How restaurants use psychology to make you spend more money

The content of the article

• Do not indicate currency
• Do not round numbers
• Use beautiful descriptions
• In the name of the dishes mention “family”
• Use ethnic words for national dishes.
• Visually highlight important menu items
• Draw attention to a cheap product with an expensive
• Offer two serving sizes
• Analyze reading patterns
• Limit customer choice
• Set the mood and atmosphere

In trading, manipulation techniques are always practiced to stimulate the consumer. This is common in restaurants. The waiter’s active attempts to offer the visitor a “new and very tasty dish” is not the only way to make him spend more than planned.

Do not indicate currency

The ruble, dollar or euro icon near the number almost shouts to the client that he should spend the money. Without a currency, the numbers next to each dish cease to be so scary. If the value is written in words, this will further alienate a person from understanding future expenses. Cornell University conducted a study on this topic: a group of people who saw a currency sign in the menu near the price left significantly less money in the restaurant than those who read positions without it.

Do not round numbers

This psychological trick is used not only by restaurants, but also by shops, sports clubs, and training centers. It works flawlessly on most people. The presence of the number 9 at the end makes the price more attractive and deceives the brain. It makes you think the dish is cheaper. So, when a person sees “9.99”, he believes that it is “almost 9” and not “almost 10”, which is closer to reality.

According to psychologists, 95 is not even more effective at the end, but 95. This is a more “friendly” number that creates the illusion of a good discount. A similar effect is observed in prices that look like “1243 rubles” or “852 rubles”. They are more difficult to add than round 1200, 800. The brain clearly sees only the first digits, turns the rest into zeros. In the final check, the amount is greater than it looked without accurate calculations.

Use beautiful descriptions

It is difficult to convince a person that he wants a dish, knowing only his name. If each component is given a beautiful description, it will look attractive. Simple “crab cutlets” will interest the visitor less than the original “from the most delicate Far Eastern meat, with our secret mixture of spices, in a golden breading made from crumbs of brackish crackers.” Already reading this, a person begins to present each component of the dish in the language.

According to a study by the University of Illinois, beautiful descriptions boost sales by 27%. Not only long phrases work with a lot of details about the dish. Restaurants can add names to popular brands: Jack Daniels sauce (from Friday’s), Laduree macaroons, and Oreo cookies ice cream. This also adds to the attractiveness of the menu items: the customer “buys” a familiar and popular word.

In the name of the dishes mention “family”

A person involuntarily reacts to mentions of relatives: they cause nostalgia. Restaurateurs use this to draw attention to the dish. “Grandma’s homemade cookies”, “Aunt Rita’s signature apple pie” create a connection with the client: even if his aunt never cooked, he is imbued with confidence in “family recipes”.

Use ethnic words for national dishes.

Such a move provokes a series of associations in the consumer’s head, makes one imagine aroma, taste, texture. Simple “pasta with minced meat” is not as attractive as “spaghetti bolognese” with a clear Italian flavor.

Visually highlight important menu items

In high-class restaurants, they don’t do this because it greatly reduces the cost of design. In other institutions, they are ready to sacrifice aesthetics for profit. Bold type is used for staple foods, the names of the best dishes are written in bright colors, the food is accompanied by colorful photographs. Such visualization causes the visitor interest and desire to try everything..

Draw attention to a cheap product with an expensive

If 3-4 items for 500 appear among a long list of dishes for 1000 rubles, restaurant visitors will often choose budget food. One expensive option works similarly against the background of many cheap ones. A person will tell himself that this is a reasonable choice, and can even buy two different dishes for 500, instead of one for 1000. It will look like saving, but it is far-fetched. Cheap position may differ in size, nutrition and other important parameters..

Offer two serving sizes

The psychological methods of influencing people with price comparisons are the most reliable; this scheme of attracting a client is also based on them. If the menu contains pasta with a volume of 270 g for 329 rubles. and 340 g for 470 rubles., the visitor is more likely to choose the first option. He thinks this is the best price, but it’s just the only “real” one. High stands nearby only for comparison and creating the illusion of the right choice..

Analyze reading patterns

Most people order dishes that they first look at and that they will remember. To manipulate the visitor, restaurateurs put what they need to sell in the upper right corner and at the top of the list. Only names from these zones will be recorded in the head, even if a person reads the menu completely.

Limit customer choice

The more options, the more difficult it is for the visitor to decide what he wants. According to American research, fast food establishments should offer 6 items in each category, and gourmet restaurants – no more than 10. These restrictions remove the need for long throwing and push people to make a choice.

Set the mood and atmosphere

Restaurateurs make the visitor feel rich, so that according to the canons of psychology, he decided to confirm this with an active waste of money. Feeling creates a manner of serving the waiter, the form of treatment and the right music. Restaurants that play the classics on the violin, harp or piano represent institutions for high society. This theory has been confirmed by studies at the University of Leicester..