Crafting Menus That Influence Choices: A Science-Driven Approach to Hospitality Success.

In the fast-paced world of hospitality, menus are more than just a list of dishes; they are powerful tools that can influence guest choices and drive profitability. Leveraging neuroscience in menu design is an art and a science, combining human psychology with strategic layout and pricing techniques to subtly guide decisions.
From font choices to pricing strategies, every detail can enhance the dining experience and maximise revenue. By understanding how guests think and make choices, restaurateurs can create menus that are not only visually appealing but also effective in nudging behaviour.
Circa 883 B.C., King Ashurnasirpal II rises as the third king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the largest in the world, stretching from Cyprus in the west to Iran in the east, and at one point even including Egypt. His attention is divided between continuing his father’s legacy of plunder and invasion to expand the empire even more, and the design and construction of his new lavish palace in Kahlu (just north of Baghdad). Upon completion, he immediately invites almost 70,000 of his closest friends to a 10-day royal housewarming party.

Here guests feast on hundreds of breads, cheeses, fruits, and nuts, flavoured with honey and other spices, thousands of deer, sheep, and oxen, and tens of thousands of birds, eggs, and fish. Nearly 10,000 jugs of beer and wineskins are served to wash it all down. Deciding that this is the party of all parties to be remembered, he immortalises the event by having a description of it engraved into large stone tablets. Here they also engrave the list of food items served at the party, technically making it the world’s first known menu.
Ironically though, the word menu is derived from the Latin word “minutes,” meaning small, a description probably not most fitting for the 4-ton slabs used at the Nimrud palace. The use of the word “menu” in France came to be applied to a detailed list of any kind and later, with the rise of restaurants in the early 19th century, the terminology became widely used for the list of dishes in restaurants.
Modern menus have come a long way since those 4-ton stone tablets to handheld electronic tablets and barcodes. The principles, however, have stayed the same. Today, menus are far more than a list of items for sale. They are instead powerful silent salesmen that help to anchor the restaurant’s position and image whilst also serving to promote a specific blend of items that would best serve the financial margins of the restaurant.

There have been many experiments with menus through time, some successful and some not so much. One case that can be chalked up to the latter is the idea of “women’s” menus. Yes, it’s true. The theory was that the male patron’s female date would feel free to order any dish she wanted without the hindrance of the price tag. This, as one can imagine, backfired spectacularly. In a now-famous case, Kathleen Bick took her male business partner Larry Becker out to dinner in 1980 and received a menu that hid the costs, while Larry received the menu with the price tags. Offended by the discrimination, she hired Gloria Allred, one of the most famous feminist lawyers at the time. The case was eventually dropped, with the restaurant agreeing to stop the practice.
That said, “blind” menus still exist in some establishments today with the intention of making it easier and more sociable for the host to entertain their guest(s). More commonly used than this complete omission of currency, though, is a simple omission of the currency symbol. The psychological intention is to create a disconnect between the money and the product. Studies at Cornell have indicated that omitting the currency symbol increases average spending by a whopping 18.5%!
This method and others based on human behaviour are referred to as Menu Engineering, coined in 1982 by two professors at the Michigan State University School of Hospitality Business. Just as no architect can create a building without sound structural engineering to ensure its integrity, no restaurateur should attempt a restaurant without good menu engineering to ensure its success. Whilst chefs and cooks need to be creative in the culinary arts of food making, it is the neuroscience behind menus that will ensure maximum profitability without raising the prices.
Below are 10 interesting principles and simple techniques that are sure to make a big difference to your restaurant profitability without having to raise the prices.
Menu legibility
The more legible the menu, the more comfortable and at ease the guest feels. No one likes to use the flashlight on their mobile phone to read a menu. To this end, maximum contrast, like a dark font type on a light background, is advisable. Interesting side note: never choose the font type that best suits your brand. Always choose the one that is best for the guest. If stuck for a font type choice, consider the one that is used for traffic signs in your particular country. Alfabeto Normale is used in Italy, Sans Serif in the UK, and Highway Gothic in America and Australia. Their existence on our roads as devices for snap decisions at speed preconditions us for very easy reading without us realising why.
Wine pricing
Which wine sells the most? It has less to do with the origin or the brand. It is, in fact, the second-cheapest wine on your menu! No one wants to be known as the cheapskate and thus, by an overwhelming majority, the second-cheapest wine generally sells the most. Therefore, make sure that this wine is not your loss leader but rather the one with your highest percentage margin.
Supermarket pricing psychology has no place in a restaurant
No restaurant menu item should ever be listed as $9.99. Contrary to retail psychology, rounding the number to a round $10 is perceived as a better deal because of the shortness of the number. In fact, leaving out the currency symbol gives licence for a slightly higher number. For example, 10 (without the currency symbol) is better than $9 (with the currency symbol).
Naming Convention
What naming convention for products works the best? Science indicates that products linked to people or family names have the most credibility and create the most reassurance.
Product description
Faced with a choice of two products, the one that is explained and presented more effectively will be the more obvious choice. In addition, the item with an obviously longer description than the rest is a visual pattern interrupt and will thus receive more attention, increasing the probability of it being picked.
Less is more
Reduce the choices to no more than around seven per category. Science seems to indicate that too many options can become overwhelming and too difficult to process, leading to choice anxiety and leaving us feeling unsatisfied with our final choice.
Nested pricing
Right justification of pricing takes the focus away from the product, causing the guest to focus on price. Instead, place the price (without the currency symbol) at the end of the description in the same font size to encourage choice by product, not price.
Decoy pricing
A product placed prominently in each category, with a high price tag, makes the other products appear as though they are very well-priced.
Subconscious scheming
The top two items and the very bottom item in each category are chosen the most, so those products should be the highest-margin items.
The Golden Triangle
Eye tracker studies have shown interesting menu reading behaviour. In a typical three-panel menu, people do not read a menu left to right. Instead, one’s eyes immediately go to the middle of the middle panel. They then move to the top right of the right-side panel and finally move across to the top of the left panel. Therefore, the centre, the top-right corner, and the top-left corner are great for items with profitable margins. In a two-panel menu, eyes tend to gravitate first toward the upper right-hand corner of a menu, known in the industry as the “sweet spot.”
Whilst King Ashurnasirpal II’s guests’ visit might have lasted a whopping 10 days, the average dinner visit in a restaurant is only 75 minutes. That said, a Gallup poll found that, of that total visit time, the average time spent reading a menu is only 109 seconds, making constantly cooking up ways to influence a guest’s decisions almost as important as cooking great food.
In conclusion, effective menu design goes beyond listing dishes, it’s a strategic tool that combines neuroscience and psychology to guide customer choices and boost profitability. By applying thoughtful design principles, such as optimised item placement, strategic pricing, and engaging descriptions, restaurateurs can create menus that not only enhance the dining experience but also drive business success. Small, intentional changes can have a significant impact, making menu engineering an essential aspect of modern hospitality.
Information Reference Index:
The Psychology of Menu Design: Can It Influence What We Order?
How to Create a Menu That Drives Profitability.
Menu Engineering and Its Impact on Customer Choices.
The Power of Menu Design: A Restaurant’s Silent Salesman.
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.
Cornell Research on Menu Design and Customer Spending
The Art and Science of Menu Design
Neuroscience of Consumer Behaviour
Menu Engineering: Maximising Restaurant Profitability
The Psychology Behind Menu Design
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