Menu Psychology

December 23, 2009 12:13 PM

Restaurants use menu psychology to entice diners. (SLNYT)

"If admen had souls, many would probably trade them for an opportunity every restaurateur already has: the ability to place an advertisement in every customer’s hand before they part with their money."

posted by AceRock (77 comments total)

Ohh, ohh, ohhh, I want to be a "menu engineer." I don't recall that being on my list of college electives, though.
posted by Red58 at 12:29 PM on December 23, 2009

See also: William Poundstone on the subject.
posted by sappidus at 12:29 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

"menu engineer".... you're kidding right???

That said... I could use some nice fried chicken livers right now....
posted by HuronBob at 12:34 PM on December 23, 2009

I'm waiting for a smart-ass diner to plunk-down a quarter for his "25" meal.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:34 PM on December 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I saw that other article. Is the NYT stealing ideas from New York Magazine now?
posted by smackfu at 12:34 PM on December 23, 2009

"How are the Southwestern Pizza Fingers? Awesomely outrageous, you say? In that case, I'll take two."
posted by you just lost the game at 12:38 PM on December 23, 2009 [5 favorites]

"menu engineer".... you're kidding right???

Not to be all economixy about it, but of course this would happen. The subdivision and outsourcing (not from a national but from a firm perspective) has long been in the realm of creative content. It makes perfect sense that whereas restaurants used to make their own signs, ads (websites too) and menus, it's now all done by "specialists".
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 12:40 PM on December 23, 2009

mengineer
posted by blue_beetle at 12:48 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Wait! This menu is actually a...marketing brochure?! To sell me the restaurant's food and service!? DUPED, duped is how I feel. I'm going to show them! Next time, instead of saying to the waitress, "I'll have the Pan Seared Halibut with Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes and Beet Salad," I'll just say, "I'm having the fish. Your messaging won't get into MY head, garçon!"
posted by iamkimiam at 12:48 PM on December 23, 2009 [9 favorites]

Menu Design and Planning was actually part of our curriculum in culinary school, circa 1987. This was the book we used - notice that there is a version from 1970.

Another thing that is very planned, especially in chain restaurants, is the layout and design of the facility itself. For example, in some fast food restaurants, the chairs are tilted slightly forward and the lights are designed to reflect on the tables in such a way that you become uncomfortable so that you'll eat faster and leave.
posted by ralan at 12:49 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

> Some restaurants use what researchers call decoys. For example, they may place a really expensive item at the top of the menu, so that other dishes look more reasonably priced

Gale's Snack Bar in Toronto tries to pull this sort of thing. Note how the hot beef and turkey sandwiches (3.00: you'll notice they don't use dollar signs on the menu, either) are prominently located at the top of the menu board. Most diners will opt for the cheeseburger instead, a more reasonable 1.25, or the clubhouse, moderately priced at 1.95.
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:57 PM on December 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

I worked in a restaurant once where I happened to pick up some marketing material from a food supplier. It looked like a regular menu, except next to each entree, it included the actual cost of the drink/appetizer/entree to the restaurant.

The price of each soda was .03 cents, which I kind of knew, but it was still shocking to think about the profit. The story was the same on the other items - not quite as much profit as a soda, of course, but still eye-opening.
posted by HopperFan at 12:57 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

iamkimiam: ... I'll just say, "I'm having the fish...."

I thought that's what people did anyway? I don't recall ever having heard one of my co-diners say something like "I'll have the Pan Seared Halibut with Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes and Beet Salad". I know I never have; if nothing else I'm too lazy to give more than the minimum description necessary to identify the entree I want.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:59 PM on December 23, 2009

Plus, usually, "Can I get cheese on that?"
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:59 PM on December 23, 2009

The price of each soda was .03 cents

The price of each soda was three-tenths of a cent? I think something's wrong with somebody's math.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:01 PM on December 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

"Garçon" means "boy".
posted by BeerFilter at 1:02 PM on December 23, 2009 [5 favorites]

The price of each soda was three-tenths of a cent? I think something's wrong with somebody's math.

It was probably one of those Verizon cafes.
posted by odinsdream at 1:07 PM on December 23, 2009 [13 favorites]

I thought that's what people did anyway? I don't recall ever having heard one of my co-diners say something like "I'll have the Pan Seared Halibut with Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes and Beet Salad". I know I never have; if nothing else I'm too lazy to give more than the minimum description necessary to identify the entree I want.

