How do restaurants use psychology to manipulate our spending and eating habits?
100+ Answers
The next time you dine out, take along a copy of this list and count how many of the following psychological ploys your favorite restaurant uses.
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1. Restaurants utilize particularly imaginative language to make menu items more attractive and appealing. Descriptive labels will generally increase sales by as much as 27%, according to a Cornell University study, compared to foods without. Some recognizable descriptions are; handcrafted, triple-basted, slow-cooked, golden-brown, hand-selected, fresh from the oven, all of which bring the diner closer to the sensory experience the restaurant wants to impart.
2. Restaurants use photographs to entice diners to purchase specific menu items. An attractive picture alongside any food tends to increase sales of that item by as much as 30 percent.
3. Restaurants will limit your choices by featuring; try all samplers, tapas, or fixed menus. In essence they remove the responsibility people feel when choosing what to eat.
It is psychologically more effective for restaurants to limit their selection to the recognized six items per category in fast-food restaurants, and seven (to a maximum of 10) items per category in fine dining establishments.
4. Restaurants design their menus with the same attention to detail as they prepare your food. The upper right corner is prime real estate. It is where your eyes will go on a blank sheet of paper or in a magazine. That is exactly where the most lucrative items will be placed. From the top right your eyes will normally shift to the top left, which is where the appetizers will be. Just under the appetizers you will find salads.
Another trick is to create blank space around high-profit items by placing them in boxes or separating them from the rest of the options. Placing “negative” space around any food calls attention to it and promotes sales.
5. Restaurants scrutinize your reading patterns and consider scan-paths, which are a series of eye fixations that can be studied to see how people read certain things.
According to research conducted at Cornell University, a third of all diners are likely to order the first item their eye is drawn too. As a result, restaurants will put their more profitable items in the upper-right corner. This strategy is based on the primacy effect, which states people remember the items at the beginning of a list best. Another reason this works is that seeing a really expensive dish at first glance will make the rest of the menu seem reasonably priced by comparison.
Restaurants place their main most focus on the entrees. According to research most diners scan the entire menu like a book, but focus most of their attention on the entrees.
6. Restaurants use expensive items to draw you to the cheaper items. Restaurants also use extremely expensive foods as decoys. The rationale being, you probably won't buy it, but you'll find something cheaper since it will look more reasonable.
7. Restaurants will visually highlight foods in bold, colored or fancier typeface, accompanied with photographs, or singled out in a box, as they will appear more special. However, extremely high-end restaurants tend to avoid this strategy because it will make them look “tasteless”, no pun intended.
8. Restaurants are very tricky with their numbers. Menu designers (yes, there are people who actually make a living as menu designers) recognize prices ending in 9, such as $9.99, tend to signify value, but not quality. As a result, more prices now end in .95 instead of .99 because they have a "friendlier" feel. More and more restaurants are pricing without any cents whatsoever because it makes the menu cleaner, simpler and easier to read.
9. Restaurants don't use dollar signs. A dollar sign is one of the top things restaurants now avoid because it immediately reminds diners that they are spending money. According to Cornell University research, guests issued a menu without dollar signs spent significantly more than those who received a menu with dollar signs.
10. Restaurants connect food to family members. Diners are especially drawn to relational names, such as grandma, aunt and grandparents. As an example, people are more likely to buy Grandma's warm homemade cookies or Aunt Clara's famous apple pie. Names can also add a hint of nostalgia for diners.
11. Restaurant colors: Yellow is an irritating color that makes people want to leave. Yellow is commonly used in fast food restaurants. Red is a stimulant and draws attention. Red stimulates the appetite and subliminally makes people consume more. McDonald’s, Burger King, In-N-Out Burger, Carl's Junior and El Pollo Loco use yellow and red in their branding logos.
Green is a relaxing color. People associate green with nature and feel more comfortable. Painting an eatery green is a good idea for formal and expensive sit-down restaurants as well as Café’s like Starbucks and Pete's which encourage patrons to stay and purchase more.
12. Close at hand: The closer you are to something, the more likely you are to buy it. Areas close to fast food registers are filled with impulse items. Starbucks is the king of impulse items that cost you $1.00 or less.
13. More choices create impetus to spend more. Fast food restaurants used to offer one standard meal size a few years ago. Today these chains offer an array of sizes so people who tend to buy a "large" shifted to pricier “super” sizes. Paying $1.00 and more for a larger soda and fries seems like a no-brainer to most people.
14. Daily restaurant specials are almost always offered verbally. Fine dining establishments know that people don’t want to appear cheap by asking for prices. They also know that statistically, men on a date are more likely to accept a server’s offer for expensive wine, dessert, or après dinner drinks.
