What Everybody Ought To Know About Food Visibility

These days when I walk into a restaurant, whether it’s commercial or otherwise, I’m always amazed at how the interior is a mess and that nothing contributes to the selling of food. The lighting is bland, the décor unattractive, the food shields block more than they show.

This is what experts in the foodservice industry calls “visual pollution,” and it’s become more of a problem as restaurant owners continue neglecting interior design as a way to cut down on costs.

Reggie Daniel says about visual pollution,

“For example, in many of the food courts or other types of cafeterias I’ve been to, I see bulky food shields over the food, blocking the sight line and creating shadows. It’s unappetizing to say the least.”

Fact is visual presentation is every bit as important as the taste of the food on the menu. This was discussed in detail in another article where I talked about Diane Chiasson’s Food Merchandising tips. Simply put, nobody wants to order something that doesn’t even look good in the first place.

Visibility sells. That’s the main thing, and restaurant owners need to remember that when they go about designing, or redesigning, their restaurants. Anything that creates visual pollution needs to go out. Focus on simplicity and promote a visual sense of cleanliness and purity in the dining area. If you’re going to use props, use ordinary kitchen items as they’re easier to relate to fresh food more than anything.

How do you distinguish what’s visual pollution and what isn’t? That’s easy. Something is visual pollution if it doesn’t put emphasis on the food.

One thing I particularly want to point out is the importance of using natural lighting to illuminate the food displays in and around the dining area.

Fluorescent bulbs consume electricity, and if you look closely they make ham appear green. I don’t know about you, but green-colored ham doesn’t do anything for my appetite. So avoid “office whites”, what fluorescent bulbs are called, and use natural lighting to maximum effect. I mean, hey, it’s free, what have you got to lose?

Finally Reggie says,

“By simplifying the décor, operators can put a greater emphasis on the food. Think of the old adage, ‘We eat with our eyes.’”

I believe in the second part, too. If I’m a customer and I’m going to order anything on your menu, I want to at least make sure it looks good and appetizing.

Green-colored ham? Thanks, but no thanks.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Offline Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.