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The Rules of Colour in Hospitality.

Bridging Creativity and Science: Exploring the True Influence of Colour in Hospitality Design.

The Coffee Club Modern café interior with yellow accent wall, white pendant lights, and mixed seating. Text reads "The Rules of Colour in Hospitality."
 

Colour psychology has long been a topic of fascination in interior design, especially in the restaurant industry, where every detail matters. While it’s widely believed that specific colours can influence behaviour, appetite, and even emotional states, much of the evidence supporting these claims remains speculative or anecdotal. We delve into our current & practiced understanding of colour psychology in hospitality, exploring its potential, limitations, and the gaps in research that still need to be addressed. By separating myths from science, we aim to highlight how colour might be used to enhance guest experiences in meaningful ways.


It's true that our response to colour depends largely on where, on what, and when the colour is applied. It is highly contextual. We may love a specific red on a Ferrari, for example, but that exact same red may be highly inappropriate for the exterior wall of a church or the suit we wear to a wedding or funeral. That said, in certain Asian cultures, red is actually the perfect colour to wear to a wedding as it is considered to be lucky and auspicious. Whilst white symbolises purity, innocence, peace, and cleanliness in the West, and therefore the perfect colour for weddings, it is considered the colour of death, bad luck, and mourning in some Asian cultures, where it is traditionally worn at funerals.


A blue Colonel Sanders (AI generated)  in a blue suit holds two cups in a retro diner with blue decor. A portrait of a similar figure is on the wall. Busy atmosphere.
A blue Colonel Sanders (AI generated) 

So, how does colour psychology apply to humans when it comes to food and, indeed, the spaces where food is served? There are many credible sources backed by empirical scientific data on how humans respond to the colour of food, and this knowledge has been used by big food companies to great success for decades. Red apples dyed a bit redder make us believe they are more appetising, and cosmetically enhancing the red colour of red meat convinces us that it is fresher, healthier, and tastier. This is because we have certain expectations of what food should look like.


In a now-famous study conducted in the 1970s, subjects were served blue steak and green French fries. With speciality lighting, however, the steak and French fries appeared their normal colours, and the products tasted just fine. However, as soon as the effects were turned off and the lighting returned to normal, revealing the true colours, all the subjects lost their appetite, and some even became ill.


That said, does this colour association with food also translate to the background room colours in which our food is consumed?


Silhouette of a head with colorful arrows radiating outward, symbolizing diverse thoughts and ideas.
Silhouette of a head with colorful arrows radiating outward, symbolizing diverse thoughts and ideas.

The popular belief is that one can assign very specific behavioural properties to specific colours to trigger very specific behavioural responses. Generally speaking, the theory behind colour psychology in interior design goes more or less like this:


The warm spectrum colours of red, yellow, and orange tones tend to serve more as appetite stimulants than suppressants because they are more commonly found in nature as nutritious food, and our primal brain still recognises this as such. Similarly, and conversely, it is also assumed that the cool spectrum of blue and purple tones are appetite suppressants because they are not commonly found in nature. Apart from perhaps some references to the blue in blueberries, it is highly unlikely that our prehistoric ancestors ever saw a purple fruit, flower, or animal. Additionally, when our ancestors used to forage, they would avoid eating these coloured foods because of their potentially poisonous nature. Blue and black would also reference the colour of spoiled foods.


Whilst these evolutionary colour references may be true, science seems to indicate that the impact of them on our behaviour may not only be far less severe, but also perhaps, in some cases, false, especially when it comes to their application in restaurant design.


A vibrant gradient showcasing a spectrum of yellow hues, transitioning smoothly from pale lemon to deep mustard.
A vibrant gradient showcasing a spectrum of yellow hues, transitioning smoothly from pale lemon to deep mustard.

In addition, our responses to colours are contradicted in many claims. Yellow, for example, is most often said to enhance our appetite. Generally speaking, yellow is believed to help increase our sense of joy and optimism and assist in alleviating stress because the brain generally releases more serotonin when surrounded by yellow. Thus, this joyful state, by extension, is believed to lead to an increase in our desire for food. That said, however, from a scientific point of view, elevated serotonin is actually a hunger suppressant that can activate some neurons that would rather reduce one’s appetite than increase it.


A gradient showcasing a spectrum of green hues, ranging from vibrant lime to deep forest tones.
A gradient showcasing a spectrum of green hues, ranging from vibrant lime to deep forest tones.

