Before choosing advertising channels, operators should examine how customers discover, select, and remember the restaurant. They should also determine whether the first impression, menu selection structure, and conclusion of the experience connect naturally. The impact of any changes must be validated separately using customer responses and operational records from each location.
Key Conclusion
Director Kang Jong-heon’s assessment: Marketing begins not with the volume of promotion, but with the customer’s process of perception and choice. Operators should review, in sequence, how customers discover the restaurant, choose a menu item, and what they remember afterward.
The related book Why Does That Store Thrive? Run Your Business with Psychology, Part 1 explains customer judgment as a progression involving first impressions, comparisons, emotions, and memories. In a restaurant, everything from the business name and exterior to the menu, customer service, and payment process can be reviewed as one connected experience.
Why Promotion Does Not Always Lead to a Choice
When promotion does not perform as expected, operators may be inclined to change the advertising frequency or discount level first. However, if customers cannot understand the type of restaurant and its signature menu at the entrance, increasing exposure is unlikely to result in a choice. The same applies when customers cannot identify clear criteria for choosing from the menu.
The information an operator wants to emphasize may also differ from the information customers need to make a decision. Even a lengthy explanation of a menu item’s strengths will not reduce hesitation if customers have difficulty comparing its price, components, and reasons for recommendation.
What to Review at Each Touchpoint
The business name and exterior, entrance, and initial greeting can be reviewed from the perspective of the primacy effect. The related book explains that information encountered first may influence the customer’s overall impression of and expectations for the restaurant.
Operators should also review which menu items customers see first and what information employees provide first. However, no performance data were provided on how a particular layout or service approach affected customer choices or repeat visits. Location-specific applications and outcomes require further verification.
Director Kang Jong-heon’s Evaluation Criteria
Does the First Impression Convey the Restaurant’s Distinctive Features?
The primacy effect is the idea that information encountered first may become a reference point for later judgments. The initial display and guidance should contain the information customers need to understand the restaurant’s defining features. Operators should also assess whether they are emphasizing only the menu items they want to sell.
Do the Choice Cues Support Comparison?
Anchoring is the phenomenon in which a price or menu item presented first serves as a reference point for comparison. Framing is the idea that the same information may be perceived differently depending on how it is presented. Menu names, display order, and recommendation methods are all part of this presentation structure.
Evaluation criterion: It is not enough to check whether a high-priced menu item or recommendation label has been added. Operators should determine whether customers can compare prices and menu components without misunderstanding them. They should also distinguish between information designed to support choice and mechanisms that pressure customers to place a particular order.
Is the Experience Managed Through the Final Moment?
From the perspective of the peak-end rule, the most intense moments and the end of an experience matter more than the number of stimuli. Operators should identify which moments remain in customers’ memories, including food service, responses to problems, payment, and the farewell. The priority should be maintaining reliable basic service rather than adding excessive extras. Operators should also check whether anything is missing from the closing stage of the experience.
Implementation Sequence
- Divide the touchpoints. Separate the journey into restaurant discovery, entry, menu selection, dining, payment, and post-visit responses.
- Record the first information encountered. Note the first messages and menu items customers see and the first guidance they hear at each touchpoint.
- Review the choice structure. Determine whether the recommendation order, price presentation, and menu descriptions help customers make comparisons.
- Identify memorable moments. Record separately the moments that generate praise and those that generate complaints.
- Limit the items being changed. Do not change several elements at once. Compare customer questions and ordering responses after each limited change.
Points to Consider When Applying These Concepts
Operators should not interpret the entire customer base based on a single review or the response of a regular customer. Confirmation bias may lead them to accept only opinions that align with their existing beliefs. They should also guard against the fundamental attribution error of attributing complaints solely to customers’ personal tendencies.
Even when a high-priced menu item is presented as an anchor, it may undermine trust if the restaurant cannot actually provide it or explain the basis for its price. Framing must not be used to conceal facts or cause misunderstanding. The appropriateness of price displays and menu descriptions should be reviewed further based on the information actually presented.
Practical Review Question
Before deciding what else to promote, first examine where customers understand, hesitate, and form lasting memories.
The mere-exposure effect, mirror neurons, the gain-loss effect, and the IKEA effect may also be used as supplementary perspectives. These concepts can help operators interpret menus, service, space, and reviews. However, the provided material is not sufficient to determine the conditions for applying each concept or its likely effects. The implementation approach should be decided only after reviewing the full text of the related book and customer responses at the individual restaurant.