You'd be surprised. Several years ago a waitress friend of mine told me her #1 pet peeve about her job. It was when people read the entire line/description of the food item at her. As if without verbatim-style ordering, she might get confused between that and the steak. As if ordering just 'the fish' would preclude it from pan-searing or make it any less [adjective stated on the menu]. I started noticing when people did this ever since. It's good for an in-my-head giggle every single time.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:11 PM on December 23, 2009

Garçon à la pipe
posted by swift at 1:11 PM on December 23, 2009

The price of each soda was three-tenths of a cent? I think something's wrong with somebody's math.

Actually, at a place like McDonald's, that could be about right. The arrangement that McDonald's has with Coca-Cola basically means McDonald's pays almost $0 for the actual product. The only appreciable costs to McDonald's for a soda are the cups, lids, and ice.
posted by jckll at 1:12 PM on December 23, 2009

Then again, maybe I go to dinner with a lot of anal-retentive control freaks.
posted by iamkimiam at 1:13 PM on December 23, 2009

The price of each soda was .03 cents

The price of each soda was three-tenths of a cent? I think something's wrong with somebody's math.

Probably your math. .03 cents is 3 hundredths of a cent.

Probably also someone else's math. 3 cents per soda is still absurdly cheap.
posted by explosion at 1:13 PM on December 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

The price of each soda was .03 cents

The price of each soda was three-tenths of a cent? I think something's wrong with somebody's math.
posted by Sidhedevil


Whoops, I blame the Drambuie. OK, it's three cents. There.
posted by HopperFan at 1:13 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

What about those of us who just look at a menu and say, "Okay?"
posted by Shohn at 1:15 PM on December 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

So that number with no dollar sign set up still uses the number as the price? Wow. I always assumed it was some kind of code, and meant I really couldn't afford the place. So I don't eat at places that do that.

I don't think that was what they meant to do.
posted by dilettante at 1:22 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

"CODE 26 ON THE PRIME RIB!

I REPEAT: CODE 26 ON THE PRIME RIB!!!"


*runs for the door*
posted by darkstar at 1:31 PM on December 23, 2009

9 for me is usually Orange Beef and white rice. Does not arrive with eggroll.

Bars and restaurants have been creating personal affinities to enhance their products for years. Just look at those sonsabitches at Guinness, what with their pour and the wait and the shamrock nonsense. Kobe beef, you say? Not unless you're in Kobe, but please feel free to spend twice as much as you'd usually spend on ground chuck and other, nameless parts.
posted by jsavimbi at 1:32 PM on December 23, 2009

SLNYT for a print news article, really? Go far young man, go far.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 1:41 PM on December 23, 2009

I may just start reading out the entire name and description of each entree from now on...

"Well yes indeed we are ready to order! Now, I'd like you to start with a fluffy, open-faced biscuit. Then, add a crispy layer of hash browns, and top it with sizzling bacon and two farm fresh eggs. Ah! Ah! I'm not done yet. Finally, I'd like you to smother it with creamy sausage gravy, and sprinkle it with shredded cheddar cheese. Then I'd like you deliver to me what I see here is known hereabouts as a 'Southern Smothered Biscuit Platter With Eggs.' Whew. Say that five times fast, huh? 'Southern Smothered Biscuit Platter.' 'Southern Smothered Biscuit Platter.' 'Southern Smothered Biscuit Platter.' 'Southern Smothered Bisc' -- well honestly, she didn't even wait to get my drink order."
posted by rusty at 1:41 PM on December 23, 2009 [5 favorites]

Was fascinated by "menu engineer and consultant" Rapp's classification of customers:

Susan Franck, vice president of marketing for the chain, said she was intrigued about the four types of diners Mr. Rapp had identified. The customers he calls “Entrees” do not want a lot of description, just the bottom line on what the dish is and how much it is going to cost. “Recipes,” on the other hand, ask many questions and want to know as much as they can about the ingredients. “Barbecues” share food and like chatty servers who wear name tags. “Desserts” are trendy people who want to order trendy things.

I'm a Recipe/Barbecue myself. (I don't care about name tags, but how do you get recipe info if your server won't chat?)
posted by bearwife at 1:47 PM on December 23, 2009

Yay, Drambuie!

Three-cent soda makes more cents to me. And yeah, I was wrong, too, and I don't even have any Drambuie.