15. What’s on the horizon? In the future, drive-through menu boards will be able to read your mind. Or at least predict your particular tastes. Digital menu boards will soon feature items based on the particular customer.
The tailored menu will be possible with the help of your mobile app, which would help companies keep track of what you like to order. Starbucks says email offers to their customers (with its app) are tailored based on past purchases and Sonic’s new digital menu board is scheduled for testing early 2016.
[EDIT] 11/17/15
I am absolutely stunned at the number of views and upvotes this answer has received. Being relatively new to Quora I am sincerely overwhelmed to see the interest people have regarding this question and answer. Thank you for your continued viewing and support. NBE
1. Restaurants utilize particularly imaginative language to make menu items more attractive and appealing. Descriptive labels will generally increase sales by as much as 27%, according to a Cornell University study, compared to foods without. Some recognizable descriptions are; handcrafted, triple-basted, slow-cooked, golden-brown, hand-selected, fresh from the oven, all of which bring the diner closer to the sensory experience the restaurant wants to impart.
2. Restaurants use photographs to entice diners to purchase specific menu items. An attractive picture alongside any food tends to increase sales of that item by as much as 30 percent.
3. Restaurants will limit your choices by featuring; try all samplers, tapas, or fixed menus. In essence they remove the responsibility people feel when choosing what to eat.
It is psychologically more effective for restaurants to limit their selection to the recognized six items per category in fast-food restaurants, and seven (to a maximum of 10) items per category in fine dining establishments.
4. Restaurants design their menus with the same attention to detail as they prepare your food. The upper right corner is prime real estate. It is where your eyes will go on a blank sheet of paper or in a magazine. That is exactly where the most lucrative items will be placed. From the top right your eyes will normally shift to the top left, which is where the appetizers will be. Just under the appetizers you will find salads.
Another trick is to create blank space around high-profit items by placing them in boxes or separating them from the rest of the options. Placing “negative” space around any food calls attention to it and promotes sales.
5. Restaurants scrutinize your reading patterns and consider scan-paths, which are a series of eye fixations that can be studied to see how people read certain things.
According to research conducted at Cornell University, a third of all diners are likely to order the first item their eye is drawn too. As a result, restaurants will put their more profitable items in the upper-right corner. This strategy is based on the primacy effect, which states people remember the items at the beginning of a list best. Another reason this works is that seeing a really expensive dish at first glance will make the rest of the menu seem reasonably priced by comparison.
Restaurants place their main most focus on the entrees. According to research most diners scan the entire menu like a book, but focus most of their attention on the entrees.
6. Restaurants use expensive items to draw you to the cheaper items. Restaurants also use extremely expensive foods as decoys. The rationale being, you probably won't buy it, but you'll find something cheaper since it will look more reasonable.
7. Restaurants will visually highlight foods in bold, colored or fancier typeface, accompanied with photographs, or singled out in a box, as they will appear more special. However, extremely high-end restaurants tend to avoid this strategy because it will make them look “tasteless”, no pun intended.
8. Restaurants are very tricky with their numbers. Menu designers (yes, there are people who actually make a living as menu designers) recognize prices ending in 9, such as $9.99, tend to signify value, but not quality. As a result, more prices now end in .95 instead of .99 because they have a "friendlier" feel. More and more restaurants are pricing without any cents whatsoever because it makes the menu cleaner, simpler and easier to read.
9. Restaurants don't use dollar signs. A dollar sign is one of the top things restaurants now avoid because it immediately reminds diners that they are spending money. According to Cornell University research, guests issued a menu without dollar signs spent significantly more than those who received a menu with dollar signs.
10. Restaurants connect food to family members. Diners are especially drawn to relational names, such as grandma, aunt and grandparents. As an example, people are more likely to buy Grandma's warm homemade cookies or Aunt Clara's famous apple pie. Names can also add a hint of nostalgia for diners.
11. Restaurant colors: Yellow is an irritating color that makes people want to leave. Yellow is commonly used in fast food restaurants. Red is a stimulant and draws attention. Red stimulates the appetite and subliminally makes people consume more. McDonald’s, Burger King, In-N-Out Burger, Carl's Junior and El Pollo Loco use yellow and red in their branding logos.
Green is a relaxing color. People associate green with nature and feel more comfortable. Painting an eatery green is a good idea for formal and expensive sit-down restaurants as well as Café’s like Starbucks and Pete's which encourage patrons to stay and purchase more.
12. Close at hand: The closer you are to something, the more likely you are to buy it. Areas close to fast food registers are filled with impulse items. Starbucks is the king of impulse items that cost you $1.00 or less.
