When the rest of the menu is laid out this way and prices are lined up in a neat row, we are more likely to purchase by price and not item.
Option 2:
This is a stronger option as it draws our eye closer to the item and the item description. However, the price is still the same font size as the item itself, and the dollar sign is in bold text, causing you to primarily think about price before you read the description. The secret sauce for the restaurant is to get you to stop thinking in terms of price vs. value and instead think about what sounds most appealing.
Option 3:
Option 3 might be the best way to get you to try some wings.
First, the item is presented in a box, which makes it more of a focal point. The shading suggests the restaurant considers this a specialty without having to say it out loud. The placement of the price at the end of the description without bold text places further emphasis on the entirety of the item description. Additionally, the removal of the dollar sign may lead you to think less about price.
A restaurant could make it even more appealing by calling it “Uncle Henry’s Chicken Wings.”
To me, there are two kinds of menus. The first is where everything sounds so good I can’t decide what to have. The second is everything sounds so bad I can’t decide what to have. When it’s the first, price is not important. When it’s the second, price is all I have to choose from.
• Izzy Kharasch is the founder of Hospitality Works, a consulting firm that has worked with 700+ restaurants and small businesses nationwide. He is offering Daily Herald restaurant owners a free consultation by contacting him at Izzy@HospitalityWorks.com.