The best TV ever about "ordering using the stupid menu-language" was the bit on the first Bob Newhart Show, where a young John Ritter played a waiter at a theme restaurant where Bob and Emily took Howie and his son. Bob tried to order different selections of ice cream, and Ritter tormented him by making him use the stupid names on the menu, blowing a trumpet, etc.

John Ritter chanting "Single-scooper! Single-scooper! Someone is a party-pooper!" at a slow-burning Bob Newhart was a fantastic comic moment.

I am cross that this is unfindable by me on YouTube, but I am probably being a thicko the same way I was about ".03 cents" and someone else will find it instantly.
posted by Sidhedevil at 1:50 PM on December 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

We went over to visit my parents when they were living, briefly, in Bordeaux. They were very nice and took us out a to a few really good restaurants. One of them gave me the impression of being up its own arse as soon as we walked in. They handed us menus and straight away I realised I was going to be ordering the 3 course special as it was so ridiculously expensive for anything else. My girlfriend was humming and hawing not able to decide what to get. I asked her what she was going to order and she showed me the menu and pointed at two options. Her menu had no prices. I looked at the menu my Mother had been handed and it had no prices. I don't think they thought much of their clientele - male or female.
posted by Elmore at 1:59 PM on December 23, 2009

jckll The only appreciable costs to McDonald's for a soda are the cups, lids, and ice.

Don't forget the store, the schoolkids to run the store, and the years and years of advertising and product development and procedural refinement. The return on investment to the owner for a chain fast food franchise is not huge. On the other hand it's pretty close to a certain return, and it returns more if you're willing to work. If you define "McDonald's" as the corporate entity rather than the franchisees, well, they don't buy or sell soda, but they're the ones making the most money out of it.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 2:02 PM on December 23, 2009

The price of each soda was .03 cents

In some restaurants, the sodas are free.

You sign a contract with, say, Coke, to lease the fountain equipment and place signage in the restaurant and on your menus, and exclusively serve only Coke and Coke products. They provide as much syrup as you want at no additional charge.

Kind of like the reverse of Gillette giving you the razor and charging you for the blades.

Through this kind of an arrangement, and other similar arrangements with other vendors ("Proud to serve Budweiser!"), one of the restaurants I worked for lowered its total average drink cost to less than 25 cents. This would be the average wholesale cost of all drinks of all kinds. While the cost of each soda was down around three cents once you factored in labor and whatnot, that five dollar glass of wine? Averaged out, it cost 25 cents. Five dollar bottle of beer? 25 cents.

Relatively speaking, food and beverage costs were nothing. Labor, rent and the initial purchases of equipment were the issues. If you could make it past year three, and kept a minimal flow of people walking in the door, you could pretty much stay profitable forever.

It's those first years that are the killer...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:02 PM on December 23, 2009 [3 favorites]

What about those of us who just look at a menu and say, "Okay?"

.

RIP Rodney!
posted by mikelieman at 2:06 PM on December 23, 2009

If I saw a menu with quirky non-sequitur items like "Bubble Gum" with no description, I would probably leave without ordering. Or order one of everything, and then leave. Fuck that.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:08 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Her menu had no prices. I looked at the menu my Mother had been handed and it had no prices.

I am sure that it will surprise exactly nobody here to hear that when I get a "ladies' menu" in a restaurant, I politely tell the waiter that there is something wrong with my menu, and I would like one that has the prices printed on it.

Or that may surprise those of you who think I'd just shout about it. But of course it's not the waitstaff's fault--it's the douchebag owner's.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:10 PM on December 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

Elmore, i believe that fancier restaurants in the olden days used to have two menus, one for the men (the host, the wallet, the Diner's Card owner) and one for the ladies... guess which one had the prices?
posted by infini at 2:11 PM on December 23, 2009

[when and if there's a registration-free link, could somebody post it, please? I don't want to go through that whole goddamned ordeal again. thanks.]
posted by koeselitz at 2:11 PM on December 23, 2009

This makes me think of I forget her name, the comedian who said that the thing about Bill Clinton--that he was they guy you knew was a cad but you took him home and fucked him anyway.

I want to be manipulated by restaurant menus. I'm showing up for a highly choreographed episode of self-indulgence. That's why I left the house. There's almost never anything on a menu I couldn't make at home -- it's the otherness of the setting, the sense of being outside the rules, that makes it fun to order nutritional catastrophes like fried cheese, or economic catastrophes like carpaccio.

But then, I was raised Catholic and have a lot of problems in the indulgence/prohibition arena.

