Eating with the Nudge

The Nudge mentioned that the consumption of a particular food can change by as much as 20%-30% if placed at the front of a buffet. Currently I work for a catering company, and I see this "nudge" principle in affect quite frequently.

It is hilarious to see people pile food on their plate at the start of the buffet. Then once they get to the end, they become frustrated when there is not enough room for desert on the plate. This is not a rare occurrence, because it happens at every buffet or reception. Even though people are capable of looking at the entire buffet to determine the amount desired for each food, this is never the case.

 

There is a lot more "nudging" that occurs during these events. For example, if we are passing appetizers, a crowd will eat about 30%-50% less then a buffet. Why is this? It is most likely that people do not want to be judged by taking extra food. Whenever we come across someone that has already been served, they often say "Oh I will just have one more" or "I promise it is my last one." However, at a buffet people have no problem piling up their plates or even coming back for seconds.


Recently there was a banquet where we were passing appetizers, and it took about 3-5 minutes to pass out one tray. Toward the end of the reception the appetizers were placed on tables. Not to much surprise, the same size trays were being cleared in about 1 minute. Yes, that fast. We even had trouble being able to replenish the appetizers to keep up with the traffic.

After conducting this little research catering, we can conclude that the nudge principle works quite well. Therefore, if we ever have a limited amount of certain food, it is placed at the end of the buffet.

So consumers beware: the best food just might be at the end of the buffet. Also, if you are ever planning an event, passing appetizers might be an effective way to cut the food bill.