Psychological Secrets Behind Effective Menu Design Choices

Many restaurants approach the menu as a map. We offer these items, at these prices. But the most successful ones approach it more as a dance - subtly leading choices before the customer even realizes they're following. The science behind menu engineering decisions is proven, and whether customers recognize the cues or not, they heed them.

Where the eye goes first

Research using eye-tracking technology has taught menu engineers that most customers read a menu in a certain pattern. First, the customer will scan the center of the menu. Then, they will look in the top right corner of the menu. And lastly, they'll look at the top left. This pattern is called the Golden Triangle. The top right corner of your menu is the most valuable real estate on the page. Most customers will look here after they look at the center of the menu. If you want to boost the sales of a certain dish, try placing it in the top right corner of the menu.

The physical menu as first impression

All text above pertains to menu content. Yet the emotional process actually commences before a guest even engages with the first words.

The heft of a menu cover, the feel of it, the sound it makes as it opens - these are all taken in immediately and subliminally. A flimsy laminated sheet gives one message. A weighted, cloth-bound menu gives another. Expectations are being shaped in those first few seconds that will influence how the food is perceived, how the service is judged, even whether prices seem reasonable.

This is why operators that give careful thought to the psychological menu design decisions also consider the nature of the menu itself. Working with a trusted design company for menu covers means the tactile impression matches the intention behind everything inside - the engineered layout, the anchored pricing, the carefully written descriptions. The two need to work together.

The cost of too many options

Hick's Law explains how the time it takes to make a decision grows with the number of options you have. For example, when thinking about restaurants, having a menu that's too long and too complex doesn't make you feel happy about having so many choices. It makes you feel anxious and you might not make a decision about your order until everyone else at the table is already eating.

The Rule of 7 can be a good guide. Limit the number of items to seven per category, and people are more likely to make faster decisions and be happier with their choice. They didn't feel like they were missing out on a better dish because there were only seven to choose from. They feel like the seven options were the seven best options - which, of course, they were.

Pricing without the pain

Presenting prices without a currency symbol (no "$", no "£") helps limit what scientists refer to as the "pain of paying". The amount is there, though removing the monetary symbol causes it to feel less about parting with hard-earned cash and more of a typical exchange.

Price anchoring is another tactic at play. Present a high ticket item at the top of your section and everything else appears to be moderate by comparison. A £65 steak at the top of your list helps make the £38 alternative right underneath look like a good, even thrifty, choice. The costly item on top doesn't have to sell - it just rests there and readjusts your guest's frame of reference.

The Serial Position Effect produces yet another level. Folks bear in mind the first and last things on any listing better than the ones in the middle. If there are dishes you need to promote, they belong at the top or the bottom of a section. The middle is where items go to be overlooked.

Language that earns its keep

Research by the Association for Consumer Research has shown that word choices can boost sales 27% by the simple silver-bullet expedient of making a dish sound more attractive. 'Slow-roasted heritage tomato soup' will always outperform 'tomato soup' regardless of the fact that the same bowl of soup is brought to the customer. It's just that the language creates an impression in advance. Sensory descriptors like 'velvety', 'charred' etc. physically prepare people. Provenance descriptors - a name of a farm, a region, a family, e.g. "my granny's" - lead the customer to conclude that it's expensive because it's so good. The Nostalgia Effect is a version of the same process. If a dish has those extra emotional hooks that conjure family or tradition, e.g. 'our baker's grandmother's', then the same thing happens - the customer decides that the food is so good it's worth paying the premium.

Making it work

Designing good menus is not rocket science. However, it does demand that you treat the menu as a purposeful form of communication rather than a list of items in table format. Keep choices in check, strategically direct the reader's eye, set prices without the dollar sign, use descriptions that sell, and ensure that the menu as a physical object exudes quality before it is even opened. The effects of each of these decisions will accumulate. In concert, they can influence what the customers order and how much they pay for it - yet the customers won't even realize they are being cleverly influenced.