This Simple Menu Trick Boosts Dish Choices by 20% #shorts

22 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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In this short video, Robert Cialdini discusses a field study that examined a simple, cost‑free menu modification: adding a brief note such as “one of our most popular items” next to a dish. The study found that this honest social‑proof cue increased the selection of the highlighted dish by 13–20% compared with unchanged menu descriptions. Cialdini emphasizes that the intervention is both truthful and inexpensive, making it an attractive tool for restaurant owners and managers seeking to steer customer choices. A co‑speaker identifies the effect as a classic example of social proof.

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What I love about that study, it was entirely honest, it was entirely costless, and it produced a 13 to 20% increase in choice. A restaurant manager, a restaurant owner, can significantly increase the likelihood that people will choose a particular dish from the menu by adding a small addition to the menu description in each case. And it's not the one you would think. This is the specialty of our house, or this is our chef's selection for the evening. No. No, it's a little asterisk that says, this is one of our most popular items, and each one immediately becomes 13 to 20% more popular.
So that is social proof. And
what I love about that study, it was entirely honest, it was entirely costless, and it produced a 13 to 20% increase in choice.