Customer psychology theories are not universal formulas for increasing restaurant sales. They should be used as decision-making tools for reviewing the in-store experience and customer responses. To reduce the risk of misapplication, define the customer behavior to be verified before deciding what to change. Actual restaurant performance and exceptions among different customer types must be validated separately.
Key Conclusion
Knowing about the primacy effect or anchoring does not in itself constitute a restaurant marketing strategy. For menus, examine ordering decisions. For service, review how requests are handled and how customer emotions change. For the physical space, assess first impressions and the experience of moving through the restaurant. Reviews and pricing should be evaluated according to separate objectives.
Director Kang Jong-heon’s Assessment
Customer psychology is not a technique for manipulating choices. It should be used as a framework for understanding why customers make certain choices and organizing customer touchpoints. Before implementation, define the behavior you want to change. After implementation, compare observable customer responses.
Why Problems Arise
Book basis: The registered book Why Does That Store Succeed? Use Psychology to Run Your Business, Part 1 discusses the first menu item customers encounter and their first interaction with an employee. It explains that the first food served may also influence their impression of the restaurant. The book introduces anchoring, in which the first price or piece of information presented becomes a reference point for later judgments. It also covers framing, which explains how the same information may be perceived differently depending on how it is presented.
Problems arise when these principles are copied without considering context. Placing a high-priced item first or adding promotional labels to every menu item may make choosing more difficult. Repeatedly promoting daily limited quantities or offering weak justifications for a price may also damage trust. The book points out these cautions as well.
What to Verify in the Restaurant
No actual restaurant performance data or examples of incidents were provided. The following are therefore not conclusions, but review questions to be verified through the restaurant’s own records.
- After highlighting only the signature menu item, did the roles of other items become unclear?
- Did the restaurant focus only on standout moments and the final farewell while overlooking the ordering, waiting, dining, and payment processes?
- Did the owner selectively read only reviews that matched their expectations?
- Were customer complaints dismissed as matters of personal taste or attitude?
- After changing how prices were presented, did customer inquiries and menu comparisons become more difficult?
Director Kang Jong-heon’s Evaluation Criteria
Does It Help Customers Choose?
Anchoring and framing should serve as forms of information design that help customers understand menu prices, composition, and differences. This must be distinguished from using an expensive item that the restaurant has little intention of selling as bait. Restaurants should also avoid concealing unfavorable conditions. The rationale for promoting a signature item should be verifiable in the restaurant, such as its ingredients, composition, or intended dining occasion.
Does the Entire Experience Remain Connected?
Even if first impressions and final memories are important, they cannot replace the experience in between. Clear entrance guidance may create a positive impression, but expectations can fall if customers are informed too late that an item is sold out or if an order is communicated incorrectly. The book recommends ensuring that displayed prices match the prices charged and providing advance notice of sold-out items. It also addresses responses to ordering errors and the handling of customer requests as ways to reduce negative experiences.
Can the Restaurant Operate It Consistently?
For the mere-exposure effect, restaurants should look beyond repetition and identify what they want customers to remember at each touchpoint. When considering the gain-loss effect, consistency in service quality should be reviewed before changes in customer favorability. Employees’ expressions and attitudes may be assessed from the perspective of mirror neurons, but emotional displays should not be forced. Participatory features based on the IKEA effect should also be evaluated to determine whether they increase customer effort or employee workload.
Implementation Sequence
- Define the target behavior. Separate the items to be measured, such as increased selection of a signature menu item and fewer pricing inquiries. Changes in review content and whether customers return should also be assessed separately.
- Select the touchpoint. Identify where problems occur among the entrance, menu, order-taking process, dining experience, payment, and departure.
- Narrow the scope of the change. Do not apply multiple psychological principles at once. Begin with measurable elements, such as menu placement or informational wording.
- Record customer responses. Compare order selections, inquiry topics, and responses to sold-out items before and after the change. Review wording and return visits should also be examined.
- Decide whether to continue. Revise or discontinue the change if it makes the restaurant more difficult for customers to understand or increases the operational burden.
Exceptions and Cautions
The same wording may be interpreted differently depending on the customer’s purpose and time of visit, type of dining party, and price sensitivity. Major changes to a menu familiar to regular customers may make choosing more difficult. The same problem may occur if menu items that require explanation are oversimplified.
Do not determine the cause based only on changes in reviews. Other conditions, including the menu, service, crowding, and sold-out items, must be reviewed together.
Evidence limitations: No materials demonstrating actual restaurant performance were provided beyond the text of the registered book. There is also no evidence establishing differences among customer types or the results of applying each psychological principle individually. Specific figures and performance cases require further verification.
Related Practical Guidance
Review the menu for the role of core items, value relative to price, and ease of comparison. Service records should cover more than the initial greeting, including sold-out notices, request handling, ordering errors, and customer departure. Marketing copy should retain only factually accurate reasons for choosing an item. Restaurants should also verify that repeated exposure and participatory features do not undermine customer convenience or restaurant operations.