Menu envy

When considering a new menu layout – here’s a few tricky design tips from the experts on ways to subtly sway the diner and maximise dining profitability for your restaurant:

1.     Eyes go to the upper right hand corner first – put the pricier items here

2.     The anchor – the role of the most expensive plate on the menu is to make everything near it look like a relative bargain

3.     Offer a smaller serving size of the anchor – still profitable and feels indulgent

4.     High profit dishes cluster near the anchor

5.     Columns are killers. Omit all $ or £ symbols too

6.     Add boxes to draw attention

7.     Menu Siberia – for low margin dishes or reliable orders

8.     Bracketing to offer size options – diners will tend to trade up

To read more, here’s a link to the Menu Mind Games article on the New York Restaurants site:

http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/62498/

Excerpted from Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It), to be published in January by Hill & Wang, an imprint of Farrar, Straus & Giroux. © 2010 by William Poundstone. All rights reserved.