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Nudging techniques
Make plant-based alternatives easy and attractive, without compromising on sales and profitability.
Food choices are made based on feeling, while easiness and price play an important role. According to studies, up to 90% of people choose what they are primarily offered, as long as the food seems appealing. For these reasons, primary options and their attractiveness have a huge significance for people's food choices. These choices, in turn, have a huge significance for your business's climate, nature, and health impacts.
Nudging means using high-quality plant-based recipes and making small adjustments to the dining environment that guide people toward the best choices without restricting freedom of choice. In studies, default choices and visible placement have been found to be particularly effective ways to influence food choices. The other techniques presented below are also supported by research.
Nudging is essentially sales and marketing: making a good product visible, attractive, and easy to buy. When plant-based food is high-quality and choosing it is supported smartly, nudging can help increase both sales and profitability.
Ensure high quality offering and recipes
Everyone wants to eat good food. Especially if you offer both plant-based and other options, make sure the plant-based options are at least as good in quality, nutritional value, and appearance as the other options.
How we can help: Our chef develops and tests plant-based recipes together with your team, ensuring their functionality in your kitchen and appeal for your customer base. Our chef also supports in finding cost-effective ingredients, naming of the meals, and building efficient kitchen processes.
Make plant-based options primary and visible
People are more likely to choose options they notice easily. Offer plant-based options as the primary ones.
Promote plant-based options, for example, at the top of the menu, in a visible spot on the buffet, first in the online order, or in the most visually prominent places on your menu.
How we can help: We go through your menus, ordering paths, and service setup and help identify points where small changes can make the plant-based option the most natural and appealing choice.
Price the plant-based options attractively
Keep the plant-based options priced the same or lower as the other similar options.
How we can help: We help build attractive and profitable pricing and ensure cost-effective recipes and ingredients. We track and analyze sales and profitability before, during, and after the change.
Name and describe deliciously
Sell the food, not the ingredients.
When naming a plant-based dish, highlight taste, texture and appeal. "Vegetarian food" or "vegan option" doesn't usually sound as appealing as a description of the food itself.
How we can help: We create names and descriptions for your plant-based options that awaken appetite and desire to buy.
Recommend plant-based options
Make the plant-based option the chef's recommendation, dish of the day, or staff's favorite. Ensure that the staff is able to talk about plant-based options comprehensively, positively, and attractively.
Satisfied and knowledgeable staff make recommendations feel natural – and help grow sales of plant-based options.
How we can help: We train your staff to recommend plant-based options naturally and tell customers about them attractively. We also prepare them to respond to potential questions and criticism constructively while supporting your sales.
How well do you nudge?
How many of these techniques are you already using? How much could nudging benefit you? What results have you already achieved – and how much more could you grow your sales and profitability of plant-based offering?
We help you identify where your greatest potential lies – and how to put it into practice.
30 min free discovery. No commitment.
Explore the research
- Greener by Default – Research — A good research summary, especially on plant-based options.Explore Greener by Default's research summary
- Lin, H., Barcellos, M. D. & de Steur, H. (2025). The role of nudges in food choices: An umbrella review. — A review of 36 systematic studies. Default alternatives and placement emerged as the most effective nudging techniques.Read the research
- Saastamoinen, J. (2025). Nudging and Food Consumption: How to Navigate Consumers for Better Food Choices. Aalto University School of Business, bachelor's thesis. — Aalto University bachelor's thesis on nudging and food consumption.Read the thesis in Aaltodoc
- Weijers et al. (2024). Nudging towards sustainable dining: Exploring menu nudges to promote vegetarian meal choices in restaurants. — Restaurant-context research on appealing naming, chef recommendations and visibility.Read the research