How Studying Restaurant Menus Can Make You a Better Copywriter. Proof!

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I Never thought you could learn much about copywriting by studying high end restaurant menus, but I guess you can.

Cornell University recently did a study of high-end restaurant menus. They decoded them and made some interesting discoveries.

They found even the smallest of details like how a word is placed, used, or even highlighted made up to a 28 percent difference in sales.

In fact, the article gave many similarities between customers menu choices that pull high end dishes ... to a sales letter that pulls sales.

Interesting reading for any copywriting student.

Here's The Link To Research Study
Food scientists decode sales tactics of restaurant menus
#copywriter #make #menus #restaurant #studying
  • Profile picture of the author Sajun Becker
    This is an excellent case study for anyone interested in the psychological (and perhaps sociological) components of copywriting.

    I value technique and precision, but ultimately I write 'em as I see 'em.

    Great find Niche Man.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chriswrighto
      This is actually something I did as a past business venture... It started whilst at my part-time job back, when I was 17/18. I would generally work as the Restaurant Manager on the weekends.

      Every Sunday (in the winter) we would sell a Roast Dinner which as priced a bit higher than the other dishes... (£8.50, rather than £7)... so I thought I would see how I could boost sales.

      (I had read "I is for Influence" by Rob Yeung a few weeks prior... so this probably sparked my interest.)

      My main trick was to create little stands (folded thick paper, picture a V upside down) to go on each table telling what meat the roast was that day. On this same stand, I made a bit of text stand out saying "Customer's favourite dish" or something similar.

      This form of social proof had the biggest effect.

      On top of this I:
      • Would use scarcity... "They're selling quick," "only 10 left," we only ever had a limited amount of them, for reasons I'll explain later.
      • Would try to create a situation where the customers would act consistently in their decisions. Linking their 'traditional' family to our 'classic' roast dinner.
      • Would pre-sell them with a sign as soon as they entered (it was a restaurant within a paid-entry park) with a big ol' sign and hopefully a mention from the admission team.

      There's probably a few more... but this was a couple of years ago now.

      I can't remember the exact results... but they were good enough to motivate me to launch a business off the back of it... I think on some days we doubled sales from the control and regularly sold out.

      What effect did this have for the restaurant?

      It essentially meant more profit for 2 reasons...

      1. Selling more roast, duh?

      2. Cutting down on waste.

      The catering manager always limited the amount of roasts we could sell (it was better to sell out, than be left with a ton of food) because hard roast potatoes and old veggies can't be resold. They went to the pigs.

      Chris
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      • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
        Originally Posted by Chriswrighto View Post


        The catering manager always limited the amount of roasts we could sell (it was better to sell out, than be left with a ton of food) because hard roast potatoes and old veggies can't be resold. They went to the pigs.

        Chris
        Interesting how you used scarcity to sell "more" roast. Kind of an irony.

        Off the record. Did you really only have 10 left?
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        • Profile picture of the author Chriswrighto
          Originally Posted by The Niche Man View Post

          Interesting how you used scarcity to sell "more" roast. Kind of an irony.

          Off the record. Did you really only have 10 left?
          At first I'd use terms like "They're selling fast"... which implies scarcity.

          And then when I knew we were getting down to 20 or so (average of 5 families all having roast dinners) I'd use the "we've only got XX left".

          Was especially helpful when we were coming towards the end of the lunch period.

          Don't worry, my ethics are good.
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  • Profile picture of the author TracyBelshee
    They also use menu placement as a way to sell items with a higher profit margin. Just like with a webpage, etc., placement on the menu really has an affect on buyers decisions.

    Learned a bunch of this years ago in another life going through culinary school. Shoulda paid more attention
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  • Profile picture of the author big tymer
    a food scientist discovered this? marketing people have been doing this stuff for years. I think it goes to saying the more descriptive the menu is for a dish the more you can charge for it. if I see red beans and rice, I probably wouldn't order it, but if it was Cajun red beans and rice then I know more about it since it is Cajun it is prepared a certain way than if it was just red beans and rice I would think it is just a plain one.
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    • Profile picture of the author The Niche Man
      Originally Posted by big tymer View Post

      a food scientist discovered this? marketing people have been doing this stuff for years.
      True. But you know as well as I do that scientific study always has to play catch up
      to marketplace realities. I'm still seeing "New" scientific studies of what attracts women to men and men to women.
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      • Profile picture of the author JamesDLayton
        Back in my retail days I often wondered around the shop floor and pointed out things to the sales managers. One thing that struck me was a glass vertical cabinet they used for camcorders (do they still make those?).

        Anyway the sales team had them in price order, Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, Canon etc. Down to the cheap as nails stuff. I told the sales manager he would be better of pairing the cheap ones with expensive ones on each shelf rather than putting them in price order.

        He said "No people like to see them in price order, since if they want an expensive one they look at the top where the Sony is" I told him he would sell more if he put them side by side with the cheaper models then pointed out the GLARING differences between the two prices and the features. As opposed to putting the cheap ones at the bottom where nobody can see them.

        Also who the hell wants to crawl around on the floor and feel like a cheapskate looking for a Vivitar??

        He didn't listen until one day a lady came in and I happened to be on the shop floor (I was logistics manager). I saw she was taking a look at the cameras and helped her choose a VERY nice Sony Handycam with Zeiss lens. Handed the sale over to a salesman and went about my business.

        The manager asked how I sold her in less than 5 minutes. Simple.... she was comparing a £600 camera with a £620 camera of the same make and same spec almost bar a few add ons. She got STUCK trying to make a decision so I showed her a Sanyo, same kinda thing just cheaper at £400. THEN told her the difference between the two. Carl Zeiss lens, HD recording (back when SD was the norm) night vision (god i miss when Sony had IR vision) and she could see the difference right away.

        Bought the Sony.

        Soon as you get the customer to SEE the differences for themselves and the quality (benefits) especially, it makes the sale easier. They kept the cabinet nice and pretty (mainly due to the Sony reps getting hissy about mixing it up) but sales were terrible. Just needed to mix it up a bit and offer some range/price difference side by side.

        Getting behind the customers eyes and seeing what they see is half the battle.

        Getting a manager to see the light.... another thing entirely.

        James
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