You sit down at a restaurant, open the menu, and suddenly everything sounds impossibly delicious. “Sun-kissed heirloom tomatoes.” “Slow-braised heritage pork.” “Artisan cheddar melt.” It all sounds incredible. Then you glance at the prices – and your jaw quietly drops.
Here’s the thing: that language is not an accident. Restaurants have spent decades perfecting the art of using certain words to make you feel like you’re getting something rare, refined, and absolutely worth every cent. Whether or not that’s true is a whole other conversation. Let’s dive in.
1. “Artisan” or “Artisanal”
Few words on a modern menu do as much heavy lifting as “artisan.” It conjures images of a craftsperson hunched over a wooden table, painstakingly hand-producing something with generations of expertise behind it. That’s exactly the point. The words used in menu descriptions deeply influence customer preferences, and terms like these do more than just sound appealing – they can increase the perceived value of a dish.
Instead of “Grilled Cheese – $5,” restaurants try “Artisan Cheddar Melt with Garlic Butter Brioche – $8.” Same base dish. Higher perceived value. That three-dollar gap is the word “artisan” doing its job. Honestly, it’s a brilliant trick when you think about it – and it works on most of us every single time.
2. “Market Price”
Spotting “MP” or “Market Price” next to a dish is probably the most openly honest way a restaurant signals that you are about to pay a lot. What “market price” on a menu really means is that the cost of an item changes frequently enough that the restaurant doesn’t want to lock it in. It protects profit margin when supplier prices jump – instead of guessing, they adjust based on the day’s cost.
The price of ingredients can change based on influences beyond a restaurant’s control, such as extreme weather, seasonality, and product shortages. Patrons may be accustomed to seeing “MP” for certain higher-end dishes, such as lobster and filet mignon, but this label won’t sit well with diners if it appears with any frequency. Think of it as the menu’s polite way of saying: “We’d rather not tell you upfront.” That should give you pause before ordering.
3. “Wagyu”
Wagyu is one of those words that is genuinely associated with real quality – but it also signals that your wallet is about to feel lighter. Wagyu beef commands prices of several hundred dollars per pound because the cattle receive specific breeding, feeding, and handling techniques passed down through generations. So yes, the premium is real. The question is how much of that premium lands on your plate versus in the restaurant’s margin.
Steak has long been recognized as a luxury food item, and 2025 has seen an impressive rise in the popularity of steak dishes, with today’s trends emphasizing new, flavor-forward varieties like wagyu beef and wild game. Restaurants know this and price accordingly. The word “wagyu” on a menu is essentially a permission slip for a dramatically higher number next to it.
4. “Truffle”
Few ingredients create the kind of instant price-spike that truffles do. White truffles from Alba command up to $4,000 per pound precisely because they can’t be cultivated commercially and grow only in specific soil conditions. That is a staggering price for a fungus – but here’s something worth knowing: many “truffle” dishes on mid-range menus use truffle oil rather than actual fresh truffles.
Truffles have enjoyed an extended stay in the spotlight, leading restaurants and brands alike to incorporate truffles and truffle-infused products into more of their offerings – whether it’s freshly shaved white truffles or a healthy drizzle of truffle oil on french fries. Supplemental pricing lets restaurants raise prices on a dish when they’re using ingredients that are rare for customers to try, adding items that draw customers into making a higher purchase. Truffle is the king of that game.
5. “Farm-to-Table”
There’s an undeniable appeal to knowing your food came from somewhere with actual soil and sunlight involved. “Farm-to-table” taps right into that feeling. A farm-to-table restaurant using premium local ingredients might accept a higher food cost percentage because that quality is central to their value proposition. In other words, you’re not just paying for food – you’re paying for a story.
I think this is where it gets genuinely complicated. Sometimes the farm-to-table claim is real, meaningful, and worth every penny. Other times, it’s a marketing label slapped on a perfectly ordinary dish. Customers are willing to pay more when they believe they’re getting a worthwhile experience. The word “farm-to-table” exists almost entirely to create that belief – priced accordingly.
6. “Hand-Crafted” or “House-Made”
Telling you something is “house-made” or “hand-crafted” implies extra labor, extra time, and extra expertise. Which, in turn, implies a higher price. The words used in menu descriptions deeply influence customer preferences. Terms like “savory,” “crispy,” or “freshly caught” do more than just sound appealing – they can increase the perceived value of a dish, and descriptive language can boost sales by up to 27%.
