Simple little lesson in pricing "presentation." Restaurant and pizzeria sales building and marketing is mostly science - with a dash of "art."
Let's look at Burger King's little artsy-fartsy mistake... I'm driving down the freeway the other day and see this billboard. Obviously they're wanting to convey a "value" proposition by selling two burgers at a lower price point.
That's the idea anyway... but at first glance - what do you see?
I see $350.
They've made a small price - look big.
Take a look at the next picture and you get my drift...
This is after I spent two minutes monkeying around wth it...
Just one of many ways you can minimize the impact prices have on your customers. Here's a quick primer that'll keep you in the ballgame.
Pricing
Low, Medium, High?
Like everything else with marketing, testing will determine the optimum price for your menu. But, printing menus can get expensive, and people tend to notice price changes.
So, lets take a shortcut. What are your competitors charging for similar items? Who are your busiest competitors? Let’s not stray too much from that to begin with.
Will lower prices than your competitors work for you? Yes and no. Yes, it may induce people to try you out. But, it will also tend to bring you the most price sensitive buyers who will abandon you the minute they find a lower price.
Put your prices where you need them to be. Then use “Value Pricing Promotions” if need be to stimulate traffic.
There’s no shame in doing steep discounts for a “Grand Opening.” Or, “Buy one get one FREE” for your anniversary.
An exception to this is if you’re chief method of marketing is to “discount.” Then you’ll put the higher price on your menu along with say, a $3.00 off coupon.
You have 3 choices when making a statement about your establishment with pricing.
- .99 says value. It conveys, “bargain.” And, it can convey “cheap.” If you’re going after the “masses” it will be effective.
- .95 says value, but in a more dignified manner. Something selling for 9.95 has a slightly more dignified ring to it than 9.99.
- 1.00 says “upper class.” Top of the line. Fancy restaurants use round numbers. A Filet Mignon will be $22 or 22 dollars.
Now, I must admit that in the beginning I used the .95 approach. But after sales had climbed into the millions I did the math and realized that by adding 4 cents and going to .99 – it added up to a trip to Maui every year. Or, split the difference and go .97.
Pick your price based on the customer you’re going after. The chains mostly use .99.
The dollar sign $ should not be used on your menu unless you mean to convey a higher price in the customers mind. 10.95 looks less expensive than $10.95.
Studies have shown that people don’t mind price increments of .25, .50, and .75 on items 5.00 and under. People tend to be totally fine with increments of .50 and 1.00 on prices higher than 5.00.
So, if you have an item priced at 12.25, you might as well increase it to 12.50, 12.95, or 13.00.
Do not do anything to draw attention to the price such as bold, italics or underline.
Also, don’t use ………19.99. The dots lead the eye right to the price.
You want people buying the item because the description was so tempting they had no choice. You don’t want them starting with the price and then seeing what the item is.
You could make an exception to this if low price is the main selling point of your operation. If not, don’t turn your menu into a price list.
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