Instead of drawing you towards the most expensive dish on the restaurant’s menu, contemporary hacking of menus should turn your attention towards the healthier, low-calorie choices. American food-psychologist Brian Wansink argues that menu design that helps to promote healthy choices also helps to raise profit margins. ‘It’s win-win!’
After analyzing 217 restaurant menus and the selection made by more than 300 diners, Wansink concluded that two things determine primarily what you choose when in a restaurant: what you see on the menu and how you imagine the dish will taste. Wansink (Cornell University) published his findings recently in the International Journal of Hospitality Management in an article ‘Slim by Design: Menu Engineering Strategies for Promoting High-Margin, Healthy Foods’ he co-authored with Kathie Love.
Wansink and Love found that customers read menus the way they read magazines: scanning the four corners of every page before turning to the next one. The choices you like to boost as a restaurant owner should be placed in these corners, drawing the attention of the skimmer.
A second conclusion: words have power. It sounds cheesy, but elaborate and poetic menu descriptions are effective and can boost item sales up to 30 percent. Compare a ‘Succulent Italian Seafood Filet’ with a plain ‘Cheeseburger’. In other words, be creative with your adjectives for the healthy dishes and hold them back from the fat items.
Apart from the choice of words, the design has influence too. Highlighting certain words with colour or signs will attract attention, as does bold lettering or the use of borders.
Last but not least: the price. We all want to order a tasty, but cheap item. This is also where the value for the restaurant comes in. According to Wansink, healthier choices tend to be easier to prepare and offer a greater profit margin. For instance, place the Succulent Italian Seafood Filet next to the Cheeseburger and price them the same. Obvious choice right?