The marketing strategy, known as barbell, is when a restaurant offers you very good offers at the same time that it has products with a higher cost than normal. Among the fast food companies that have carried out the barbell is Red Robin that offers a plate for $15 dollars, but also gives its high-end Cheese Lovers burgers to a price of more than $15 dollars per hamburger.
What the barbell does is attract various types of customers. Low-income diners, who bear the brunt of inflation, seek lower-priced items, while customers who might be less affected by rising food costs are drawn to the lure of premium items. , for those who are willing to spend more.
In addition, once you are in the restaurant, it has the opportunity to convince you to buy more expensive products, or to sell you more drinks or something dessert that you did not plan to buy.
Restaurants prefer this strategy instead of giving general discounts of the type “All burgers half price”, since these types of promotions make them less money no matter what people buy.
However, with the barbell, customers who buy the expensive products can offset the purchases of customers who go only for the discounted products.
Restaurants know that there will always be people who are constantly looking for discounts, but they also know that there will be someone they can convince to take something more expensive, so they prefer to serve both simultaneously.
That’s why restaurants like Taco Bell have $2 tacos, and $6 grilled cheese and steak burritos.49 dollars.
On the other hand, there are restaurants that do not use this strategy. For example, Chili’s has decided that it will offer fewer and fewer discounts, because they consider that it is more convenient for them to have less traffic, but that they are willing to spend more.
Taking all of the above into account, The next time you go to a restaurant attracted by a discount, consider that the restaurant will probably try to convince you to buy the more expensive product once there.
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