Think about it like this: if someone told you a pasta sauce came from a can versus being slowly simmered in-house for three hours, you’d immediately expect to pay more for the second one. That’s the psychological leverage “house-made” provides. Restaurant menu items often have enticing descriptions in order to increase sales, and the type of descriptions matters because some evoke an emotional response from the customer whereas others are just a list of ingredients on a plate.
7. “Signature” or “Chef’s Signature”
When the chef stamps their name or identity on a dish, the restaurant is telling you this is something exceptional, one-of-a-kind, not replicated anywhere else. That exclusivity has a price tag. In some cases, customers will choose prestige menu items because they’re the most expensive on the menu – these premium items can be marked up significantly, perhaps another 30 to 50% over the standard model, because customers associate higher costs with higher quality.
If a restaurant offers unique and especially delicious food options, it can raise its prices, because the demand will naturally be higher for food and an atmosphere guests cannot get elsewhere. “Chef’s Signature” essentially manufactures that uniqueness in a single phrase. It’s clever, it works, and restaurants have been doing it for a long time.
8. “Small Plates” or “Small Batch”
Here’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough: “small” on a menu rarely means “cheap.” Small plates are a format specifically designed to encourage ordering multiple items – which adds up fast. It is often sides, appetizers, desserts, and any dish that uses trimmings or other inexpensive ingredients that make the most profit for a restaurant. A small plate of something that costs the kitchen very little can still carry a surprisingly big price.
“Small batch,” meanwhile, borrows its cachet from craft brewing and artisan spirits culture – it implies limited supply, careful production, and elevated quality. Premium pricing factors reflect genuine scarcity, traditional artisanal methods maintained through generations, and advanced authentication technologies. Even when “small batch” applies to something made in reasonably large quantities, the phrase still moves the pricing needle upward in the diner’s mind.
9. “Prix Fixe”
Prix fixe (pronounced “pree-fiks”) is a French term used to describe a restaurant’s multi-course menu at a fixed price. It sounds elegant, structured, and curated – because it is. Most fine-dining establishments offering a prix fixe menu have higher prices, with relatively few adjustments to the food itself.
In higher-brow establishments, prix fixe looks like a multi-course menu with an appetizer, entrée, drink, and dessert as suggested by the chef – and combos and prix fixe menus drive higher overall check sizes, leading to a solid bottom line. You may feel like you’re getting a deal because it’s “all-in,” but the fixed price is almost always engineered to capture more than you’d spend ordering à la carte. It’s a beautifully dressed-up upsell.
10. “Heritage” or “Heirloom”
Heritage breeds, heirloom varieties, and their cousins – “ancient grain,” “heritage pork,” “heirloom tomato” – are words that wrap ordinary ingredients in a cloak of historical significance and rarity. Premium organic ingredients, rare superfoods, and artisanal preparations appeal to affluent consumers who prioritize both quality and wellness in their dietary choices. Restaurants have learned to speak this language fluently.
It’s hard to say for sure whether every “heirloom” tomato on a menu is truly a rare cultivar or just a vine-ripened tomato with excellent branding. Research shows that menu description complexity can increase perceptions of item quality, expected price, and selection likelihood – and it is recommended that restaurateurs carefully craft descriptions that emphasize food preparation. In short: the more evocative the word, the more your brain is primed to accept a higher number beside it.
11. “Elevated” or “Reimagined”
Perhaps the most modern entry on this list – “elevated” and “reimagined” are the lingua franca of contemporary fine-casual dining. These words tell you that something familiar has been transformed into something worthy of a premium price. A reimagined grilled cheese is still bread and cheese, but it is now an experience. The price is lower for a meal that “feels” like groceries and higher for a meal that is itself an experience.
Diving into the world of menu pricing psychology, cognitive biases rule, influencing decisions subtly yet substantially. “Elevated” cuisine is the ultimate expression of this – it asks you not to think about the raw ingredients at all, but to imagine the vision, the technique, and the artistry. That imagination, it turns out, is something restaurants have always known how to price. As of December 2024, menu prices jumped by the fastest rate since October 2022, according to the National Restaurant Association, with full-service restaurant prices increasing nearly 5% year-over-year.
