The genius reason restaurants avoid using dollar signs on their menus

If you've been out for dinner lately you may have noticed something about how restaurants present their menu.

Perusing the menu is all part of the theatre of eating out, even if you've already looked online and decided what you're having ahead of time.

But you may have noticed something about the numbers at the side of the menu which indicate price.

That is, that many establishments just have plain printed numbers there, there's no dollar sign, or symbol for whatever currency you happen to be spending.

Whether it's just popping in for a coffee or splashing out on a special dinner, all different kinds of establishments have started to just print plain numbers.

In some cases you might even have noticed that they only use one decimal point as well.

Instead of writing 'Coffee - $5.50', they put 'Coffee - 5.5'.

It turns out that there is more to this practice than just some weird hipster trend or trying to appear chic or minimalist.

So what is the reason behind this way of presenting information?

There's actually a specific reason why the menu is laid out this way. (Silvia Otte / Getty)

If you guessed 'psychological marketing tactic to try and get you to spend more money', you are correct.

It works by trying to make you not think about money.

Picture it - you're relaxing in the restaurant with a date, a mate, or solo.

One thing which is guaranteed to put a dampener on the mood is thinking about the financial beating your bank account is about to take.

Removing the currency symbol takes the number out of context.

Most people will have a rough idea of what say $15.70 means as an amount of money.

On the other hand, '15.7' is a more abstract value, and removing that context makes us focus less on the cost and more on how delicious the dish sounds.

Of course, this is not the only trick that hospitality businesses employ.

Everywhere from fancy restaurants to coffee shops uses the trick. (LumiNola/Getty)

For example the wine list is a minefield for customers, and a way for a restaurant to get easy mark up.

Firstly, having a separate 'wine list' from the rest of the drinks affords wine status.

While most of us have a rough idea how much is a good price for a beer, a cocktail, or a spirit and mixer, wine could be anything from $10 a bottle to $10,000.

Restaurants know that the majority of their customers will not know what any given bottle of wine is worth.

So find a fancy-sounding vineyard, which was actually bought wholesale for $8 a bottle, and mark it up like crazy: 'Chateau Marseillaise La Rouge - 35.6'.

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