Don’t be seduced by menu descriptions

When eating out, what do you consider foremost when choosing a restaurant? Studies confirm that people prioritise food and beverage type first, followed by location, price and value, atmosphere, and, last but not least; the level and speed of service.

When buying out (takeaway food), speed of service i.e., speed of delivery would triumph above all.

The majority of us decide what we want to eat, even before choosing the restaurant. Although you have an idea of what you want to eat, choosing a restaurant isn’t always a decision that happens immediately - particularly when it involves a group of people (family/friends), where seeking a restaurant whose menu includes something for everyone is paramount. However people go where their desires take them - so long as it is easy on their wallet.

At the restaurant, as you sit down at your table, the waiter hands you your menu. You scan the menu and something just ‘pops’ out’ at you. It’s not your appetite; it’s how the food is represented. From this point onwards your order has very little to do with cravings and everything to do with how the restaurant’s menu exerts its powerful influence over what you’ll finally have for dinner.

The menu is used to communicate to diners what the restaurant has to offer. Every item on the menu carries a brief description of the dish. A few lines that tell the story behind the food on the plate, while specifying the ingredients and the process of creating the final product can be considered as a good item description. Additionally, a menu is both, a positioning statement and a marketing plan of the restaurant operation.

Research shows that words that promote taste and texture or appeal to diners’ emotions can increase sales by almost 25 percent, and can even influence the way you think the food tastes. In one study, when a menu item was described in great detail (for example, ‘Succulent Italian Seafood Filet’ rather than ‘Seafood Filet’) its sales increased by 27 percent. Mouth-watering descriptions like ‘tender, juicy chicken breast’ or ‘ripe organically artisanal tomatoes’ are increasingly common on restaurant menus. Words like these stimulate your taste buds and you then expect your chicken to taste juicy. So when it doesn’t, it results in total disappointment.

Descriptive labelling is growing in use among restaurateurs. Unfortunately, restaurants paint a picture that is far from the real, exulting in parading the provenance of ‘pan-fried, line-caught sea bass’, ‘wildforaged oyster mushrooms’ and other elaborate or homely ingredients. Others have a ‘Rack of Lamb’ on the selection list, but what you receive are two or three small chops. A ‘rack’ is just… a rack. When one chops the rack they are chops. When there is lobster, they never mention that it’s a half-tail, sliced long. ‘Fresh’ dishes often turn out to be from long frozen meat or fish. ‘Homemade’ can come from a drypack mix. Be extra aware of sensory terms like ‘velvety’ mousse or the ‘legendary’ sauce. Some mislead diners over farm standards, using caged eggs for dishes supposedly containing ‘freerange eggs’.

Businesses should always check that their menus accurately reflect the food on offer. People have the right to expect that the meals they buy are genuinely described on the menus and price lists. It’s also up to the diner to be vigilant about the food they order by educating themselves about foods and phraseology used. Otherwise menu fraud can become a pervasive problem.