In some cases, businesses know consumers are following some heuristic like this, and counter-strategize accordingly (or so I've heard). According to this 2013 b

In some cases, businesses know consumers are following some heuristic like this, and counter-strategize accordingly (or so I've heard). According to this 2013 blog post[0], > Restaurants realize that many people won’t order the least expensive wine (no one wants to look like a cheapskate!) so they often go for the second cheapest. That’s exactly why it’s often the most marked-up bottle on the list. [0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20131210062034/http://www.urbanspoon.com/blog/2013/12/10-things-restaurants-arent-telling/ https://web.archive.org/web/20131210062034/http://www.urbans...