7 "tricks" to pick customers' pockets that you don't know about

A restaurant menu is not just a place to list dishes, but also contains many "tricks" to pick the pockets of diners.

When you walk into a restaurant, what is the first thing you do?

That is... sit down, then drink the glass of water poured by the waiter. And finally, the very important step: pick up the menu and start choosing your dishes.

But you know, the menu you hold is not just a book of dishes. It also contains hidden rules and tricks to make diners feel... hungry, ready to open their wallets to pay for luxurious dishes.

1. Print images on menus

Not all restaurants print pictures on their menus, but most do. And the point is, it’s not just to serve customers, because restaurants usually print pictures of their most expensive dishes.

Restaurants print pictures of their most expensive dishes on their menus...

With a menu that contains pictures, besides being able to easily visualize what their food will look like, they also tend to be more stimulated in their taste buds.

Therefore, even though the price of the dish may be a bit high, diners are still willing to pay, thereby increasing revenue for the restaurant.

2. Never put the "money" symbol on the menu

In fact, if you eat at high-end restaurants, you will rarely see currency symbols on the menu. If anything, it will just be the currency in parentheses in the upper or lower right corner, and the font size is not to mention... small.

...but rarely print the price of the food on it

The reason is human psychology. When you see the money symbol, of course you will think of money, and that is what restaurants do not want. They want you to focus on the food, instead of thinking about such... meaty things.

And in fact, this trick is quite effective, as some statistics on restaurants before and after applying this trick show relatively clear results.

3. The "art" of food arrangement: the cheapest dish must be at the end

And this is based on solid research. According to it, the general psychology of diners is to look at the upper right corner first, then gradually move down to the bottom left corner.

Usually expensive dishes are arranged at the top.

Knowing this, restaurants will of course have appropriate tactics. They will put the most expensive and delicious dishes at the top, and hide the cheapest dishes at the end of the line.

That's why you'll never find reasonably priced food within the first 10 seconds of looking at the menu.

4. Use "bait" with exorbitant prices

On every menu, there will always be a dish that is super expensive, maybe even twice as expensive as the second most expensive dish. In fact, the restaurant doesn't expect this dish to sell, because no one will buy it. What they care about is the dish next to it.

Appetizers are overpriced.

Usually, restaurants will set two different prices for that dish: one is cheap, one is quite expensive, but of course not as expensive as the "bait" dish.

At this point, customers will often choose dish number 2, regardless of its high price. This is because the low-priced dish feels unattractive, while placing it next to a dish with an extremely high price makes the value of dish number 2 seem reasonable.

5. "Double bait" strategy

Actually, the "bait" tactic is not enough, because there are still cases where customers choose the cheapest item regardless.

The cheapest item with the biggest profit

But restaurants do the math. The cheapest item is actually the most profitable, based on the cost and the sale price. So no matter which item you choose, the restaurant still wins.

6. Framing trap

On menus, you will see some dishes framed in very eye-catching and formal frames. That is because restaurants want you to pay more attention to them.

These dishes also have very classic, very Western and luxurious sounding names, making diners tend to order them even though they don't understand what they are.

Diners are fooled by the "loud" and luxurious names of dishes.

In fact, they may not be much different from other dishes, just with a few more spices and ingredients.

7. Special dishes

As with any menu, there will be dishes marked: Specials, most ordered dishes, or "Chef's Specials".

There is something called "special"

Actually, it might be all cooked by the regular chef. However, it makes you feel more secure about the dish, so you are willing to order it even if it is a little more expensive.

According to Young Knowledge