Have you ever wondered why when you get shown to a table, the waiter/waitress always a head a certain direction towards the back or right in the window? This might mean more than filling a few spare tables if you’re dining in London especially where the image is everything! Looks apparently really do matter, even if you’re just heading out for a quiet meal as there are certain hidden restaurant tactics to rope in customers off the street and get more business.
Recently, it has come to light through a recently aired Channel 4 documentary that restaurant owners have devised a tactical way to entice customers into their eaterie by using customers they already have to dine with them… who knew you could be part of a bigger marketing scheme when tucking into your lunchtime sarnie. It has been claimed that restaurants, in particular, located in London, choose to seat what the general public would consider more attractive people further towards the front of the restaurant. These leaves those who have lesser going for them in the looks department are going to be perched towards the back to order their dinner! But why? It has been scientifically proven that we are more likely to head into a restaurant if the general audience within are beautiful, good looking, happy people.
To prove this theory, the show even tested it by sending a group of models into a three popular high-end restaurants and they were placed right at the very front of the venue… shock! However, when the shows presented, Adam Pearson entered the exact same venues to enjoy the same food he was directed to the back tables or even turned away with claims that there was no room for him when there were available tables! Adam Pearson suffers from neurofibromatosis which leaves his face with very prominent tumours, which when compared to societies ideal of beauty, does not fit.
This outrageous concept that as a customer you are being judged on your appearance when you are simply looking to have a meal, is really brutal! So next time you head out for food and get placed at a table you might not feel comfortable at for being a free advert of the attractive customers they get or being banished to the back, request a different table and enjoy your meal that you’re there to enjoy!
