Menu Engineering: Design That Affects How You Dine
—M. M. Leonard
If you've dined out before, there's a good chance that your choices of food and drink were influenced by factors you weren't even aware of. Menu engineering is the practice of designing menus to influence what customers order and increase the amount they spend. In fast-food joints, neighborhood cafes, and upscale restaurants alike, menu engineering employs various tricks to draw the attention of hungry patrons.
The physical design of the menu is one such influencing factor. Heavy menus with thick binding are commonly associated with quality food. Where an item is listed on a menu also matters. The upper-right corner on a menu is where most customers look first, and many establishments place their most profitable item there. In addition, hiding the price under the name of the item and leaving off the currency symbol leave customers feeling less price-conscious.
The general visual design of a menu is critical. Yellow and red are considered the most effective colors for drawing the eye and arousing the appetite. Photos of juicy meats, melting cheese, and rich chocolate treats are known to increase sales by as much as 30 percent. Boxes, symbols, and bold type can be used to highlight menu items with the highest prices as well.
菜單暗藏心機：影響顧客的消費心理學
如果你以前有外出用餐過，你選擇的餐飲很有可能受到你甚至未察覺的因素影響。菜單工程是設計菜單來影響顧客點餐及增加他們花費的做法。在速食店、附近的咖啡簡餐店和高檔餐廳都一樣，菜單工程採用各種技倆來吸引飢腸轆轆的顧客注意。
菜單的外觀設計就是這樣一種具有影響力的因素。有著厚重裝訂的菜單通常會使人聯想到優質的食物。品項在菜單上列的位置也很重要。菜單右上角是多數顧客第一眼看到的地方，許多餐廳會把他們利潤最高的品項放在那裡。此外，把價格藏在品項名稱下方以及拿掉貨幣符號都會讓顧客對價錢較不敏感。
菜單整體的視覺設計很重要。黃色和紅色被認為是最吸睛以及引起食慾最有效的顏色。多汁的肉品、融化的起司以及濃郁的巧克力甜點的照片已知能夠增加多達百分之三十的銷售。方框、符號以及粗體字也能用來突顯價格最高的菜單品項。 |