13. More choices create impetus to spend more. Fast food restaurants used to offer one standard meal size a few years ago. Today these chains offer an array of sizes so people who tend to buy a "large" shifted to pricier “super” sizes. Paying $1.00 and more for a larger soda and fries seems like a no-brainer to most people.
14. Daily restaurant specials are almost always offered verbally. Fine dining establishments know that people don’t want to appear cheap by asking for prices. They also know that statistically, men on a date are more likely to accept a server’s offer for expensive wine, dessert, or après dinner drinks.
15. What’s on the horizon? In the future, drive-through menu boards will be able to read your mind. Or at least predict your particular tastes. Digital menu boards will soon feature items based on the particular customer.
The tailored menu will be possible with the help of your mobile app, which would help companies keep track of what you like to order. Starbucks says email offers to their customers (with its app) are tailored based on past purchases and Sonic’s new digital menu board is scheduled for testing early 2016.
[EDIT] 11/17/15
I am absolutely stunned at the number of views and upvotes this answer has received. Being relatively new to Quora I am sincerely overwhelmed to see the interest people have regarding this question and answer. Thank you for your continued viewing and support. NBE
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We Dare you To Expense This!
How much money people spend when they are out to eat is influenced by psychology. Restaurants use all kind of tricks and psychology to manipulate spending and eating habits, including the following:Would You Like a Drink With That?
The manipulation starts right when you walk in. Ever notice how restaurants love to suggest you “wait at the bar until your table is ready” and ask if you would like to order a drink before you've even looked at the food menu?Similarly, “would you like still or carbonated water?” has become a common question. Although most customers would be fine with tap water, this suggestion increases the chances that they will purchase bottled water instead.
Drinks are, in many cases, what keeps a restaurant profitable. Not only are people more likely to order and eat more when they are drinking, the margins on alcoholic beverages typically far outweigh everything else-- except for maybe that water.
The markup on beer and wine is typically in the 200% - 500% range. Waiters can be difficult to track down, but few forget to ask if you'd like a drink refill.
Tao Las Vegas, which brought in over $64 million last year, is the top-grossing restaurant in the US. Alcohol sales accounted for approximately 75% percent of the revenue.
Now that you've got your drink, the manipulation continues when the menu arrives.
The Anchor Decoy & Comparison Shopping
Manipulative menus often include a crazy expensive product that is not really intended to sell. Rather, it's used to make other items look like "deals" by comparison. The anchor decoy gets people to spend more money, by NOT buying it. For instance, the Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata (yes, it is actually called that!) at Norma’s at the Parker Meridien hotel in New York City.The regular frittata, made with a pound lobster, includes 1 oz of Sevruga caviar for $100, while the "Norma Dares You to Expense This" higher-rollers’ version, comes with 10 oz for $1,000.
Notice too, how Norma's doesn't include the $ sign, or any decimals. To minimize price sensitivity, manipulative menus, omit $ signs, or any mention of cents.
Anchor decoys are often highlighted by being placed in prime space, or in different colors, where the eye naturally goes. At Norma's, one can assume the items in orange are their high margin offerings.
(Source: Full Menu @ Norma's restaurant at the parkermeridien.com)
Manipulative Menu Mix - Bracketing & Bundling
Menus bracket prices by including a small, medium, and large option. In this scenario, margins are often highest and profit maximized for the option that looks the cheapest.Bundling is also used by fast food chains and Michelin Star restaurants alike. Whether ordering a "combo meal" or a "price fixe chef's tasting menu," the bundle looks cheaper and more people are attracted to these options.
Customers believe they are getting a deal, yet they are often just spending more for items they don't really want. Restaurants also often bundle their high profitability items with those of lower profitability to increase overall margins.
Most restaurants sell a mix of items, and not all dishes are created equally. Industry convention groups them into:
- Stars: popular items with high margins
- Plow Horses: popular items with low margins
- Dogs: unpopular items with low margins
- Puzzles: unpopular items with high margins
Examples of stars include pizzas, pastas, and omelets, which are popular, and relatively cheap to make, especially in bulk. Examples of plow horses include steaks, which are popular, but also relatively expensive for a restaurant to procure high quality product.
Restaurants manipulate patrons by packaging stars and plow horses with puzzles. Puzzles are also often placed at the top of the page, or highlighted in different colors, or highlighted in a really fancy box, like the anchor decoy.
In other languages
En español: ¿Cómo utilizan los restaurantes psicología para manipular nuestros gastos y hábitos alimenticios?
En français : Comment les restaurants utilisent-ils la psychologie pour manipuler nos habitudes de dépense et d'alimentation ?