It seems adjectives are losing flavour.
Our customers are asking us to steer away from flowery language and bring their menus into line with current trends. It’s death to artisanal, bespoke, mouthwatering, homemade, deconstructed and delicious.
But what we try to tell them is that there are adjectives, and there are adjectives. What we recommend is that you consider their impact before you obliterate them entirely. The backlash against adjectives in restaurant copy has come from both overuse and improper use. If we can use them in a correct descriptive way, they can be extremely beneficial. Here’s where we need to use them:
When we want to increase the perceived value of the dish
Beef stew with mashed potato
or
Slow-cooked beef cheeks in rich braising juices, served with creamed potatoes
If this was written twice at the same price on the menu, it’s pretty certain the latter is going to sell more. The first looks like something low-budget that Gran might make. The second is more in the line of classy bistro territory. This technique can be used to increase selling prices and push a cooking speciality. It can also be used to great effect to highlight a high profit item next to a low-profit (but unfortunately very popular) one.
When customers need to be convinced it’s yummy
Chicken livers and onions on toast
or
Sautéed free-range chicken livers, with caramelized onions on grilled sourdough
What would you like to eat? There are many cases when the diner needs a nudge in the right direction, and ensuring that they can see the dish in their minds eye is vital. The former is correct, but without the adjectives, the imagined meal may be some sad and grey liver with translucent onions on a square piece of white toast. The latter brings to mind something more like this.
When we need to fill out a menu
If your restaurant only has half a page of items and you want to charge a premium, some customers might feel short-changed. If we want to give diners the false impression that there is more available, we can do this by ensuring they want to eat every single dish. We want them drooling at the thought of it, marveling at the innovation and admiring the pedigree of the ingredients.
Perhaps this is not relevant is when the excitement of the meal is intended to be revealed only by the appearance of the food, e.g. a multi-course degustation menu. However, for set menus and small restaurants, this can be invaluable.
When we want waiting diners to upsell to themselves
It’s embarrassing waiting for someone on your own. People fidget, bring out their phones, stare at a boring menu. This is a fabulous opportunity to make a captive customer really, really hungry. Copy can be as suggestive as we want it to be, and while this diner sits tapping their toes in impatience, they’re making up their mind about what they want to eat. If the words are good enough, you may turn the quick bite into a three-courser, or make them ditch the sparkling mineral water for a cocktail, or even a rare bottle of wine. By the time their guest arrives, they will have the whole thing planned out, and likely dictate the eating path without realizing what they are doing.