Use of Menu Design Techniques: Evidences from Menu Cards of Restaurants in Alanya

Abstract

This study aims at identifying the existence of menu design techniques in actual menu cards, and to question whether use of those techniques is intentional. In total, 86 menu cards were collected from restaurants located in Alanya which is a tourist resort in Antalya, Turkey. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed. First, content analysis was utilized to categorize the qualitative data, and second logistic regression was conducted to test the prescribed relations between menu variety and existence of techniques. Findings from qualitative analysis revealed that restaurant operators rarely use menu design techniques intentionally for boosting sales of high-price menu items. Subsequently, the quantitative analysis showed that existence of a technique on the menu card is not predicted by menu variety. This finding confirms the view that use of menu design techniques was unintentional. Theoretical and practical implications of findings were also discussed along with the limitations of current study and recommendations for future research.

Review of Menu Management Process Model with A Case Study

“…However, the café's operators paid little attention to this in positioning items on the menu card. Instead, the participants explained that they placed the products they wanted to sell most at the top, which is similar to the findings of Özdemir and Nebioğlu (2018), who examined 86 restaurant menus, and concluded that the strategic locations of the items were not consciously selected. They suggested that this was because the graphic layout of the menu was more prominent than strategic positioning.…”

“…To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first empirical test of the Menu Management Process Model. In addition, most empirical studies of menus are made from the consumer's perspective rather than the business perspective (Özdemir & Nebioğlu, 2018). Therefore, the present study can contribute to the literature by examining the model from the perspective of operators.…”

“…There are many studies on menu management in the literature (Özdemir & Nebioğlu, 2018), which examine menus in terms of various dimensions, such as planning, pricing, design, and analysis (Özdemir & Çalışkan, 2014). Menu planning is the first menu management research area.…”

“…Hou et al (2017) also showed that descriptive menu names make consumers more positive about the item, more willing to pay, and more likely to purchase it. Özdemir and Nebioğlu (2018) reported that such descriptive names are frequently used in menu cards. For example, 41.6% of the restaurants they examined named some dishes in their menus as 'home cooked', 'mother's style', or 'delicious'.…”

Combined Effects of Drivers and Impact of Customer Satisfaction on Brand Loyalty: The Contingent Effect of Social Trust

“…These service dimensions determine the dining behavior and revisit intention of the clientele. Moreover, the studies on restaurants (Namin, 2017) have reached to the conclusion that menu (ÖZDEMİR & NEBİOĞLU, 2018) and atmosphere (Dutta et al, 2014) affect customers' satisfaction. Based on the conclusion of aforementioned studies, there is a need to comprehend the potential impact of quality of food, quality of service, atmosphere, price, as well as variety of food on customers' satisfaction regarding fast-food restaurants.…”