5 ms·

The psychology of restaurant menu design

71 points by sea6ear 10y ago

dmmartins 10y ago
"We never regard customers as a source of income but as people we want to have a good time, whatever their budget.” Yeah, I see.
samwillis 10y ago
Having had the pleasure of eating at the Wolseley I highly recommend their breakfast, the pancakes with camaralised bananas was amazing.
taneq 10y ago
> We never regard customers as a source of income but as people we want to have a good time, whatever their budget. We are happy to offer the opportunity to spend, but it's not mandatory. Because of course they were going to say "our customers are our cash cows and we herd them into choosing quick-to-prepare, high profit dishes."
- golergka 10y ago
  It depends on your business model. If you depend on repeat business, extorting the highest possible cheque every time isn't an optimal strategy. I live in a small quiet town, and I have a couple of neighbourhood cafes and restoraunts where I go several times a week, and most of the customers live nearby, too. Difference in attitude with typical tourist traps is immense. Different business models, different behaviour.
  - hyder_m29 10y ago
    I feel what he means to say is that the article is entirely about how to squeeze out profit from customers by psychologically misleading them. Then it claims the exact opposite in the conclusion.
  - BrandoElFollito 10y ago
    This. I live in Versailles, France and never go to the restaurants which face the castle or to the touristic spots. My feeling (no hard bullets, though) is that they target one - shot customers will win likely never come back but have to eat something. I fear that this something is overpriced and not that good. 2 km away you will find great small restaurants.
zappo2938 10y ago
This is BS. The algorithm for creating a menu is very simple. Write a menu that is easy to read. At the end of each month look in the POS system for the least selling 1 or 2 dishes. Replace them. This is how a restaurant builds demand.
- asdfologist 10y ago
  I'm not sure whether this is sarcastic.
  - zappo2938 10y ago
    11 years I cooked in the most prestigious restaurants in San Francisco, Portland, and Las Vegas, why would I joke about something like that? If you want to make money in a restaurant give people what they want.
throwaway2016a 10y ago
> Menu consultants often recommend unfamiliar terms: not sure what a "passion fruit tuile" is? Why not order it to find out... I guess I'm not their target market. I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. I see unfamiliar terms and will never order that item. I like to know what I'm eating. Sometimes if I'm feeling adventurous I will Google the unfamiliar item.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >I guess I'm not their target market. I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. I see unfamiliar terms and will never order that item. I like to know what I'm eating. That's why they have some ultra familiar stuff next to the exotic fair, for your like...
another-dave 10y ago
It's interesting to read through, but little disappointed that there was nothing on his methodology — is this all just the hypothesis of the author having read a lot of menus? Or did he do anything more in-depth?
marak830 10y ago
A lot of this is industry myth. Often passed around, but very rarely used. Example: Items that the chef wants to sell - I want everything to sell, fairly evenly (to keep my stock rotating and to minimise wastage.) The no dollar sign? Yeah - that's pretty damn common, I do it myself. Box's? No - i prefer clean menus, with nice designs (personal preference to a sketch of plated items in the background). Overall I believe its a pretty bland write up, and really doesn't cover a lot of how menus are really designed. Source: I'm currently the head chef of a high end restaurant (and former executive chef) and am going on 17 years experience.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

71 points by sea6ear 10y ago

"We never regard customers as a source of income but as people we want to have a good time, whatever their budget.” Yeah, I see.

samwillis 10y ago

Having had the pleasure of eating at the Wolseley I highly recommend their breakfast, the pancakes with camaralised bananas was amazing.

taneq 10y ago

> We never regard customers as a source of income but as people we want to have a good time, whatever their budget. We are happy to offer the opportunity to spend, but it's not mandatory. Because of course they were going to say "our customers are our cash cows and we herd them into choosing quick-to-prepare, high profit dishes."

golergka 10y ago
It depends on your business model. If you depend on repeat business, extorting the highest possible cheque every time isn't an optimal strategy. I live in a small quiet town, and I have a couple of neighbourhood cafes and restoraunts where I go several times a week, and most of the customers live nearby, too. Difference in attitude with typical tourist traps is immense. Different business models, different behaviour.
- hyder_m29 10y ago
  I feel what he means to say is that the article is entirely about how to squeeze out profit from customers by psychologically misleading them. Then it claims the exact opposite in the conclusion.
- BrandoElFollito 10y ago
  This. I live in Versailles, France and never go to the restaurants which face the castle or to the touristic spots. My feeling (no hard bullets, though) is that they target one - shot customers will win likely never come back but have to eat something. I fear that this something is overpriced and not that good. 2 km away you will find great small restaurants.

zappo2938 10y ago

This is BS. The algorithm for creating a menu is very simple. Write a menu that is easy to read. At the end of each month look in the POS system for the least selling 1 or 2 dishes. Replace them. This is how a restaurant builds demand.

asdfologist 10y ago
I'm not sure whether this is sarcastic.
- zappo2938 10y ago
  11 years I cooked in the most prestigious restaurants in San Francisco, Portland, and Las Vegas, why would I joke about something like that? If you want to make money in a restaurant give people what they want.

throwaway2016a 10y ago

> Menu consultants often recommend unfamiliar terms: not sure what a "passion fruit tuile" is? Why not order it to find out... I guess I'm not their target market. I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. I see unfamiliar terms and will never order that item. I like to know what I'm eating. Sometimes if I'm feeling adventurous I will Google the unfamiliar item.

coldtea 10y ago
>I guess I'm not their target market. I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. I see unfamiliar terms and will never order that item. I like to know what I'm eating. That's why they have some ultra familiar stuff next to the exotic fair, for your like...

another-dave 10y ago

It's interesting to read through, but little disappointed that there was nothing on his methodology — is this all just the hypothesis of the author having read a lot of menus? Or did he do anything more in-depth?

marak830 10y ago

A lot of this is industry myth. Often passed around, but very rarely used. Example: Items that the chef wants to sell - I want everything to sell, fairly evenly (to keep my stock rotating and to minimise wastage.) The no dollar sign? Yeah - that's pretty damn common, I do it myself. Box's? No - i prefer clean menus, with nice designs (personal preference to a sketch of plated items in the background). Overall I believe its a pretty bland write up, and really doesn't cover a lot of how menus are really designed. Source: I'm currently the head chef of a high end restaurant (and former executive chef) and am going on 17 years experience.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]