Menu Mind Games
In his new book, Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How
to Take Advantage of It), author William Poundstone dissects the marketing
tricks built into menus—for example, how something as simple as typography can
drive you toward or away from that $39 steak.

P uzzles, anchors, stars, and plowhorses; those are a
few of the terms consultants now use when assembling a menu (which is as much an
advertisement as anything else). “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.” Poundstone uses
Balthazar’s menu
to illustrate these ideas.
1. The Upper Right-Hand Corner
That’s the prime spot
where diners’ eyes automatically go first. Balthazar uses it to highlight a
tasteful, expensive pile of seafood. Generally, pictures of food are
powerful motivators but also menu taboos—mostly because they’re used
extensively in lowbrow chains like Chili’s and Applebee’s. This illustration “is
as far as a restaurant of this caliber can go, and it’s used to draw
attention to two of the most expensive orders,” Poundstone says.
2. The Anchor
The main role of that $115 platter—the only
three-digit thing on the menu—is to make everything else near it look
like a relative bargain, Poundstone says.
3. Right Next Door
At a mere $70, the smaller seafood
platter next to Le Balthazar see***ike a deal, though there’s no sense of how
much food you’re getting. It’s an indefinite comparison that also feels
like an indulgence—a win-win for the restaurant.
4. In The Vicinity
The restaurant’s high-profit
dishes tend to cluster near the anchor. Here, it’s more seafood at
prices that seem comparatively modest.
5. Columns Are Killers
According to Brandon O’Dell, one
of the consultants Poundstone quotes in Priceless, it’s a big
mistake to list prices in a straight column. “Customers will go down
and choose from the cheapest items,” he says. At least the Balthazar menu
doesn’t use leader dots to connect the dish to the price; that draws the diner’s
gaze right to the numbers. Consultant Gregg Rapp tells clients to “omit dollar
signs, decimal points, and cents … It’s not that customers can’t check
prices, but most will follow whatever subtle cues are provided.”
6. The Benefit Of Boxes
“A box draws attention
and, usually, orders,” Poundstone says. “A really fancy box is better
yet. The fromages at the bottom of the menu are probably high-profit puzzles.”
7. Menu Siberia
That’s where low-margin dishes that the
regulars like end up. The examples here are the easy-to-miss (and
relatively inexpensive) burgers.
8. Bracketing
A regular trick, it’s when the same
dish comes in different sizes. Here, that’s done with steak tartare and
ravioli—but because “you never know the portion size, you’re
encouraged to trade up,” Poundstone says. “Usually the smaller size is perfectly
adequate