Green is also labelled by some as a suppressant, and yet by others as an appetite stimulant. Staying with the theory of our evolutionary development, the cool green spectrum is not commonly found in nature and therefore aligns neatly with the theory. However, there are also warm greens such as khaki, olive, fern, and moss, which are associated with healthy, nutritious, and non-poisonous foods. An appetite stimulant, surely?


A vibrant palette showcasing the dynamic range of red hues, from fiery orange-red to deep crimson.
A vibrant palette showcasing the dynamic range of red hues, from fiery orange-red to deep crimson.

Red is almost universally associated with strong emotions, such as love, passion, and anger. In addition, it’s the colour of strength, courage, and danger. The exact severity, however, of its impact specifically on patrons in restaurant interiors is debatable. Certain reds, sometimes combined with yellow, are said to be the perfect colour for fast food or quick-service restaurants where we need the tables to turn quicker. Think Five Guys, Burger King, McDonald’s, Red Rooster, and KFC.


The exact impact of red on our transactional behaviour is, however, not 100% clear. Thus, perhaps the propensity to use red in fast-food establishments may also have something to do with that mystical, wonderful circularity that they are red because other fast-food restaurants are red.


That said, we do associate red with fast (think Ferrari again), and as it is also the most dominant in the colour wheel with the longest wavelength, we may subconsciously assume that the food of a fast-food joint with a predominantly red colour may be better and faster than, say, a brand using a predominantly purple colour like Taco Bell. Perhaps if this were 100% true and the impact as severe as often claimed, then Subway (green and yellow) at No. 2 in the USA, Starbucks (vivid green, marigold, and white) at No. 3, and indeed Taco Bell (purple) at No. 11, should immediately be told that they need a colour overhaul.


A vibrant assortment of red candy rolls, neatly coiled and ready to delight with their sweet and chewy texture.
A vibrant assortment of red candy rolls, neatly coiled and ready to delight with their sweet and chewy texture.

The truth is that most of the current controlled scientific data around this behavioural response to colour in interior design, especially within its application to restaurant design, is inconclusive. One such inconclusive study was conducted in 2020 by the NIH (National Institute of Health) in Bethesda, USA, amongst 448 women in two experiments. The first experiment involved coloured sweets in blue, red, and colourless (black and white), and the second experiment involved sweets on coloured, red, blue, or neutral backgrounds. Just before viewing the images, 50% of the participants received information about the supposed “psychological effect” of colour on appetite, while the other 50% did not.


The surprising result was that those informed just prior about the “psychological effect” of colour in food on appetite corresponded with the theory, whilst those who were not told about it did not. Additionally, coloured backgrounds had no effect at all.


That said, we did find some credible reference regarding the ambient room light colour in a restaurant and its effect on our perception of taste. Charles Spence, from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, UK, published a research paper in 2018 titled “Background Colour & Its Impact on Food Perception and Behaviour.” He referenced a study on the impact of ambient room colour lighting in the environment where people tasted wine. The wine was placed in a black glass so that its appearance would not be a factor. Wine tasted by a total of 3,000 participants under either red or green coloured room lighting revealed that people’s ratings of the fruitiness/freshness of the wine were changed by approximately 15%, simply as a function of switching between red and green lighting.


Elegant blue dinner set with a sprig of greenery, complemented by silverware on a matching blue tablecloth.
Elegant blue dinner set with a sprig of greenery, complemented by silverware on a matching blue tablecloth.

Other controlled studies on the impact of contrast colours in the elderly and Alzheimer’s patients, known to have deficient contrast sensitivity, do indicate very substantial triggers on consumption (Cipolloni & Cronin-Golomb, 2004).


Changing out whiter plates for red plates with red cutlery led to a 25% increase in food consumption, and switching from white to red glassware increased liquid intake by as much as 84%. Interestingly enough, blue contrast colours had the same result.


Apart from these, there seems to be very little to no credible empirical studies on colour psychology’s application in interior design, let alone restaurant design. As noted again by Charles Spence,

“in terms of the context in which such studies have been conducted, this ranges from well-controlled (but possibly limited ecological validity) laboratory studies, through online tests of consumers’ expectations, experiments conducted at science fairs, all the way to a small but growing number of in-restaurant studies. The latter, while perhaps scoring higher in terms of ecological validity, inevitably lack some of the experimental control that one can more easily achieve in the laboratory setting.”

