Menus are quietly engineered. 00 softens it further. Prices tucked at the end of a description, rather than lined up in a column, stop guests scanning for the cheapest dish. An expensive anchor at the top of a section makes everything below look reasonable, and a decoy dish can steer people towards the one you actually want to sell. Boxes, bold type and the top-right corner of a page draw the eye, so they belong to your best-margin plates.
Descriptive language, provenance and a farm name lift perceived value. None of this works if the food disappoints, and guests are savvier than ever. The honest version is simple: use the tricks to highlight dishes you're proud of, never to disguise a weak plate or a hidden charge. Review the menu against sales data every quarter.
What we ask on the show
- Is dropping the pound sign manipulative or just good design?
- Do decoy dishes ever actually get ordered?
- How much does menu layout really change what people eat?
- Where's the line between persuasion and trickery on a menu?