‘Is too much choice a bad thing?’

I was recently reading that the tasting menu concept in restaurants is making a comeback, especially during the cost-of-living crisis.

This is not surprising really, because rather than offering a variety of different options that may never be consumed, the diner can be steered through a culinary journey at reduced cost.

It has not been greeted positively in all cases. One critic recalled ‘being trapped and helpless in the face of a marathon tasting menu’. Another bemoaned them as an ‘exhausting to-do list of knackered cliches’.

However, on the rare occasions I have experienced the tasting menu I have actually enjoyed the experience. Freed at last from the tyranny of choice on the long and winding menu, and liberated by the lack of remorse for choosing the wrong dish, I feel they have their place in modern society.

In fact, the financial stability they clearly brought to the smaller catering establishments in recent difficult times was enviously viewed by many.

In this matter there is no retail equivalent of the tasting menu, and I have often felt that many delis and speciality food shops use a lot of slow-moving stock as filler space to keep up appearances in different locations around the shelves without offering anything actually… different. Here I am thinking particularly of my own shop! Although one or two others spring to mind, and the occasional food show.

In previous times I came across the work of Signor Vilfredo Pareto, whose writings lead to the creation of the concept known as the Pareto Principle. This principle states that for many outcomes 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. For example, in our field of speciality food this can mean 80% of the sales come from 20% of the products. Or in reverse, 20% of sales come from 80% of the products. Which means that four fifths of all that you see in a food shop sells slowly compared to the profitable one fifth.

It can be applied in other ways too. It has been suggested that 20% of the customers make up 80% of the sales or even, perhaps more fancifully, 20% of the staff make 80% of the shop’s output.

But apparently having too much choice is potentially as bad as having too little choice, or as I refer to it ‘The Two Bries Factor’. That is offering many different types of the same product without a clearly defined good reason which results in what has been known as the ‘paradox of choice’. The problem is not really two Bries, it’s offering multiple choice Bries which becomes too confusing.

In his 2004 book called The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz argued that reducing choices in food shops eliminates customer anxiety. The more choices that are being offered paradoxically does not make us benefit psychologically, and hence feel comfortable making a choice. In my experience this occurs particularly in wine departments where numerous bottles of wine offer vast alternatives with little specific information on style or popularity.

In Partridges we have some 30 to 40 types of olive oil, believe it or not, at many different price points. I do not actually think this increases sales of olive oil overall, apart perhaps from having such a large physical presence and the feel-good factor for the proprietor of offering a lot of choice. We suffer in the same way with tea, sauces and pickles, and biscuits to name a few. Ultimately the contention is that too much choice becomes demotivating to customers and affects sales.

As with so many aspects in life and running small businesses, Channing Pollock’s quote “happiness is a way station between too much and too little” serves as a constant reminder, especially when placing orders.