I'm pretty cool with that, though.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 2:30 PM on December 23, 2009 [4 favorites]

WHAT. I guess I don't go to enough fancy/misogynist restaurants, because I had never heard of the existence of a "ladies' menu."

I was snickering at that one wacky jackass Bordeaux restaurant, until Sidhedevil mentioned it too. Now I'm just agog.
posted by ErikaB at 2:36 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

If I saw a menu with quirky non-sequitur items like "Bubble Gum" with no description, I would probably leave without ordering. Or order one of everything, and then leave. Fuck that.

I think it's safe to say, then, that you are not Alinea's target market. (Like the article said, though, you don't get the actual menu until after the meal. When each dish is brought to the table, you'll usually get a little explication of it... although there was one where the server placed the course in front of us and said "... I have no idea.")
posted by asterix at 2:36 PM on December 23, 2009

I had never heard of the existence of a "ladies' menu."

Me neither. Makes me want to do some experimenting though with a willing fella and 2-menu restaurant.

Date 1: Me in non-passable drag, but acting like the butch partner, other fella hams up the flaming role.

Date 2: Me in non-passable drag, acting femme, while partner is dress 'manly', but still does the over the top flaming.

Date 3: both of us dressed 'normally', one acting femme, one acting butch

etc...

Anyone want to fund my research program?
posted by nomisxid at 2:48 PM on December 23, 2009 [3 favorites]

ladies menu / blind menu - the only decent search result I could find
posted by infini at 2:50 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Frank Bruni on the "ladies' menu" (and its successor, the "guest menu").
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:52 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

...and Sidhedevil wins the googlefu prize!
posted by infini at 2:53 PM on December 23, 2009

Wonder what the menu engineer for Balthazar would make of Kenny Shopsin's menu. If any menu could ever be said to be on LSD it would be this one. (Check out the Clockwork Orange Julius on page 2)

Shopsin menu (pdf file)
posted by jeremias at 2:54 PM on December 23, 2009 [2 favorites]

Shopsin's menu.
Well, it's got the "make-you-hungry" blue and red...

And yeah, asterix, I think that's a safe bet. I like my restaurants restauranty and my po-mo art galleries far, far away.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 3:03 PM on December 23, 2009

Shopsin menu

Jesus H. Christ. What the fuck was that? JUST OPEN YOUR FACE HOLE AND WE WILL BAZOOKA FOOD INTO IT BECAUSE SERIOUSLY WE HAVE EVERY FOODS EVER

Also:

"My son, whose hair may be
receding a bit, says
Did you really just
say that to me?"

Why? Why is this on a menu? I need a hot towel or something.
posted by Skot at 3:04 PM on December 23, 2009 [5 favorites]

I like my restaurants restauranty and my po-mo art galleries far, far away.

FWIW, the "bubble gum" is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: it's tapioca-style pearls flavored like bubble gum. (Or was, when I went there in May. They may have changed the presentation since then.)
posted by asterix at 3:15 PM on December 23, 2009

Wow. At least it's not just bubble gum.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 3:17 PM on December 23, 2009

Shopsin menu

Jesus H. Christ. What the fuck was that? JUST OPEN YOUR FACE HOLE AND WE WILL BAZOOKA FOOD INTO IT BECAUSE SERIOUSLY WE HAVE EVERY FOODS EVER.

Shopsin's is a relatively well known "out-of-the-way" restaurant (if there is such a thing) well known for its eccentric owner and his aforementioned insane menu.

New Yorker article on Kenny Shopsin.
posted by jeremias at 3:42 PM on December 23, 2009

Jesus H. Christ. What the fuck was that? JUST OPEN YOUR FACE HOLE AND WE WILL BAZOOKA FOOD INTO IT BECAUSE SERIOUSLY WE HAVE EVERY FOODS EVER

This is what he's like in person.

If he likes you, that is. If he doesn't like you, yerrout.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:43 PM on December 23, 2009

Apparently one of the most common circumstances in which menus without prices were presented was a man taking a woman to dinner. Like holding open the door for her or helping her with her coat, giving her a menu that didn’t show how much the lobster cost was considered a laudable act of chivalry.

Not only that, at the end of the night the guy could, if needed, fall back on "Whaddaya mean you won't put out? Do you know how much that dinner cost me?! Do you?!??"
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:43 PM on December 23, 2009

The price of each soda was .03 cents, which I kind of knew, but it was still shocking to think about the profit. The story was the same on the other items - not quite as much profit as a soda, of course, but still eye-opening.

