Increase your restaurant sales with the psychological effect of drinks
Drinks can be your best allies when it comes to increasing your restaurant sales. Psychologically, the perceived value of a drink depends a lot on where you buy it, and you should take advantage of this effect in your restaurant.
In this article
As a regular drinks consumer, you know very well that at the supermarket a $3 dollar drink will feel expensive compared with the rest of the usual drinks: sodas, soft drinks, etc., which have a price that ranges from $0.50 cents to just over $1 dollar. Remember to convert the amounts to your local currency so you fully understand the concept we are explaining.
If you are at a convenience store at a gas station, you will understand that drink prices are a little higher than supermarket prices. You accept this and understand it because of the urgency you usually feel when you walk into one of these stores (a family outing, on the way somewhere outside the city, etc.), so you will not mind paying $1 dollar for a drink that normally costs $0.50 cents.
At a restaurant the story is even more promising from the owner's point of view, because there are two elements that psychologically work in the restaurant's favor:
- 1 – The guest feels naturally obliged to pair their dish with a drink, which makes one drink per person almost mandatory. At the same time, the guest knows the price will be higher and will not mind paying, for example, $2 dollars for a drink that normally costs $0.50 cents.
- 2 – The most important psychological effect is the one played by the price range of your dishes. Let's say your restaurant's dishes cost between $5 and $15 dollars. When looking at your menu, the guest goes through a moment in which price ranges are fixed and above $5 dollars, so $2 for a drink will seem cheap and almost insignificant.
That is where you need to be clever (without overdoing it, of course) and raise the price of your drinks.
For example, if your drinks cost $2, an increase to $2.50 will not be perceived negatively by the guest, for the reasons we have explained. Over time this will let you increase drink sales and you will get 20% more revenue in that category. By the end of the day and of the month, this will be quite attractive for the restaurant.
Let's say that at the end of the month your drink sales are $3,000 dollars; with this insignificant increase, you will be taking in $3,600 dollars.
Try it without fear and you will see how extraordinarily well it works. It worked perfectly for me.