With all this said, though, at COOOP we have been quite fortunate to apply some of these colour theories to a chain of restaurants. It is a single brand with multiple outlets, and thus, for all practical purposes, the conditions (i.e., offer, location type, patron profile, etc.) are quite similar. Within our solution base, we offered the same volumetric, spatial treatments, flow, proportions, furniture type, art, and lighting. The only thing that was different across the three solutions were the overall colour treatments. We offered three variants: yellow and blue, yellow and green, and salmon and beige. All the colour treatments were of similar, low-muted Chroma value. (Chroma refers to the purity or saturation of a colour.)


Whilst we did not set out to test these colours, we found, to our astonishment, that the yellow and green stores seemed to outperform the yellow and blue stores by a significant margin, too big to be put to chance and across too many stores (in total, five in each category) to be dismissed as a fluke or as incidental. We are still analysing all the data, but for now at least, albeit not a pure scientific study, it does seem to support the colour theories around the impact of colour on restaurant success (dwell time, footfall, and spend).


The science around colour within hospitality venues may be inconclusive and the support between scientists unaligned, there seems to be a consistent correlation around the general theories with respect to the impact of certain colours on our behaviour within social spaces like restaurants, bars, cafes, and fast-food venues. It requires much more investigation, research, and analysis, and with a growing community of like-minded, data-driven designers, we are confident that far more realistic rules and specifications around colour towards nudging preferential behaviours are just around the corner.


Noteworthy Points to remember.

  1. Our response to colour is highly contextual. It depends on where, on what, and when the colour is used.

  2. Because of our evolutionary development, we have certain exact expectations of what the colour of various foods should be.

  3. This association with colour is thought to translate directly into our perception of colour within space, specifically how it can influence our behaviour, for example, in restaurant spaces.

  4. Although some of these anecdotal observations seem to have merit, science does not seem to back them up substantively. Claims are also contradictory in some instances and some reports.

  5. To this end, many successful fast-food restaurants use red or red and yellow to support the idea of speed. Equally, though, many successful ones don’t.

  6. An example of an inconclusive study conducted in 2020 with coloured sweets and coloured backgrounds showed that those informed of the “psychological effect” of colour in food on appetite corresponded with the theory, whilst those who were not told about it did not.

  7. A study around the impact of ambient room colour lighting in the environment in which people tasted wine revealed that people preferred wine when tasted in red or blue ambient light and were willing to pay, on average, 1 Euro more for Riesling when tasted in red light.

  8. Our own research and application of colour within this area of design have revealed that certain colours do seem to impact behaviour substantially and that they can be applied very effectively to nudge certain desired behaviours.


    Finally, we are not suggesting for a moment that colour psychology in its entirety is a myth or indeed that colour has no impact on our behaviour at all. What we are saying, though, is that most of the guidelines and popular press on the matter of colour in interior design, especially its use in restaurants, are highly subjective, speculative, and oversimplified.


    Almost none of the hundreds of thousands of articles printed or published have any referenced backups, and those that do mostly reference other articles with similar claims. Colour psychology in restaurants is, at most, what scientists would perhaps refer to as an unsupported hypothesis.


    In conclusion, while colour psychology holds promise in shaping experiences within hospitality spaces, much of the current understanding remains speculative. Although some theories align with behavioural tendencies, scientific evidence supporting their consistent application is limited. As designers and researchers continue to explore the nuances of colour’s impact, there is potential to develop more evidence-based strategies for influencing behaviour in meaningful ways. By combining creativity with empirical insights, we can create spaces that resonate deeply with guests while fostering the desired emotional and behavioural responses. We realise that this topic is controversial and would, therefore, like to invite everyone for input and further guidance in the comments below or by reaching out to us.


 

Information Reference Index:

Colour and Taste Perception: A Review.

Colour and Psychological Functioning: Theoretical and Empirical Work.

The Effect of Colour in Marketing.

Background Colour & Its Impact on Food Perception and Behaviour.

The Beginner’s Guide to Colour Psychology.

The Science Behind Colour Psychology in Interior Design

The Influence of Colour on Appetite and Food Perception

How Lighting and Colour Influence Dining Experiences.

The Colour Effect: How It Impacts Human Behaviour in Social Spaces.



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