Every time you pick up a menu, you're being manipulated into what the restaurant wants you to order.
In author William Poundstone's new book, Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It), the menu is broken down according to item placement and graphics, in order to show how you're less in charge of your meal than you suspect. New York Magazine has an excerpt from Poundstone's book.
According to Poundstone, restaurant consultants divide menu items into three categories:
"A star is a popular, high-profit item -- in other words, an item for which customers are willing to pay a good deal more than it costs to make," Poundstone explains. "A puzzle is high-profit but unpopular; a plowhorse is the opposite, popular yet unprofitable. Consultants try to turn puzzles into stars, nudge customers away from plowhorses, and convince everyone that the prices on the menu are more reasonable than they look."
That's how you end up with cheaper options tucked into the bottom of the menu or in smaller print and more lavish entrees being given prime placement in the upper right hand corner -- where your eye is likely to go first. Ultimately Poundstone's ideas are about how relativity is the one critical component in menu placement.
The $20 steak doesn't seem so expensive when placed next to the lobster tail dinner that runs $35. In fact, it looks like a bargain. The big-ticket item on the menu is what Poundstone calls "the anchor," and it is usually surrounded by puzzles or stars, which the restaurant wants you to order because of the high-profit margin attached to those dishes. Now you know why there's a $100 option on a menu where the average dish is $25. With more people thinking about menu prices, this is an interesting look at the other factors that influence our decisions when we go out to dinner.
[Image via Flickr: wolfiewolf]
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I just found this page. There is actually diabetic menu at the Subway's in Kansas right now. http://www.subwayscoopit.com/ pretty cool.
Funny, when I go through a menu I look at the prices first and the dishes second. That way I always find the cheap alternative before my stomach suckers me into something more expensive. Not to say that I don't spring for a steak every once in a while but I do it on my terms. I think I do need to show this article to my wife though...
Does anyone know of a Diabetic Friendly menu at any fast food restaurants in the Kansas City metro area?
One of the things I have realized lately in almost every tex-mex restaurant here in Austin - They 'star' the fajita plates on the menu, which cost anywhere from $10-18 depending on the restaurant... on the same menu you almost always have 'fajita tacos' which are almost the exact same thing, just constructed for you with maybe a little less meat and peppers/onions overall, but for literally half the price or less. Always go for the fajita tacos!
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