The waiters are always smiling, positive and ready to serve you. They will give you a compliment, will gladly give you advice, will do everything to make you relax during your stay in the institution and …. spent as much as possible.
The restaurant is often compared to a theater. Everything here – the light, and the color of the walls, and the music, and the menu – is designed so as to make the most of every guest. But, as they say, forewarned is forearmed. Therefore, knowing all the tricks of the waiters, the main actors of this theater, you can easily control the amount spent in the restaurant.
1. Tables-bait… If you finally find a popular cafe empty, and take a hostess and put you at the most uncomfortable table at the entrance, do not be surprised at all! Thus, establishments lure people, creating the appearance of crowdedness. If you like it – sit, if not – feel free to ask for another table. It’s not your concern to lure new customers to the cafe.
Also, the owners of many restaurants admit the existence of an unspoken policy of “golden tables”: hostesses try to put good-looking people on the veranda, by the windows or in the best seats in the center of the hall in order to show visitors their establishment in all its glory.
2. “An empty table is indecent” – thinks the waiter and removes your plate, as soon as you tore off the last piece of food from it. Indeed, as a result, a person finds himself at an empty table, and a feeling of shame subconsciously forces him to order something else. If you, leaving the table, plan to finish eating the leftovers of the dish, ask your friends to make sure that the waiter does not sleep it.
3. The waiter always asks questions that are beneficial to him… So, for example, there is a “closed question” rule, which is successfully used both in a restaurant with fast food and with a Michelin star. It works like this: before you have time to utter a word about the drink, you are asked the question: “Do you need red or white wine, monsieur?” Now you are uncomfortable with giving up the given choice, even if you originally planned to eat everything dry.
4. The most expensive is called the last… This pretentious trick was invented by French garcons: the waiter, like a tongue twister, lists the names of the drinks to choose from: “Chardonnay, sauvignon, chablis?” If you do not understand wine at the same time, but do not want to be branded as an ignoramus, most likely, you will simply repeat the last word. And the last one is the most expensive.
5. Free snacks aren’t cute at all… Often, snacks are usually served that make you thirsty. Salty nuts, crackers, fancy breadsticks make you thirsty and whet your appetite, which means you will order more drinks and food.
If you were treated to a cocktail or dessert for free, do not flatter yourself either. The waiters just want to extend your stay, and therefore the size of your bill, or are waiting for a big tip.
6. More wine? If you like ordering wine in a restaurant, you probably noticed how the waiter pours you a drink literally after every sip. The main goal here is that you finish your wine before you finish your meal. This increases the likelihood that you will order another bottle.
7. Buy it, it tastes so good! If the waiter recommends something to you with particular persistence, be wary. There are several options here: the products are running out of expiration date, he mixed up the dish and he urgently needs to sell it, selling this food to you, he will receive an additional reward, because they are from some company with which an agreement has been concluded.
8. Price manipulation. Another powerful way to encourage you to spend more money is to make the price tag subtle. For starters, restaurants do not indicate currency, not even in signs. After all, signs remind us that we are spending “real” money. Therefore, the restaurant menu does not write “UAH 49.00” for a burger, but “49.00” or simply “49”.
Research has been carried out in this area, which has shown that prices written in words are – forty nine hryvnia, encourage us to spend more easily and more. In fact, the price display format sets the tone for the restaurant. Therefore, the price of 149.95 looks more friendly to us than 150.
And it happens that the prices on the menu may be presented not for the whole dish, but for 100 grams of the product, and the dish may contain a different quantity.
9. Expensive baits in the restaurant menu… The trick is to place the most expensive dish at the top of the menu, after which the prices of all the others seem reasonable enough. In fact, no one expects that you will order, say, a lobster for UAH 650, most likely it is not even available. But a steak for 220 UAH. after the lobster, it will be a “very good deal”.
The thing is that the presence of expensive dishes on the menu creates a favorable impression and positions the restaurant as high quality. Although these dishes are most likely not ordered at all. But this pricing makes us feel like we visited a high-end establishment and feel more satisfied.
10. Exotic titles. Well, who wants to pay fabulous money for a crouton or an ordinary Caesar salad, but for a crouton or an “imperial salad”, you are always welcome. The more refined the name of the dish, the more expensive its cost. Although the usual roast pork and sauerkraut are often disguised as “German Mittag”. Next to such exotic dishes, they do not write its composition, but only the name and expensive cost. So, if you do not want to spend extra, do not order such dishes.