Restaurant Menu Psychology: Tricks to Make Us Order More

By: Sierra Shumate

People always seem to have such trouble deciding what they want to eat in restaurants, studies have shown. New research at Bournemouth University has shown that most menus provide many more options on the menu than people actually want to choose from. 

Malcom Gladwell, an employee of Nescafe, states that when asked what coffee they prefer, most Americans will say something along the lines of "a dark, rich, hearty roast." However, only 25% of Americans actually want that. Most of us prefer coffee that is light, milky, and weak. Marketing messages have clouded the way people will respond to these types of questions, showing us that people don't actually know what they want.

Perhaps this is why tastings and set menu options, such as 5-course meal restaurants, are so popular. While it isn't guaranteed that we will love what is provided, responsibility is removed. An increasingly trendy restaurant choice is tapas--a type of eatery which relieves decision making pressure because we are able to order lots of little things, so if we don't like one of them, it isn't the end all  be all. And, this way, people still feel as though they are making their own choice.

But what is the ideal number of menu items that people prefer? Bournemouth University's study is trying to answer this question. The findings show that restaurant customers do indeed have a number of menu items that they prefer, across all ages and genders. In fast food places, people agreed on 6 items per category, and in sit down restaurants, numbers increased slightly--to seven starter/dessert choices, and 10 main courses to choose from.

Each restaurant has a ploy for menu marketing. The goal is to have customers leaving with the most expensive bill possible, and menu engineering focuses mostly on items that initially catch the eye. There is controversy over how people's eyes scan the menu--but the general agreement is that peole's eyes move in a z-shape, starting at the top left hand corner. However, our eyes can be distracted, particularly by items in boxes, bolded items, or items in a different color. These are all marketing ideas that menu-designers may use in order to trick people into wanting to buy an expensive item over a less profitable one. So next time, you might want to check the menu twice before ordering that 20 dollar hamburger that caught your eye.