From CNN Living: People increase their rate of chewing by almost a third when listening to faster, louder music, accelerating from 3.83 bites to 4.4 bites per minute.
(CNN) — Next time you find yourself at a boisterous bistro shouting at your dinner companions over the plat du jour, it might be the result of a restaurant up-sell.
It turns out these not-so-good vibrations might be on purpose. Studies show people drink more, eat faster and leave sooner when the bass is thumping, so restaurants are bringing the noise.
Customers have been sounding off in recent years about the deafening volume level in restaurants.
Washington Post food critic, Tom Sietsema, has gone so far as to include the average decibel count into his restaurant reviews and former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni famously docked chef Mario Batali’s flagship restaurant Babbo one star for its ear-splitting rock soundtrack.
There is, he wrote, “Lou Reed and Moby, at a volume that rises around 10:30 p.m., as if patrons are being cued to chew faster.”
The study shows that in loud environments men consume more drinks in less time. This is an interesting article, which also covers the effect of room colors on diners, and how restaurants keep track of slow diners so that they can deny them reservations in the future. You can read it here.
Gustoeater says
I worked for years in a banquet/convention facility and we would have events running until midnight or later, then have to turn over the room to set up for the next day’s meetings. Once the bar closed, people would want to stay in the space chatting (especially with class reunions). In order to clear the room I would run “free jazz” into the sound system, slowly increasing the volume in five minute intervals from subtle to just plain loud. Nothing cleared the room of people who have drinking and listening to the boom-boom-boom of DJ dance music faster than a little Coltrane/Love Supreme.
Rosie Rose says
Absolutely. I worked at Papa Hayden’s some years ago. When the wait-line grew long and diners were lingering, we switched from mellow jazz to beebop and the tables started to turn, even without increasing the volume.
Jeff Shultz says
Sounds like Outback and Cheesecake Factory… loud all the time.
Greg A says
Yes and some of us don’t come back!!!
bananadan says
I think most of the people who run restaurants are morons, and this article demonstrates this without a doubt.
Yes, you are having your customers chew their cud and guzzle their drinks faster.
No you are not building any loyalty, return business or anything else. Instead you are doling out a painful experience to people who have paid for a pleasurable one. I ran a retail business for years, and for many of those years we struggled. However, we never communicated our struggle to our customers, but rather kept in mind that they were the ones paying the bills, and it was our job to make sure they left our store happy and contented. That’s what builds a business, not some misguided theory of a restaurant scientist.
So maybe the tables turn over 10 percent faster. But they have no concept of all the people they simply blow out of the water. And then they are stunned when business dries up and they have to close the doors or re-invent themselves. If they concentrated on their core job of providing a great experience, the profitability will take care of itself. Anybody who follows these practices is a misguided, misdirected jerk. I’d rather stay at home than experience the pain of too much noise and sadistic acoustics that are designed to ‘turn tables.’ I think there are legions of potential diners who agree with me; it’s simply not worth the price.
sweetnsavory says
Dude-Last few posts seem to indicate that my next dining out experience will be torture. I will be chained to a table with lights flashing in my face and loud music pulsating into my ear drums. Thank god for the carts! :)
wine&dine says
Pull up stakes and take your after dinner finale to PIX. What next…..the header on the menu tells you how long your dining experience will be, 48 minutes?! Aldous Huxley……”you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you mad”.
Amelia says
When I worked at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse they told us if someone complained about the music being too loud they would turn it up.
I worked there for two horrible months and moved on!