The study was conducted by Cornell University's Center for Hospitality Research at a restaurant of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Also known as "the significantly more delicious CIA." The study had an unexpected result, in that guests spent more when presented with a menu listing numeric prices with no currency sign ("20") than with the prices spelled out ("twenty dollars") This was the opposite of what psychological theory predicted.
"People who tend to be more price conscious, they'll start adding up what their part of the check is going to be," [study co-author Sybil Yang] said. "If you make that process a little more difficult for people by not presenting a number in Arabic numerals but rather as text, it becomes so much harder to add."Instead, the authors figured the dollar sign and the word "dollar" reminded folks they were about to spend money. The number format with no dollar reference took away that emphasis.
Fascinating stuff if you're in the food service industry, or if you're interested in retail psychology. Though this phenomenon did not escape the notice of Stuff White People Like.
On menus, dollar signs matter [Myrtle Beach Sun] (via Steve)
$ or Dollars: Effects of Menu-price Formats on Restaurant Checks [Cornell University]
(Photo: johnjoh)
]]>A little defensive, aren't we? Way to misread MostlyHarmless' post. You clearly have a chip on your shoulder regarding your job.
]]>I hate when places do this. No price on the glass of coke = 4.50 coke.
]]>@sibelius: I agree . I think it has as much to do with already being more pricey . The occassional splurgers like anniversaries and birthdays won't care nor do I think the people that eat out at those restaraunts on a regular basis worry about price .
I have read where alot of the higher end chain eateries are starting to hurt which tells me there's a regular business crowd that has an expense account or some serious business/customers at stake . Was the study done pre crash ? .
]]>Wow..I wonder if studies show that half-naked women in advertisements sell more products to male consumers?
]]>@ludwigk: when the concept of currency is abstracted even just a little bit, people tend to spend a lot more because the brain no longer associates the task at hand with money any more.
I think that's one of the reasons why casinos like chips. It's easier to put down a chip worth $100 (or, for me, $20) than a bill of the same value. Especially if you have to count out several bills every time.
I'm sure there are security advantages as well, but I think the symbolic abstraction of currency is also important.
]]>It sounds like you're questioning the methodology but you haven't looked at the study. There's a link to the abstract in the Consumerist article, and you can get the full paper from there.
]]>But only the ultra-rich, and government employees will have credit cards. The rest of us will be hanging out outside the kitchen for scraps.
]]>@MosesKabob: WIN! :D
]]>But smart consumers read Consumerist so we know about these tricks!
]]>However, it is also possible to spend significantly less for many things there than it is in the US.
]]>@Cat_In_A_Hat: Wow oops wrong there*.
]]>how about hatch marks? It would make someone belive they are reading a menu in prison.
]]>White people are so humorous.
]]>Still ordered it anyway, when I would have never, ever paid so much for an entree before. Then afterward when I got the bill, my mind screamed 23 dollars, are you sniffing glue!?!?!
I guess sometimes even when you are conscious of a decision, your sub-conscious can still override you. Scary!
]]>@nakedscience: I was being a bit facetious, but for fun can I then legitimately assume that it is in cents rather than dollars?
]]>@ophmarketing: I have the same reaction anytime I see "Market" after the price of something. I understand what they're trying to do, but the Spidey sense goes up.
]]>@RecordStoreToughGuy: queue "Pulp Fiction" quote.
]]>@MosesKabob: + I forgot about that. When we like something too much to boycott it, we rename it. That's shows em.
]]>People who go into expensive restaurants tend to spend more -- regardless of how the menu prices are set up.
Most expensive restaurants have very nice menus. They are simple, elegant, and reflect a since of poise, dignity, blah, blah, blah. You're regular price-aware Jack-In-The-Box crowd isn't likely to go there, expect for very special occasions.
From what I've read it is assumed that the researchers have a good test environment. If they gave 1/3 of a restaurant menus with "$20"; one third menus with "Twenty Dollars"; and one third menus with "20" -- and they did it over the course of an entire week I might be impressed and interested in the study. Unfortunately, it's difficult for me to appreciate a lot of "studies" out there today based just on what they tell me. If I don't have a good understanding on HOW the study was done, it's not worth noting. We all know about statistics -- you can make them reveal anything you like if you just show and hide the right configuration of data. Most researchers (and pollsters) first come up with an answer (what they want the final result to be) and then they nit-pick through statical data pulling information that supports their already-determined-conclusion and tossing away any information that doesn't support it. Pollsters use trick questions to get the results they want.
]]>@pecan 3.14159265: It's unlikely that that the truffle oil ever made contact w a real truffle. But I agree, it's a nice flavor
]]>@RandomHookup: Freedom digits!
]]>The best soup I've ever had was cream corn soup with truffle oil at Townhall restaurant in San Francisco. Amazing soup. Never underestimate the effect truffles can have on a meal. It's pure decadence with a super high price tag.
But the soup was only $9 - er, 9.
]]>LOL! Well at least they spelled "couscous" correctly.
A Crevit Omlette? What's a Crevit?
