The Secrets Hidden on Restaurant Menus

By Ye Qingqing

Picture an exquisite,leather-bound menu placed in front of you at a restaurant. Inside, the pages bear a tightly printed script and inviting pictures, and your eyes are drawn to a couple of items whose names are embellished with adjective- filled descriptions.Then you turn to the waiter and order your food.

A delicious meal is now on its way, but what has led you to choose the food you ate? Was it simply because you liked the dish you ordered or did something else influence your decision? You may not realize it, but the menu probably played a great role in your decision-making. Apart from the price, there are some other elements on a menu that can unconsciously nudge you towards certain choices.

Strategic Fonts

Different fonts will summon different subjective feelings. For example, there is the elegant Italic typeface, the powerful boldface,the relaxing regular script, and the exhilarating round font.Font choice can convey more information than the words themselves.

Italics are often used by top-grade restaurants, as they make people feel the elegant atmosphere of the restaurant.This way, the customer believes they will get superb service and they are also mentally prone to accept the food prices.

But using elaborate fonts that are hard to read could also have another effect—it could alter how the food itself tastes. Consumers often associate rounder typefaces with sweeter tastes, while angular fonts tend to convey a salty or bitter experience. A study conducted by researchers in Switzerland found that a wine labeled with a difficult-to-read script was liked more by drinkers than the same wine carrying a simpler typeface.

一本表皮为皮革制成、装帧精美的菜单摆在你面前。内页上字体紧凑，图片诱人，你被一些有长串形容词的菜名吸引。随后，你打个手势，叫来服务员：点菜。

美味的饭菜即将上桌，但是，你怎样选择要吃的食物呢？仅仅是因为你喜欢吃这道菜，还是其他一些事情影响了你的决定？你可能还没有意识到，菜单也在发挥巨大作用。不仅菜品的价格会影响你点哪个菜，菜单上还有一些你可能没能察觉到的地方，悄无声息地左右着你的选择。

字体的策略

不同的字体会带给人不同的主观感觉，宋体秀美，黑体大气，楷体给人以轻松感，幼圆体给人以愉悦感。这些字体用在菜单上，还可以传递更多信息。

比如，斜体字通常会被高档餐厅采用，它让顾客感觉到餐厅格调优雅，认为这家餐厅会提供一流的服务，心理上顾客也易接受它们的价格。

如果采用一些让人很难辨认的精致字体，会产生另一种效果，它可以改变食物本身的口味。消费者经常将圆形字体与甜味联系在一起，角形字体会传达食物会更咸或更苦的信息。瑞士专家发现，比起字体简单的葡萄酒，那些标有复杂文字的葡萄酒，更被认可。

字体的颜色也会对顾客产生影响。某些颜色，比如绿色，经常被用来向你暗示食物是健康的新鲜的，橙色则被认为是刺激食欲的颜色；红色会让人感觉时间紧促，也许是想把你的注意力尽快吸引到厨师最想要你点的菜上，那些菜才有更大的利润空间。……