Ordinami.itThe way you write a price changes how much the customer is willing to spend, for the same dish. It's not fairground manipulation: it's how the brain reads numbers, studied for decades in the restaurant industry. Here are the techniques with concrete results in the dining room, and a couple of myths to dismiss.
Ditch the price column
The most common mistake in European menus: dishes on the left, a line of dots, prices lined up on the right. The column turns the menu into a price list and invites comparison between numbers, leading to choosing the cheapest option. Put the price at the end of the description, in the same text body or slightly more discreet: the customer chooses the dish first, then registers the price.
The euro symbol cools down sales
Several menu studies have observed that removing the currency symbol lowers the perception of spending: "18" weighs less than "€ 18,00". If your menu format allows it, write the number alone. Final zeros are also noise: "18" is cleaner than "18,00" and communicates the same.
Final digits say who you are
Prices ending in ,90 or ,99 convey convenience: perfect for pizzerias, bars, and fast food. Round prices convey quality and are the right choice for mid-range and high-end restaurants: 24 says tranquility, 23,90 says promotion. It's not that one is right and the other is wrong: they just need to be consistent with the restaurant's positioning, across the entire menu.
Anchoring: the dish that sells the others
In every category, you need a premium dish with a clearly higher price: the steak, the seafood platter, the fine wine bottle. Few order it, but its presence shifts the bar and makes mid-to-high priced dishes seem reasonable, which are the ones you really want to sell. Without an anchor, the 26 euro dish is the most expensive on the menu; with a 45 euro anchor, it becomes a sensible choice.
Be careful not to overdo it
- Using all techniques together in a menu is off-putting: choose those consistent with your restaurant.
- Psychological pricing doesn't save a wrong quality-price ratio: if the 16 euro carbonara disappoints, no graphics will save it.
- Changing prices should be done with sales data in front of you, not based on intuition.
The advantage of being able to experiment
On paper, every test costs a reprint, so nobody does it. On a digital menu, you can change the price format in five minutes and observe the reaction for a couple of weeks: it's the most cost-effective way to discover what works in your restaurant, not in an American study. With Ordinami, prices update in real-time from the panel — you can find the platform's cost, without psychological games, on the pricing page.