Heavier waiters linked to ordering heavier meals
A Cornell Food and Brand Lab study shows that people who order from heavier waiters were more likely to go desert and alcohol.
The study of 497 people in 60 restaurants show that those who ordered from heavier waiters were four times more likely to order desert and 17% more likely to get alcohol.
“No one goes to a restaurant to start a diet. As a result, we are tremendously susceptible to cues that give us a license to order and eat what we want,” says Tim Doering, researcher at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and lead author of the study. “A fun, happy, heavy waiter, might lead a diner to say ‘What the heck’ and to cut loose a little.”
Along with the size of your waiter, the lighting, music, and even where you sit has been shown to unknowingly bias what you order. Although you can’t change your waiter or the music in a restaurant, you can follow a personal ordering rule-of-thumb: “Deciding that you’ll have either an appetizer or a dessert – but not both – before you get to the restaurant could be one of your best diet defenses,” suggests coauthor Brian Wansink, Ph.D., Director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab and author of Slim by Design.
The study is published in the current issue of the journal Environment and Behavior.