Remember, the retail price minus the cost is not the profit. Overhead is a killer. The profits seem ridiculous until you start formulating a business plan, or unless you manage/own a restaurant.

In reality, a lot of restaurants make very little if anything on the food. A lot of the margin is in the soft drink or booze if they sell it. The business model typically allows for it, but the majority of restaurants still fail in the first 2-5 years.
posted by krinklyfig at 3:46 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Why? Why is this on a menu? I need a hot towel or something.

I think it's great. Then again, I like the label on Dr. Bronner's soap.
posted by krinklyfig at 3:50 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

Big Nick's used to have a printed menu like Shopsin's. Now it's a little more readable, but still crammed full of dishes and options.

Open 23 hours a day, and they'll make any kind of pizza or burger you can imagine, given 24 hours notice and ingredients available in the city. An ex-girlfriend used to routinely get a sourdough crust small white pizza with sliced fresh and sundried tomatoes, vidalia onions, anchovies, lox, cream cheese, jalepeños, green chili peppers and prosciutto.

It tasted disgusting.
posted by zarq at 3:50 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

I think it's great. Then again, I like the label on Dr. Bronner's soap.

You can read 'em online. :)
posted by zarq at 3:52 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

If he likes you, that is. If he doesn't like you, yerrout.

Heh. So true. But I went in forewarned and didn't tell him what I do for a living. :D

One of my favorite places in NYC.
posted by zarq at 3:57 PM on December 23, 2009

"Remember, the retail price minus the cost is not the profit. Overhead is a killer. The profits seem ridiculous until you start formulating a business plan, or unless you manage/own a restaurant."

Oh, god, I knew someone was going to overanalyze. Yes, I worked in restaurants for years, I know the other costs. It was just interesting, fercrissakes.

Now for some more Drambuie. Who else wants some?
posted by HopperFan at 4:16 PM on December 23, 2009

And here's a tasty recipe that includes Drambuie - Hot Rusty Nail, from a good friend of mine:

"tak a big dram glass
up tae hauf wi hot watter
- well, jist unner hauf -
add a big splash ae drambuie
up tae thi tap wi whisky
that makes it warm but no quite hot
add three or four draps ae tabasco for the' Hot'
big stir ... an' yiv got it

Hiv ye gote tha'?"

Happy Festivus/Christmas/Holidays!
posted by HopperFan at 4:22 PM on December 23, 2009 [5 favorites]

i love drambuie

and i've got rusty nail stories i'd rather not recall ;p
posted by infini at 4:25 PM on December 23, 2009

Tangent: there is an interesting documentary about Shopsin called I Like Killing Flies.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 4:40 PM on December 23, 2009

The documentary BitterOldPunk mentions is engrossing, moreover. That menu was a blast.
posted by everichon at 5:43 PM on December 23, 2009

Remember, the retail price minus the cost is not the profit. Overhead is a killer.

Yes, that's true. However, at least in my anecdote, the costs here factored in overhead. It wasn't 100 percent mathematically precise, because some estimates were involved. Twenty-five cents was the average drink cost to buy it, store it, chill it, serve it and bus the table.

I mean, a keg of Bud was $25, wholesale, in a bulk order. The keg holds 200 12-ounce glasses. That's a 13-cent beer selling for $3! And you wonder how places can sell nickel beer.

This was the late 80s, so inflation has been a factor since then, of course. The issue is always, can you get enough people in the door, and can you average enough dollars from your available seats to pay your expenses.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 6:17 PM on December 23, 2009

I mean, a keg of Bud was $25, wholesale, in a bulk order. The keg holds 200 12-ounce glasses.

Times have changed. A keg holds 165 twelve ounce servings, but somewhere in between 140-160 sellable servings depending on foam and spillage (and this depends on your taps, lines, glasses, coolers, and most importantly on your bartenders).

On the price side, in the bars where I've worked in DC, the alcohol control laws mandate a distributor system where all the profits are absorbed by the monopoly distributor who sell at 10-12% under retail (but maybe it's just DC, that's my only experience). So there is no cheap beer for bars and restaurants (from my experience the best discounts were in massive over-purchases in liquor when the distributors were having a special, but warehousing a huge quantity of spirits only encourages employee theft).

