ARTICLE | Menu Engineering for Post-COVID Behaviour
I've kicked off the year with a couple of new Menu Engineering projects and I'm pondering what a post-COVID restaurant might do differently with their menus, or if the psychology of decision making will revert back to pre-COVID type. How different will diners behaviour be in relation to menus and choice?
The WHO and other Mental Health Bodies have published information and guidance for dealing with the short- and long-term mental health impacts of a global pandemic and the two areas that strike me as significant, from a restaurant experience perspective are:
Heightened anxiety and stress
Long term OCD and increase in germaphobia cases
Let’s come back to the first point, as the second point is easier to tackle.
Customers have always registered an awareness of menu hygiene and cleanliness and many diners will cite a sticky menu as a reason for a bad experience or the decision not to return, even if the food was great. But an increase in the number of people suffering from OCD or germaphobia will mean, restaurants will need to go a little further than just making sure the menus are clean.
On a basic level, there are a number of new coatings available on the print market which claim to kill viruses, including COVID-19 which could be used to reassure customers. There is also the option, which many restaurants have already implemented, which is to switch to ‘own-device’ menu and ordering solutions, of which there are many options available. Diners have higher level of trust in the cleanliness of the phone even though the typical mobile phone is carrying over 25,000 bacteria per square inch. Let’s not tell them that for now though!
Make customers aware of what you’re doing to keep them safe without going over the top. If we are going to give people confidence in dining out again, we need to move away from instructional posters and information about cleaning procedures. This needs to be evident from the environment, not printed on the menu. This only serves as a reminder of… you know what! A small note on the menu to alert customer to the antibacterial coating is sufficient.
I get the benefits of a digital menu solution but call me old-fashioned, I love a real menu and the thought of scrolling through my phone to kick of a dining experience doesn’t fill me with confidence that I’m about to experience something special, exciting or extraordinary. We obviously need to be mindful, people are going to be more cautious for a while, but I also think people will need an escape. They will want to be transported to and reminded of a time when they worried less, and had fewer frown lines on their masked faces!
So, let’s look at number 2, the potential issue of heightened anxiety and stress. Again, this is something we have always taken into consideration when engineering great menus. We know that Hicks Law (Hick’s Law predicts that the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices available) dictates that there is a small window of opportunity to guide a diner to their optimal menu choice before decision delay distress kicks in, then we’re on a slippery slope! Basically, too many choices cause stress at the best of times.
So, consider your customer stress levels on a scale from 1 to 100. Before the global pandemic, your average customer would walk through your doors with a general anxiety level in the low teens. They are likely feeling positive to be out with friends of family, enjoying their social life, not at work and lots of other reasons to feel warm and fuzzy. They may have a few little niggling feelings in the back of their minds, but they're still feeling good. In a post-COVID world, your average customers anxiety level has been raised considerably. They have consumed months of negative media, suffered financially, professionally, personally and mentally as a result of the past year and it’s left its mark. Their anxiety level is at 50 before you’ve even shown them to their table. They are feeling a bit fragile and it’s our job in hospitality to help them escape. Remove as many dish options as you can, simplify the menus design, make recommendations and you will in turn, remove obstacles diners may have in making a good choice. This is how you can guide them through their journey with you and have them leave feeling positive and more relaxed.
I believe, once venues can reopen, there will be a surge of excitement and restaurants can see this as a clean slate. Do something different and creative with your menus design and give your customers a greater sense of occasion. Occasions have, after all been redefined in our minds and the thought of socialising in a restaurant in 2021 will bring a host of new emotions that we haven’t experienced before. So, let’s be creative and bear in mind, your aim is to;
Make your customers feel special, like you have carefully considered every aspect of their experience.
Keep it simple, remove obstacles and guide them to the right choice quickly.
Reassure them that they are safe with you without being reminded of any negative thoughts in relation to ‘that which shall not be named’.
My pondering has led me to this conclusion; I believe the general population will act and behave differently in the short- and medium-term, post-COVID. Our everyday lives have been altered and our basic liberties, which we all took for granted, have been deemed dangerous and potentially deadly. It’s going to take a while to shake that off! That said, there is a huge opportunity for restaurants to spend the next few weeks and months looking at this in detail and making the necessary changes ready for their return.
You know your customers and what makes them tick, so you should have the knowledge and data to adapt your strategy to accommodate their altered reality. Don’t assume your competitors will be opening their doors with the same strategy they closed them with. What would Darwin would do if he ran a chain of restaurants?
