Dan Ariely studied Panda Express customers by creating two entryways: one leading to healthy menus, one to indulgent ones. People who chose a path first were more satisfied and ordered more from that menu. The trick works because committing to a mindset before seeing options makes people stick to it.
We talked to this guy, Dan Ariely. He wrote this book, Predictably Irrational. Panda Express, it paid him a bunch of money. We have healthy items on the menu and people tell us reason they don't eat here is because it's unhealthy, but nobody orders the healthy item. And he's like, oh, humans are predictably irrational. They'll tell you one thing and then they won't do it. The one test he had made was when you walk into a Panda Express, instead of putting both items on the menu and just having you choose, it was right when you walk through the door, it would say there was like a little angel path. It's like, if you're gonna eat healthy, go this way. And there was like the devil, if you're gonna eat indulgently, you know, like if you want full flavor, go this way. And when people make that choice upon walking and then they only see a menu of those items, they were happier with their choice and they ordered more of those items. That was the only way he could design this restaurant to do that one thing.
