10 tricks restaurants use to charge you more

It is always difficult to calculate how much the restaurant bill will go up to. When we ask the waiter for the bill, we always realize that the expected amount that we had calculated falls short.

The second bottle of wine that the waiter recommended to us, the succulent dessert that you ordered without consulting the price or the tax surcharge are not the only factors that affect the high bill, but there is a whole series of psychological tricks designed to make us pay more than we had anticipated.

Supermarket tricks to make you spend more money

If in an article published a few weeks ago we revealed why you should never choose the second cheapest wine on the menu, today we propose to elucidate other strategies to raise your bill. These are discreet techniques that are difficult to notice from the consumer's point of view, which is why they are used repeatedly.

The discipline of marketing and the consumer psychology They have thoroughly investigated this set of practices that allow increasing turnover in the hospitality sector. The restaurant menu is specially designed for this purpose, both in its measurements, in its format, in the shapes and colors used, in the location of the dishes, the comments on each of them, the way to place or write the prices... all of them are elements that have been studied in a more deep.

Restaurant owners and experts in trade and marketing are fully aware that a successful design of each of the parts of the menu will positively influence the profit margin of the businessor.

Here are the most used techniques for this purpose.

1. Do not accompany the price figure with the currency symbol (14.60 instead of 14.60 €)

A study conducted by the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University discovered that diners who chose dishes using cards that omitted the symbol of currency tended to spend more money than those who chose through cards that did include the symbol. It seems that the currency symbol alerts us to the specificity of prices and is linked to a propensity to save.

Thus, a way of avoid this feeling of guilt in the diner for the expense that is about to be made is to omit the symbol and write the price figure in a font size slightly smaller than the description of the dish.

2. Choose an exhaustive description of the dishes instead of just indicating the name

"Beef burger with chip onions, Mediterranean goose pate, organic cherry tomatoes, cuts of pecorino cheese, caramelised onion and ginger and fresh peppers". This description corresponds to the plate "Complete burger", but the description makes it much more attractive and justifies its high price. In fact, a study from Illinois University indicated that the length of the description of each dish positively correlates with the willingness of diners to pay more.

The menus that detail each dish with long comments bill 27% more than those restaurants that only indicate the name of the dish. Likewise, restaurant customers tend to be more satisfied with the quality of the dishes because they start from a better predisposition to enjoy them, thanks to the suggestion that the descriptions awaken.

3. Indicate the prices of the menu in multiples of 5

Connoisseurs of letter and menu design point out that prices ending in 9, as per example the typical 9.99, they are unconsciously related to quality products or services questionable.

However, prices finished in multiples of five are perceived in a more positive way, as revealed by an investigation by the Food and Brand Lab of Cornell University.

4. Give proper names to dishes

Diners prefer the names of dishes that refer to the family and home environment. Names like "Grandmother's cannelloni", "Caramelized apples in a lifelong style" or "Sea bass with vegetables from Aunt Isabel"generate great trust and it makes us more likely to choose them over others without that connotation.

Wake up and manipulate emotions, as well as provoke associations in the memory of certain dishes with memories of happiness eating at the home of a loved one, it is one of the most recurrent and effective hospitality strategies.

5. Associate with authenticity by linking dishes to geographic scope

Indicating the origin of the ingredients in the name of the dish is one of the most common techniques to highlight the quality of the product and, therefore, increase the sales and the price of the themselves. Geographic annotations or Appellation of origin are nourished by their own advertising campaigns, with which the restaurant owner benefits from the free advertising (although perhaps the price you pay for the product already has a built-in increase of price).

A classic way to increase the appeal of a dish is to encourage its feeling that the plate is of a top quality.

6. Show a photograph of the star dishes on the menu

Make a good visual impression of the best dishes in the restaurant, often the most expensive, produces the feeling in the customer that this dish has special characteristics, as pointed out research conducted by the Association for Consumer Research.

This marketing technique is not valid for all types of restaurants, because, for example, in establishments with a certain prestige, this way of highlighting some dishes on the menu is often perceived as inappropriate between diners.

7. Offer contrasts using seafood

Including in the menu dishes with very high prices, which for example triple or quadruple the average of the menu, has a lure function, since Suggests to compare prices and that diners are left with the perception that the dishes are cheaper than they really are.

Although these exorbitantly priced dishes may be rarely served, they are used to make the average price of the rest of the offering appear acceptable to the customer.

8. Place the dishes that generate the most profitability at the top of the odd page

Research on models of letter reading in hospitality by customers are many and varied. These studies indicate that diners focus their attention on the top right of the menu, a phenomenon that hoteliers take advantage of to place the most profitable dishes in this area; those that generate the most profit.

This shows why diners better remember the dishes located in this position, since they dedicate more attention and time to them.

9. Provide the choice of dish with tasting menus

This practice relieves customers of responsibility in choosing the dish. Although tasting menus usually contain acceptable amounts of food, they are also a very profitable option for the owner of the establishment.

10. Ambient the place with soft music, preferably classical

An investigation from the University of Leicester revealed that restaurants that set the scene with music earn more, as long as they have good taste in the choice.

Restaurants set with classical music are the ones that report the most benefits, because they generate a feeling in the diner with greater purchasing power and a certain obligation to spend more to adapt to the context. However, venues set with pop music may see sales drop by as much as 10%.