]]>I ran into this same problem in Japan just a few weeks ago. The exchange rate for JPY to USD is drop-dead simple: At the time it was 95 Y = 1 USD, so basically a yen is a penny. 1000 Y = $10. Despite this trivial exchange rate, I found myself spending money like crazy, only realizing afterward what I'd really spent, and how expensive everything was.
What was interesting is that when I went to S. Korea, where the exchange rate was 1000 KRW = .78 USD, or basically 1000W = 4/5 USD, I did a lot better, either because I'd started to actually think about exchange rates, or because it took longer to calculate Price/1000 * 4/5.
]]>So Cornell did a study at one high-end restaurant by giving customers different menus and the result was 8% higher spending on menus without dollar signs. Doesn't sound very scientific. How many customers where there in total? Did the menu include an unusually expensive item where just a few orders would skew the results?
When I'm in a high-end restaurant, I'm not looking at price, it's more what sounds more attractive. (But I do notice the $60 mac and cheese w shaved truffle...)
]]>Heh, I enjoyed doing that conversion for people after learning it in HS chem*. If you want to succeed in your diet, count everything in Joules instead of Calories, it creates terrifyingly high numbers.
*Disclaimer: HS chem was a long time ago folks, be nice if my rough numbers here aren't quite right. ;)
]]>Lets stop before Ben insinuates that we gtfo :P
]]>Maybe they did a mail merge for their menu and they didn't have the column format correct in Excel :P
]]>Wait so women are all fat now? :D
]]>@swearint: Ha funny point. I'm sure at one point in time their will be some jack*ss who will argue that there should be some sort of indictation on the menu as to what form of currency the numbers on the menu are referring to when they try and pay for their bill in monopoly money.
]]>@squinko: I see what you did there. Numbers are Arabic. Why do all of you want the terrorists to win? If you really love Amurika, we'll have to go back to hash marks or Roman Numerals....and no Algebra.
]]>@MostlyHarmless: Sorry about that. I use "s/he" when I'm unsure and my hands went faster than my brain. I didn't make any assumptions based on your name and fat penguin avatar (cute- BTW), just hands that were too sloppy.
]]>@mgy: Lol the questionable chicken sounds delicious and is so affordable.
]]>@nakedscience: Not difficult enough to convince a judge or jury, I'd imagine.
]]>I actually don't think I have ever noticed if there was or was not a dollar sign or a decimal point on my menu.
]]>(not venting at Porcelina so much as at "things I hate about menus")
]]>@swearint: It's ambigous? How difficult is it to ascertain that, if you are in a restaurant in the US, they accept US currency?
]]>Though i do like what nakedscience said :P
@ARP: AND WTF DO YOU MEAN _SHE_ ????
Just because i am harmless for the most part and my profile pic implies that I might be fat (i am not, for the record) does not mean that i am a She. Shame on you buddy.
]]>I hate it when restaurants leave off the dollar symbol. I don't think it looks elegant, just different or incomplete. Also, it is ambigous. I've always wanted to attempt to pay in some alternate form of currency, maybe wampum or seashells.
]]>@Porcelina: If you're this sensitive over one line that was clearly not mean, then you must have a heart attack every day you go online.
]]>@GuinevereRucker: XVI for a hamburger? Balderdash!
]]>@Porcelina: I'm not sure @MostlyHarmless: was intending to be mean, just that she's an amateur designer and likes to do that.
@MostlyHarmless: You know this, but comment boards are have the sensitivity of email x10.
]]>All I was saying is, that I do it because, to me, it looks better. I do that with most symbols that i can remove or replace with text without obfuscating the meaning. I was only noting a personal preference, and saying that it probably looks more elegant that way anyways (seeing as how higher end restaurants do care for such details).
And I am not objecting to the observation at all. You are the professional here, clearly you know more. If you say that it brings in cash, and if a study says it does, there's really no reason or grounds for me to object to that one.
Also, it would be naive to assume that restaurants do it only because it looks elegant, and not because it brings in cash. The elegance is merely a side effect.
]]>I don't think he was implying that you're an amateur.
]]>@RandomHookup: Maybe in France and Arabia where you lefties live. They're called, "Murikan numbers" in REAL Amurika.
]]>@morganlh85: +1 for that site.
Isn't this concept very similar to to using tokens, chips, cards, etc. for video games and gambling. The entire point is to disassociate [is that a word] what you're doing with spending money.
]]>@Preyfar:
Yeah... but the quality of food is so much better at Farmhouse (the restaurant whose menu is shown above). Outback purchases products based on cost and they try to keep costs low. Farmhouse uses sustainable products and only the highest quality meats and produce.
]]>@Laura Northrup: Just the Arabic numerals.
]]>And when prices are spelled out in arabic characters, people spent even MORE!
twenty dollars = العشرين دولار
]]>Hilarious site though.
]]>It's nice to that high end restaurants have naming conventions no better than Outback.
]]>![[img198.imageshack.us]](http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/5376/webynh.jpg){kind=link}