Appetising adjectives
"What's in a name?" Research shows the descriptions restaurants use for dishes can have a huge impact on sales.
"The words set up perceptions and expectations," says Mike Moran of Momentum Marketing Group, a Canadian company that designs menus for restaurants. "When you see 'New York-style cheesecake', you envision something different from plain cheesecake. If you have a salad with mangoes and pineapples, 'Tropical Oasis Salad' creates a different expectation from 'Summer Salad'."
In a US study, a restaurant changed labels on some food items for six weeks: using "Traditional Cajun Red Beans with Rice" instead of "Red Beans with Rice"; "Grandma's Zucchini Cookies" instead of "Zucchini Cookies". People chose the descriptive menu choices 27% more and said they would pay almost 10% more for them.
