3 On Your Side: Restaurant Menu Mind Games
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When you go out to eat how closely do you look at the menu? You may not realize it, but the way a menu is set up can influence you to pick dishes that will earn the restaurant the highest profit. As 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan finds it all boils down to a few critical details.
When Chris Clark eats out, he says deciding what's for dinner is mostly a matter of going with his gut. He says, "It really is the mood of the day. Do I want fish or do I want steak."
But according to experts, the design of the menu itself can affect what we're in the mood for. "There's definitely a psychology of menus. We are not masters and commander of what we choose when we go to a restaurant," says Brian Wansink, Food and Brand Lab Director at Cornell University.
Professor Wansink reviewed hundreds of menus and analyzed how they influence diners. He says menu layout is critical. According to Wansink, "It determines what we look at first. It determines largely what we choose, but it also ends up determining how much we like the food."
Do, if you see something sooner, research shows you're more likely to order it. Also, seeing descriptive words like succulent or creamy on a menu actually can have an impact. "They're willing to pay about 15 percent more for the item. They're 27 percent more likely to take the item and they also end up rating the item as actually being, tastier after they finish dinner."
It's something restaurant owner's keep in mind. Mike O'Brien adjusts his menu three or four times a year to keep things fresh, but always follows a template designed to tempt. "We put boxes around certain items that we want to highlight and that are our signature items or things that have a better gross profit."
As for Chris, he just wants to know the restaurant is cooking up something delicious. He says, "Going out to eat is really about having good food and a good experience."
Something else to keep in mind are the prices. Mike O'Brien tells us that on his menu he avoids lining prices up in one column because he's found customers tend to shop by price. If they're not lined up it's not as easy to compare.
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