Assistant Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management Sybil Yang discussed strategies employed by menu designers to steer customers toward specific foods on the Oct. 29 episode of Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane on WHYY Radio.
Whether menus "spell out the price -- like twenty dollars -- or put in the decimal points or even put the dollar sign on, if there is a constant reminder of money, then we find that people start thinking about money and tend to spend a little less," Yang said. "We also see prices being used as decoys ... [like] the Hooters menu ... [with a] 40-piece wing meal with a bottle of Dom Perignon ... you have a $200 price point on the menu and all of the sudden, that 20-piece plate of wings is not the highest price and it doesn't seem all that unreasonable."