The influence of scarcity cues and price bundling on menu item selection

摘要

Judgmental heuristics are applied in an experiment investigating the influence of availability cues on restaurant purchase decisions. Participants evaluated menu items in a restaurant scenario that manipulated scarcity cues, bundling, and price. The findings indicate that server scarcity influences food choice more than menu scarcity. Bundled pricing reduces selection of a limited quantity item compared to a la carte pricing. Participants will pay more for a scarce item with a scarcity message delivered by the server. The findings suggest that restaurants can promote menu items effectively through server delivery, but those items should not be part of a price bundle.