Menus are not just lists of food. They are carefully engineered documents designed to shape how you feel about what you’re ordering and, just as importantly, how much you’re willing to spend. Rather than being a simple rundown of dishes, a well-crafted menu is a curated document that, when properly designed and organized, can take the customer on a culinary journey that puts extra dollars into an eatery’s tills. As restaurants continue battling rising costs, the words they choose are doing more work than ever before. As of December 2024, menu prices jumped 0.7% in a single month, the fastest growth since October 2022, according to the National Restaurant Association. Full-service restaurant menu prices increased 4.9% year-over-year, while limited-service prices rose 3.3%. Knowing how to read the language on a menu can save you from a bill that’s bigger than you bargained for.
1. “Market Price”
Of all the phrases you’ll encounter on a menu, “market price” is arguably the most expensive two words in the English language. It signals that the kitchen reserves the right to charge whatever the current cost of an ingredient demands, and you often won’t know the number until the check arrives. Patrons may be accustomed to seeing “MP” on a menu for certain higher-end dishes, such as lobster and filet mignon, but this label won’t necessarily sit well with them if it’s used elsewhere on the menu with any frequency. The phrase is rooted in reality: the price of ingredients can change based on influences beyond a restaurant’s control, such as extreme weather, seasonality, trends in the market, and product shortages.
The practical consequence for diners is a complete lack of price transparency at the moment of ordering. Most people feel awkward asking a server what “market price” actually means in dollars, and restaurants know this. Beef and veal supply chain disruptions and higher feed costs continue to keep beef elevated, while dairy products like butter and cheese remain stubbornly high, weighing on operational expenses. The “market price” label conveniently shields the restaurant from having to reprint menus constantly while ensuring the margin stays intact, no matter how volatile ingredient costs become.
2. “Artisan” and “Craft”
Few words on a modern menu carry the pricing power of “artisan” or “craft.” These terms immediately conjure images of slow, careful, small-batch production and the premium pricing that comes with it. Intentionally pricing above market rates to signal exclusivity, quality, or status is a deliberate strategy, and words like “artisan” do the heavy lifting. The moment a bread roll becomes an “artisan sourdough,” or a burger becomes a “craft beef patty,” the perceived value jumps, and so does the price tag.
Instead of pricing based strictly on cost and markup, value-based pricing asks what an item is worth to the customer. It is about pricing high-quality, unique, or signature items based on customer perception, not just ingredients. “Artisan” and “craft” are the linguistic triggers that make value-based pricing work. In some cases, customers will choose prestige menu items simply 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. The word “artisan” is often enough to push a dish into that premium bracket without changing much else.
3. “House-Made” and “From Scratch”
“House-made” is a phrase that rewards the restaurant twice. First, it signals authenticity and craftsmanship to the diner, justifying a higher price. Second, it often costs the restaurant very little extra beyond the labor that was already accounted for in the kitchen budget. Boxes, bold text, or chef recommendations direct attention to dishes with the best profit margins. Descriptive menu language also makes meals more appealing, increasing the likelihood of selection. A “house-made” sauce or “from scratch” pasta becomes a point of pride that opens the door to a steeper price point.
The strategy works because diners genuinely value transparency and effort in food preparation. Describing value before revealing price is a powerful technique. When guests read an appealing description of a dish, including its ingredients, preparation, and sensory qualities, they form a value expectation before seeing the price. If the price meets or falls below that expectation, it feels reasonable. “House-made” is a shortcut to building that expectation of quality early in the reading experience, priming the guest to accept whatever number follows. A name like “Grandma Rose’s Secret Recipe Chocolate Layer Cake, made fresh daily” might command a higher price than the exact same dish listed more plainly, simply because of perceived value.
4. “Tasting Menu” and “Prix Fixe”
“Tasting menu” and “prix fixe” are two phrases that, despite sounding elegant and even accessible, almost always mean you’re committing to one of the more expensive meals the restaurant offers. Restaurants that offer prix fixe and tasting menus on a regular basis tend to have higher price points. Prix fixe is a French term for “fixed price” and is a menu offering a complete meal at a set rate. The key word in that definition is “fixed.” You don’t choose individual dishes and you don’t control the total spend in the way you might from a standard à la carte menu.
Since a prix fixe menu is a limited menu, restaurants can more easily price the entire offering to both control costs and build profit. It is also a perfect way to guarantee that each customer spends a minimum amount, or in other words, let the restaurant hit a target check average. Tasting menus take this a step further. Since the 1990s, the tasting menu has become synonymous with fine dining establishments and has frequently been touted as the pinnacle of gastronomic innovation and skill. However, in recent years the sheen has been rubbing off the tasting menu as the portions have shrunk and prices have increased. The format locks in high spending per guest, which is precisely why it appeals to operators navigating a high-cost environment.
5. “Small Plates” and “Curated”
“Small plates” sounds like a casual, even budget-friendly concept. In practice, it’s one of the most reliable upsell formats in the restaurant industry. The idea is that you order several dishes to share, but each individual plate is priced in a way that means the table’s total bill can easily surpass what a conventional entrée-based meal would have cost. Tasting menus used at high-end restaurants consist of a prix fixe menu filled with up to a dozen limited courses of selected small plates that are often curated by chefs. When the word “curated” is attached to those small plates, the premium justification is baked right into the vocabulary.
“Curated” is one of the more clever pricing words on modern menus because it implies that an expert, usually the chef, has made thoughtful decisions on your behalf, and expertise carries a cost. Unlike an à la carte menu, where diners choose individual items, a prix fixe or curated menu takes them on a meticulously curated culinary journey. According to ResDiary’s Beyond the Booking industry reports for 2025, 71% of venue operators in Australia and New Zealand increased their menu pricing in 2024, and 82% increased their prices in the UK and Ireland, with premium descriptors like “curated” helping to smooth over those increases. Roughly 65% of consumers say they are willing to pay higher prices when there is exceptional service or a sense of being made to feel special, and restaurants have learned that the right language on the page can create exactly that feeling.
