Menu engineering
Menu engineering or Menu psychology, is the design of a menu to maximize restaurant profits.
History
The concept of menu engineering was first introduced in 1982 by Michael L. Kasavana and Donald I. Smith.Visual perception
Visual perception and attention are linked to how customers read a menu. Most menus are presented visually. The majority of menu engineering recommendations focus on how to increase attention by strategically arranging menu categories within the pages of the menu, and item placement within a menu category. This strategic placement of categories and items is referred to as the theory of sweet spots.The reasoning being sweet spots stem from the classical effect in psychology known as the serial position effect. The thought is, customers are most likely to remember the first and last things they see on a menu—hence, sweet spots on a menu should be where the customers look first and last. To date, there is no empirical evidence on the efficacy of the sweet spots on menus.
Customer perception of items offered on a menu can also be affected by subtle textual manipulations. For example, descriptive labeling of menu items may produce positive effects, leading to higher customer satisfaction, and higher perceived product value. Similarly, the presence of dollar signs or other potential monetary cues may cause guests to spend less. There are also studies on how different menu types trigger diners’ behavioral intentions in restaurants’ innovation diffusion from paper to digital menus