Buzz
'How to increase revenue for restaurants, eateries' – is a question that always troubles restaurant owners. The answer you might get could be 'there are many ways.' Quite vague, isn't it?
But there's a simplest, quickest way, you can do it right from the start of opening your establishment, that's optimizing menu design.
Below are insights into 9 golden tips to present dishes in your menu beautifully, attractively engaging customers, and stimulating them to spend more at your restaurant. Let's follow PasGo's article below!
1. Limit the use of currency symbols in the menu
Research from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University (USA) has shown that: when entering a restaurant, most customers tend to be more cautious in spending when they see prices listed on the menu.
However, another study also suggests that: customers will feel more comfortable when holding a menu with specific prices rather than no prices listed at all.
So what should restaurant management do?
The best approach in this case is: still display the prices, but only as numbers, and don't include currency symbols (VND, Đồng, VNĐ, USD, etc.)
Omitting currency symbols in the menu also diminishes the customers' focus on the numbers. This helps reduce their concentration on the prices, leading them to pay attention to dish names, descriptions, and other interesting aspects showcased in your 'verbal' menu.
2. Remove the extra zeros in menu item prices
$5, $10 seems too plain, doesn't it?
But imagine the menu prices in Vietnamese currency: 50,000VND, 100,000VND, 200,000VND, 1,000,000VND,... Are you drawn to these numbers?
If your answer is 'yes,' then you've failed to optimize for a beautiful menu. Your customers will be distracted by these numbers and spend more cautiously.
The advice here is to remove unnecessary zeros from the prices listed. For example, instead of writing 50,000VND, simply put 50 or 50k.
3. Write menu prices with odd numbers
Ancient Chinese believed that, like all things in nature, numbers possess different yin and yang properties. Odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) are considered positive numbers. Even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8) are seen as negative numbers. They also believed that positivity is a manifestation of growth and development, hence the Chinese favor odd numbers more.
Vietnam still heavily influenced by the ancient Confucian ideology of China, so most people tend to prefer odd numbers over even numbers.
Understanding this, economic experts advise restaurant owners to leverage this customer psychology when conveying communication messages. Pricing menu items is one way to apply this.
For example:
After calculation, you determine the price of a 'Beef Steak' dish to be 300,000VND. Instead of writing the number 300,000VND on the menu, you should choose the closest odd number to write. The next question is: would you choose the price to be 299,000VND or 301,000VND?
The answer is: 299,000VND. Because you see, seeing the number 2 at the beginning gives a 'sense' of less money compared to seeing the number 3, right? And remember, write it as 299 or 299k.
4. Avoid arranging dishes in ascending or descending order of price
Because this will attract customers to focus on comparing the prices of dishes and spend cautiously, rather than paying attention to other interesting points in the menu. Instead, you can arrange dishes by category. For example: appetizers, main courses (chicken dishes, beef dishes, seafood,...)
5. Give impressive or humorous names to dishes
Instead of mundane dish names like: boiled water spinach, stir-fried squash, rare beef with lime,... you can come up with some creative and charming names to stimulate the imagination and curiosity of customers. For example:
- Egg Sunny Side Up: Sun with Cloudy Feet
- Fried Fish: Mr. Toad's Oil Swimming Car
- Scrambled Eggs: Summer Sun Spreading Gold
- Bitter Melon Soup: Water Hyacinth Floating on the Lake
- ...
All of these dishes are quite ordinary, but reading them out loud is impressive, isn't it? However, depending on the culinary style and customer segment of the restaurant, choose appropriate expressions and language. Avoid using colloquial language for upscale restaurant menus. Conversely, for casual eateries, use language that is more familiar and straightforward.
Furthermore, don't overuse this naming technique, as anything 'too much' will become dull. In a menu, only choose about 2 or 3 dishes for this impressive naming approach to be 'sufficient'
6. Describe dishes with images or paragraphs
Visual images are the first factor to catch human attention. A study from the University of Illinois - Chicago, USA, even found that using image descriptions of dishes on menus can increase restaurant sales by 27% compared to using plain text menus.
Additionally, describing with eloquent sentences or short paragraphs also helps create an impression for the dish. Additional research shows that customers resonate with food descriptions linked to elements such as: family, patriotism, or homemade... For example, you can talk about the national origin of the dish or discuss any handcrafted components,...
7. Name dishes with family connections
Still based on psychological studies showing that customers often resonate with elements linked to family emotions. Because for every Vietnamese person, the image of a family meal together is always a sacred memory, directly touching people's emotions.
Many restaurants have been clever, naming dishes like: Mom's Homecooked Rice, Grandma's Crab Soup, Grandpa's Stir-Fried Noodles,... Sounds really heartfelt, doesn't it?
According to culinary experts, this makes customers feel closer and more familiar, making them enjoy dining out more. Customers return to the restaurant more frequently, and naturally, the restaurant's revenue increases.
8. Focus on showcasing in the 'hotspot' area of sight
Studies have shown that the top right corner of each menu is where customers first look and remember it better than other areas. So, utilize this area to 'present' what you want to sell the most. It could be a new dish, the highest-rated dish, or the dish that brings the highest profit to your restaurant,...
9. How many dishes in the menu are 'enough'?
Even if your kitchen can make hundreds of guaranteed delicious dishes, never think about putting all those hundreds of dishes on the restaurant menu.
Because according to psychological experts, when customers choose a menu, they usually prioritize a certain number: if the number of dishes is too few, they will feel the restaurant is poor and monotonous. But if the list has too many choices, they will become confused, not knowing which dish to choose. The result is:
● In fast-food outlets, the ideal number is 6 dishes for each category (appetizers, main courses, desserts);
● Whereas in restaurants, typically this number is 7 appetizers and 10 main courses.
Create an effective menu rather than just a 'beautiful' menu. An effective menu is one that brings you more profit. In other words, an effective menu is like a marketing employee silently advertising for your restaurant.
Wishing you all abundant success in your business endeavors,
With warm regards,
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EXPLORE FURTHER
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