From my time working at places that would order large quantities of domestic swill, our wholesale prices were only pennies-per-serving lower than retail prices, excluding sales tax. There's still plenty of profit on alcohol sales but not nearly as much as you suggest.
posted by peeedro at 8:40 PM on December 23, 2009

I mean, a keg of Bud was $25, wholesale, in a bulk order. The keg holds 200 12-ounce glasses. That's a 13-cent beer selling for $3! And you wonder how places can sell nickel beer.

OK, margins on in-house booze are generally much better than food, but keep in mind overhead is not a fixed cost. Here in NM, no more liquor licenses are available from the state, as they've all been bought (and the number is fixed). However, there is a secondary, very lucrative (for the resellers) market for buying a liquor license in such a circumstance, and it's perfectly legal. So, you can expect to spend $300-500K to get the license for full liquor on premises (bar + package is about double that). Despite this, drinks in bars here tend to be on the cheap side, but I quit drinking years ago, so not sure if this is still true. As peedro mentioned, in some places the cost is fixed in a way which prevents the typical wide margin.
posted by krinklyfig at 8:50 PM on December 23, 2009

our wholesale prices were only pennies-per-serving lower than retail prices

Yeah, but which retail price are you talking about?

If a standard beer from a regular bar here costs approx (AUD) $5, that same beer in a bottle from a liquor store will be around $3.50, or $2.50 in a six-pack, or about $1.50 in a "slab" (carton of two dozen).

In a regular restaurant, you'd pay about $6-7, which is a markup of around $5.50 from what I would consider retail. I'd assume that restaurants would get a further discount from wholesalers, and even retail discounts for buying many slabs at once.
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:56 PM on December 23, 2009

John Ritter chanting "Single-scooper! Single-scooper! Someone is a party-pooper!" at a slow-burning Bob Newhart was a fantastic comic moment.

Found it! It's at videosurf, I can't seem to link to it directly, but it's at the bottom of the page.
posted by zinfandel at 10:08 PM on December 23, 2009 [1 favorite]

A number of restaurant chains seem to have had their menus designed by the same person: Chili's, Ruby Tuesday, Applebee's and Outback Steakhouse spring immediately to mind. As far as I know, they aren't owned by the same ubercorporation, but you wouldn't know that by looking at those shiny laminated menus filled with almost identical (except for the themed names) items.

Engineering is the practical application of science toward some end. Those menus indicate, in the way that all suspension bridges do, that there's some sort of settled science behind them.
posted by Jimmy Havok at 1:36 AM on December 24, 2009

Her menu had no prices. I looked at the menu my Mother had been handed and it had no prices.

Yes, that happens in more fancy-pants restaurants in Europe. I kinda like it. As half of a gay couple I get to enjoy both aspects -- getting the menu with no prices (clearly I'm going to be paid for) or getting the priced menu (clearly I'm the more worldly-wise and affluent one).
posted by Lleyam at 3:15 AM on December 24, 2009

As someone who designs menus for a living, (and someone who has attended workshops and "boot camps" run by Greg Rapp) I can say that this article only scratches the surface of all the research and effort that goes into generating profits through menu design.

Perhaps I am too cynical, but I always make the assumption that there is science behind most things I come in contact with on a daily basis. When profits are involved, things are not left to chance.

It does amuse me how shocked people are when this is pointed out to them. "You mean, the company wants to make as much money as possible off of me? That's WRONG!"
posted by Futurehouse at 10:14 AM on December 24, 2009

When profits are involved, things are not left to chance.

Up to a point. I think people assume that corporations optimize everything, while small businesses are run more organically / badly. Like my local pizza place is lucky if their menu has everything spelled right. So it surprises people when a high-end restaurant, which they consider a small business, uses techniques that they would expect from a McDonald's or Chili's.
posted by smackfu at 11:38 AM on December 24, 2009

Shopsin menu

Jesus H. Christ. What the fuck was that? JUST OPEN YOUR FACE HOLE AND WE WILL BAZOOKA FOOD INTO IT BECAUSE SERIOUSLY WE HAVE EVERY FOODS EVER.

How do you even choose what to have there? I get menu paralysis when I have more than six or seven choices... three hundred and fifty billion choices would fucking kill me.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 5:43 PM on December 25, 2009

I'm on my mobile, but someone please google and link the bacon double churner menu item.
posted by Mid at 7:16 AM on December 26, 2009

this bacon double churner menu?
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:19 AM on December 26, 2009

Yes, always cracks me up.
posted by Mid at 9:20 AM on December 26, 2009