Recently I took a project from a California restaurateur looking to research the basics of menu design and psychology. As someone who eats out frequently, I was surprised by some of the results that I found. Quite simply, I realized that I had been manipulated, time and time again, in subtle and overt ways for years. Manipulated sounds dirty, let’s say nudged. But in retrospect, I thought this would be a great opportunity to share a few of those insights here, as they’re illustrative in the difference between smart businesses and those that simply trudge along. In the end, I’ll share some recommendations that may already be used by some, but may be opportunities for others in this space.

• Diminish the Price – So let’s just get this out there. I’m not cheap, just price sensitive. I’m the guy who sits down at a restaurant and asks if it’s worth it. So when the waiter asks what would I like to drink, at $2.50 and free refills, I might say ‘ginger ale’, but at $2.95 with no refills, I’ll definitely say ‘water and lemons’. Why? The principle. But let’s say they have a house root beer, even at $3.95, I’m interested. I have sensitivities, but I can be nudged, or enticed. Smart restaurants have been doing this for years, they don’t line up the prices on the right side of the menu. Better yet, they make them hard to find, tucking them under descriptions, and removing the dollar sign. In the past, I’ve wondered why they did this, but my research revealed they did it because of customers like me.
• Pricing Decoys – I’m a big car guy. The new Ford GT at 647 hp, with its supercar pedigree and performance, is definitely in the mold of cars that I grew up idolizing. What I didn’t realize in my youth was that Ford made cars like that, operating as loss leaders or halo products, so that it could market its Mustang. Or rather how divisions like SVT, which makes the Raptor, operates to sell its bread and butter F-150, at nearly $13k of profit per truck. So imagine my surprise when during my research I recognized those menu items selling champagne braised, truffle buttered lobster tails, topped with quail eggs, with a side of dolphin tears, as a ploy to make me feel better about spending $25 for chicken and potatoes. Or $20 for a plate of pasta topped with 4 or 5 shrimp, albeit exquisitely prepared. I felt like Dave Kujan realizing that he’d been sitting across from Keyser Söze in the The Usual Suspects.
• Customer Segmentation – One of the hottest trends in restaurants involves ethnic foods. I think it’s indicative of a larger societal trend in America whereby our cultural diversity is being appreciated by more people. Social media and the embrace of our individuality doesn’t provide a direct correlation to jalapeno burgers with sriracha mayonnaise, but it is not so far a stretch. The big tent restaurants I grew up frequenting, mostly offering variations of American style casual fare, have been replaced with Vietnamese, Mexican, and Thai experiences. Even my favorite current American restaurants would more accurately be categorized as BBQ, Southern, or Seafood. Customer desires have adapted, and the marketplace is continuing to respond to those changes.

These are some of the highlights from the project that I can readily share. The following post will have some of the recommendations that were derived from the project. I hope you guys enjoyed this and will continue to check for other posts that mirror work that we do.