Nudging plant-based meals through the menu

A nudge experiment was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of presenting a menu with the dish-of-the-day (DoD) vs. a menu with free choice to facilitate consumer choice towards a fully plant-based, nutritious and tasty meal in foodservice setting. A menu card in control condition included the appetizer, the three mains and a dessert. The menu card in the intervention included the appetizer, eggplant lasagne as the DoD, and the dessert. Thirty-three volunteers ate twice at Future Consumer Lab in Copenhagen, once in each condition (67% women; mean age 25y; SD2.1). Three innovative 100% plant-based main courses were designed for the purpose of this study, Black bean & quinoa burger, Lentil curry and Eggplant lasagne. Compared with the control situation, DoD was successful in achieving 85% of the choice. Menu design and innovative meal design can contribute jointly to the uptake of plant-based meals in foodservice.