This document discusses psychological techniques restaurants can use to increase profits through menu design. It recommends placing the highest profit items at the top of the menu and lowest profit items at the bottom to influence customer choices. It also suggests using design elements like color, fonts, and images to draw attention to certain items. Additionally, it notes placing popular but low profit items in the "Golden Triangle" area of the menu where customers' eyes are naturally drawn can increase sales of those items. The overall goal is to subtly guide customers towards the most profitable dishes through strategic menu formatting, wording, and pricing.

1. www.restohub.org
Psychology-Driven Menu Techniques to Increase Profits
1. Create nostalgia: Grandma’s Meatloaf, Homestyle Dinner Rolls
2. Create a sensory experience – Homespun egg noodles in a velvety broth
3. Place highest-profit items at the top.
4. Place lowest-profit items at the bottom.
5. Limit choices: Too many options make diners indecisive.
6. Use eye magnets in the design, but sparingly.
a. Color
b. Large or unique fonts
c. Photos
d. Illustrations
e. Negative space
f. Call-out boxes
7. Put most profitable items in the “Golden Triangle.” Diners look a third down the page,
then up to the right-hand corner, and across to the left.
8. Try increasing prices on popular but low-profit items and displaying them in the
Golden Triangle.
9. Formatting prices with numerals and no dollar sign results in the largest checks.
Scholarship.sha.cornell.edu
10. Displaying calories does not reduce profits.
News.cornell.edu: Diners order slightly less when restaurants list calories
11. Add a very expensive item at the top of a section to make other items seem like
a bargain.
Mentalfloss.com: 8 psychological tricks restaurant menus
MENU ENGINEERING:
How Psychology Increases
Restaurant Profits
How you design your menu makes a big difference in results. Use these principles
of psychology to influence diners to select your most profitable items.
How Diners Make Menu Decisions
• Price
• Placement
• Formatting
• Color
• Eye Movement Patterns
• Descriptions
Menus that have undergone the restaurant
menu engineering process can increase profits
BY MORE THAN 15%.
Restohub.org: Restaurant menu engineering