If you were a restaurant owner, what kind of music would you choose to create the desired atmosphere and enhance customer satisfaction?
Imagine that you take five of your friends to a restaurant for dinner. It’s your birthday and you want everyone to have a great time. The food is delicious; the restaurant staff are helpful and friendly. To make it the perfect evening, the music playing in the background makes everyone feel really happy. When it’s time to leave, you decide to leave a tip for the staff. After all, they’ve helped to make it a great evening.
Would you have felt the same way if the background music had been really boring? Would you have left such a generous tip? The food and service may have been just as good, but the music might have made you feel different. A psychologist called Annika Beer has recently found that the music playing in the background of a restaurant may have an effect on the amount of money you leave for the restaurant staff. If the background music makes you feel good, you will probably leave the staff a larger amount!
Annika conducted her research in an upmarket restaurant in Austria where the average bill for two people was about HK$900. Different styles of music were played – some upbeat and fun, others slow and sad. The different tips left by 277 people were analysed. When the music was upbeat and fun, diners left a bigger tip than those who dined when the slow and sad music was playing. Annika also found that older people were more generous than younger people when the music was popular. She said, “Uplifting music makes people happy. If someone is feeling in a good mood, they are more likely to be generous with their tip.”
So, what were those upbeat tunes that affected everyone’s tipping? Not surprisingly, Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’ and Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ were very popular and made people happy. There were also some slower, less upbeat songs, that improved people’s mood. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by the Beatles helped to increase a diner’s tip. But when the music was sad, the tips went down. However, Annika did find that when sad music was played in the restaurant, people were more helpful to one another.
If you were running your own restaurant, what music would you choose to play? You’d want your customers to be happy. It would be good if they were helpful as well! You would have to get the balance right. Then, of course, you would have to choose background music that reflects the style of your restaurant. Would your restaurant be more ‘Dancing Queen’ and ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, or would you prefer to allow your diners to eat in a quieter environment?
Question:
Should we even be tipping in the 21st century? Here are some thoughts:
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