Sound can be incredibly powerful advertisement inside the dining hall. We’ve previously written about how sound can influence taste, but did you know sound can also increase appetite or desire for specific foods?
That’s right, and you’ve probably experienced this whether you wanted to or not. The Tex-Mex restaurant Chili’s uses this to great effect with their Fajitas. When one fajita is ordered, the line cooks know to start firing up the grill and prepping for more as that fajita as a cascade of fajita orders almost always follows. What makes this so powerful?
First, this is a multi-sensory experience. When a fajita comes out of the kitchen and is delivered to a patron, it a performance. The hot, sizzling fajita travels from the kitchen to diner catching everyone’s attention with a combination of sound, smell, and smoke. The loud sizzle of this fajita works in conjunction with the smell and the smoke to turn diners heads and make ordering this dish not just an advertisement, but an experience. Would you be surprised to hear that this smoke and sizzle is not “organic”?
Yes, that’s right. This sizzling sound that we typically associate with freshly seared meat (especially with the context of the smell and the smoke) is not actually the hot fajita sizzling on the platter on it’s way to the customer. Instead, many restaurants who make use of the fajita effect actually fully prep the dish, and then spray the hot platter with liquid (varies from water, fat, soy sauce, or a combination of ingredients) to create this loud, fresh sizzling effect.
And it works! You can find numerous accounts of chefs and line cooks talking about how once that first fajita order comes in, they know to start prepping a lot more because it gets so many other diners attention and interest. What’s even more remarkable is the amount of diners who, if asked to describe the chili’s fajita, will include the sound as part of the description - even if they themselves didn’t order it. Chili’s also heavily makes use of this by making use of this iconic sizzle when advertising the Fajita on TV or online platforms.
On top of all this, the final bit of icing on the cake (Or hot sauce on the fajita, or perhaps even the chef’s kiss) is the waiter usually telling the patron “Careful, it’s hot” upon delivery of this sizzling, smoking fajita to their table. Yes, the plate usually is hot and heated to create this sizzle, but these words further solidify the idea in the diners mind that this is hot, fresh, and delicious - firmly finalizing their expectations and priming their experience of the fajita before they even have food in their mouth.
In short, the fajita effect is all about the experience & presentation of the food arriving and less about the food itself. You are using sound and the senses to tease the food before it arrives and create anticipation, while also setting expectations and framing the meal as a special experience before it even reaches the diner.
There is also a bit of the "social proof" phenomenon going on here - as more and more fajitas come out of the kitchen, drawing people's attention - it encourages more people to order them. Usually diners aren't too aware of what diners at other tables order, but the fajita demands attention, creating an awareness of "Oh x amount of other people ordered them, they must be good, so I should too."
I’m quite surprised more restaurants haven’t taken advantage of this idea. For example, a burger joint that specializes in smash burgers could heavily play up the sound of a burger being smashed and seared in their ads, perhaps even adopting it as a sonic logo, and then “pipe” the sound of burgers being freshly smashed into the dining room. Use sound (and even better, in conjunction with sight and smell!) to get people’s mouth watering before they receive their food.
Prime them for an experience, not just a meal and yo
u can create a lasting and powerful memory that not only keeps people coming back for more - but encourages others to join in as well!