Customers tend to rate food higher when charged more for all-you-can-eat buffet dinners than when charged less for the same food, a new study finds.
The study was conducted by researchers David Just PhD., Ozge Sigirci, and Brian Wansink PhD. author of the forthcoming book, Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life. For the project, they surveyed 139 diners eating in an Italian all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. They were either charged $4 or $8 for the lunch buffet. The buffet included pizza, salad, breadsticks, pasta, and soup. After finishing, diners were asked to rate the taste of the pizza and how much they enjoyed the dining experience on a 9 point scale.
"People set their expectation of taste partially based on the price -- and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I didn't pay much it can't be that good. Moreover, each slice is worse than the last. People really ended up regretting choosing the buffet when it was cheap," said the study authors in a press statement. "Diners who paid the higher price for the buffet rated the pizza as being 11 percent tastier. In contrast, those paying $4, half as much for the same food, not only enjoyed the pizza less, but they enjoyed the food less and less with each additional piece of pizza. In both situations diners ate an average of three slices of pizza."
The findings suggest that buffet owners may want to reconsider setting a low buffet cost, although cheap all-you-can-eat buffets are popular, people tend to stick to the "you get what you pay for" mentality and will rate the food lower in quality.
"Avoid cheap all-you-can-eat buffets. Go to the most expensive buffet you can afford. You'll eat the same amount but enjoy the experience and the food more!" the researchers noted.
The study was published online in the Journal of Sensory Studies.
