What Is Restaurant Bracketing And How Does It Cost You Money?
BY NEALA BRODERICK
A menu probably looks like nothing more than a well-designed list of what's for lunch, but months (or even years) of research and planning are often put into it.
Restaurant menus first draw us in with bold fonts and bright borders, but can manipulate us into spending more with a deceptively simple menu technique known as bracketing.
Bracketing plays on the psychological concept of anchoring bias, which is the idea that people place a lot of weight on the first piece of information they see.
Menu designers use this to their advantage by grouping items together at varied prices in hopes of the customer choosing the mid-range or priciest option rather than the cheapest.
Aside from basic two-for-one deals and daily specials, restaurants use dozens of well-known psychological tricks to nudge patrons to spend more, like how the price is listed.
Cornell Hospitality Report said that dollar signs on the menu are a big deterrent to patrons, citing a 2009 study published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management.