Scents in Restaurants Can Attract Consumers

In South Korea, Dunkin’ Donuts spraying coffee scent on buses resulted in a 16 percent increase in customers walking into Dunkin’ Donuts stores near bus stops and a 29 percent increase in sales at the stores.

#For anyone who has a restaurant business, take advantage of this.

Today we have marketing strategies that will help increase sales for your restaurant. Many owners may promote their restaurants via online platforms and offer special promotions or discounts to make customers interested or come back to use the service. Apart from these strategies, a good scent can attract customers too.

The food’s taste is good or bad depends first of all on the smell of the food. The scent can whet your appetite and make a great first impression when the waiter serves a plate of food or hot coffee in front of you. If it’s the food’s scent that you like, it will increase your appetite even more and there is also a higher chance of taking it away. In other words, the decision to choose to eat at a particular restaurant might come from walking past a restaurant and subconsciously smelling the aroma of that restaurant, so it makes you decide to choose that restaurant immediately. The power of these decisions lies in the subtlety of their sensory effects.

This marketing strategy comes from the research of Dr. Aradha Kirshna, a pioneer in sensory marketing. The psychology and theory behind scent marketing for restaurants explain that scent can influence food ordering behavior, for example.

1. Scents that can attract consumers
Cooking food at certain times such as office workers’ lunch breaks, to attract hungry customers with its delicious aroma. For example in South Korea, Dunkin’ Donuts spraying coffee scent on buses resulted in a 16 percent increase in customers walking into Dunkin’ Donuts stores near bus stops and a 29 percent increase in sales at the stores.

2. Restaurant scent can impress consumers
Scent marketing for restaurants is a new strategy that helps customers remember brands and make a lasting impression on customers. For example, Cinnabon leverages scented marketing for restaurants by baking their signature cinnamon-flavored bread every 30 minutes around the clock, people can instantly tell that the smell is Cinnabon bread.

3. The restaurant scents and the behavior of the customers
Scents can stimulate emotions and memories. Restaurant scents can capitalize on this by creating a positive and memorable experience for customers. For example, if you smell a restaurant scent with calming scents of vanilla or lavender, it can put you at ease. if you smell a fresh, alert restaurant scent such as lemon or jasmine, it can refresh and energize the consumer.

Moreover, an article from Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) states that scents can help increase restaurant revenue because the scent increases appetite, so customers are likely to buy more food than usual. It can be said that the right scent can encourage consumers to buy more food. According to the research results, 59% of consumers will spend more if a restaurant smells good. Therefore, scented marketing can have a great effect in attracting more customers to buy. There is an opportunity that consumers will come back and buy again in the future so that restaurants’ income can continuously increase.