What a brainwave
A high-tech experiment conducted by Knorr has pointed the way to how pubs should be serving and promoting soup. It revealed how well-worded descriptions of soup on menus can encourage customers to sample.
The study was designed to discover what turns people on to soup when eating out. A sample of 14 adults took part in an experiment that involved a questionnaire, brainwave monitoring and skin conductance tests to measure their emotional involvement and physical excitement when presented with different soup servings and menu descriptions.
Participants were given two isolated menu examples stating 'Soup of the day and bread roll', a common way to present soup on a menu, and the more descriptive 'Homemade Tomato soup swirled with basil oil and fresh cream, served with crunchy herb croutons and warm ciabatta bread'.
The menu description 'Soup of the day and bread roll' rated as both the more boring and less appealing way of presenting soup and scored lower for enticement.
The measurement of the group's brain activity revealed significant increases in interest and strong, positive emotions towards soup when the volunteers were presented with an imaginatively served dish and more descriptive menu wording.
Diners whose soup was served attractively believed it tasted better and was more nutritious than exactly the same soup served in an uninspired way.
Lawrence Smith, category marketing director at Unilever Foodsolutions, makers of Knorr soups, says: "By running this experiment, we wanted to put to the test our theory that soup out-of-home needs to be made more enticing if it is to appeal to increasingly discerning diners."
"The experiment proves that eye-appeal in both the way soup is described and served holds the key to making it a starter of choice. Just by adding a topping a chef can transform a bowl of hot liquid into a tempting and seemingly more nutritious meal. Similarly, ditching ordinary bowls and serving soup in an unusual vessel, such as a trio of espresso cups, increases the customer's excitement and his or her perceived value of the dish."
According to data-gathering group TNS Wordpanel, soup consumed when eating out has been in decline in recent years, its volume dropping by 13 per cent in the 12 months to February 2007.
Hopefully, such investment and research into the category by major stakeholders such as Knorr can help pubs to reverse this trend.
