Before focusing on what the operator wants to promote, examine how the actual customer touchpoints connect. The starting point is to view discovery, ordering, dining, payment, and reviews as a single experience.
Key Conclusion
Before adding promotional copy or events, divide the customer’s decision-making process into stages. Review restaurant awareness, menu exploration, price comparison, ordering, dining, payment, reviews, and return visits in sequence. If the message differs at each stage, the customer’s memory of the restaurant may become fragmented.
Scope of evidence: This article was restructured primarily from excerpts of the registered book Why Does That Restaurant Thrive? Run Your Business with Psychology, Part 1. No actual restaurant names or performance data for individual businesses were provided. The scenarios below are intended for restaurant assessment and are not actual cases.
Why Problems Arise
Operators may focus first on the menu items and spaces they want to emphasize. Customers, however, may judge the restaurant’s character based on the first information they encounter. The registered book describes the first page of the menu and the customer’s first interaction with a staff member as touchpoints that shape the overall impression. The first food served is also included among these touchpoints.
Book-based rationale: From the perspective of the primacy effect, menu names and featured images placed at the beginning of the menu become reference points for later choices. From a framing perspective, how customers perceive a menu item may vary depending on the benefits and dining context presented first. However, the specific effects and performance of individual restaurants are difficult to verify from the provided materials alone.
Hypothetical Scenarios for Restaurant Assessment
The following are assessment scenarios, not performance records from any specific restaurant.
- A menu item preferred by the operator occupies the first position on the menu instead of the signature item.
- The sign, menu names, photos, and staff recommendations each emphasize different benefits.
- A menu item designed to encourage price comparison does not reflect actual food costs or preparation demands.
- Customers are satisfied during the meal but experience inconvenience during payment or the farewell process.
- A participatory menu creates decision fatigue and preparation delays rather than enjoyment.
Director Kang Jong-heon’s Assessment Criteria
Before Customers Choose, Review the First Reference Point Presented
Review menu names, featured images, and the first page from the perspectives of both the primacy effect and framing. Determine whether the first menu item communicates the restaurant’s identity. Another assessment criterion is whether customers can quickly understand why they should order it.
Anchoring can be applied to prices and set-menu configurations. This means structuring the offer so that customers use the first price they see as a basis for comparison. However, presenting a high price first does not make the pricing appropriate. Food costs, selling prices, preparation time, and profitability must be reviewed first.
During the Experience, Examine Consistency Across Touchpoints
Check whether staff members’ facial expressions and behavior, menu explanations, and in-store messages create the same impression. Mere exposure can serve as a standard for presenting a core message consistently across multiple touchpoints. More specific evidence is needed before connecting mirror neurons to staff behavior and customer responses.
After the Experience, Review What Customers Remember
When applying the peak-end rule, separately examine the moment of greatest emotional intensity and the final touchpoint. From the perspective of confirmation bias, determine whether the benefits customers expected before visiting matched their actual experience and subsequent reviews. The results of applying these two concepts should be verified separately through in-store observation and review records.
Implementation Sequence
- Document the customer journey: List each touchpoint in order, from the search results screen to reviews posted after customers leave.
- Align the first impression: Ensure that the sign, the menu’s first page, the signature item, and the initial greeting communicate a consistent reason for choosing the restaurant.
- Review the pricing structure: Check food costs and preparation demands before applying anchoring or creating set-menu configurations.
- Assess the peak and the ending: Observe the memories created during food service, problem resolution, payment, and the farewell.
- Make small changes and compare: Do not change multiple elements at once. Record customer questions, ordering responses, and review content.
Exceptions and Precautions
Psychological techniques cannot replace taste, hygiene, appropriate pricing, consistency in food preparation, or profitability. They must not be used for misleading price displays or exaggerated claims. Display requirements and legal compliance should be confirmed separately through official source documents.
A participatory menu using the IKEA effect is designed to let customers choose toppings or combinations. The registered book suggests that the restaurant should provide the core process while allowing customers to select only the details. The final product must also be completed to a satisfactory standard. If participation becomes inconvenient or delays ordering, its scope should be reduced.
Practical Checklist
- Can customers understand why they should choose the restaurant from the first screen or view?
- Are the menu descriptions consistent with the language staff use when making recommendations?
- Does the price-comparison structure reflect actual food costs and profitability?
- Have the memorable peak experience and the final service interaction been designed?
- Do reviews reveal the benefits customers actually remembered?
- Can participatory choices provide enjoyment while keeping the operational burden under control?
Director Kang Jong-heon’s assessment: Applying customer psychology is not a competition to use as many techniques as possible. The information customers first encounter and the choices they make themselves should contribute to a unified restaurant identity. Operators must also confirm that the strongest part of the experience and the final memory communicate the same message.