Tony: [Showing Tramp the menu] Now, tell me, what’s your pleasure? A la carte? Dinner? [Tramp barks] Aha, Okay. Hey, Joe! Butch-a he say he wants-a two spaghetti speciale, heavy on the meats-a ball.
It should come to no surprise that restaurant owners adjust their menus to increase check totals overall and to promote the items that bring in the most profit. We told you earlier today that when there were no dollar signs on the menu, customers spent more.
As Dave Pasegic of the Restaurant Resource Group notes, a menu …
is the only piece of printed advertising that you are virtually 100 percent sure will be read by the guest. Once placed in the guest’s hand, it can directly influence not only what they will order, but ultimately how much they will spend.
And the strategies used to promote high-profit items are very intriguing.
People don’t read menus from top to bottom — or at least, their gaze doesn’t necessarily linger at the top. For example ….
… the National Restaurant Association recommends that chefs place the dishes they want to sell on the center of the inside right page of their menu.
photo { Terry Richardson }
