Should You Put Currency Symbols on Your Restaurant Menu?

Removing the £ sign from a menu is a tempting change. No new dishes, no extra staff and no price increase. A few minutes in your design file, followed by the hope of a healthier average spend.

Currency symbols on restaurant menus deserve a more measured decision. There is research behind the idea, but removing a symbol does not guarantee higher sales. Your guests still need to understand the price, the currency and what their money buys.

For a table-service restaurant with a clearly labelled sterling menu, a numeral-only format is worth testing. For a takeaway board, an international audience or an ordering screen, keeping the symbol often gives customers useful clarity. Start with the buying situation, then choose the typography.

What does the research on currency symbols on restaurant menus show?

A 2009 Cornell hospitality report examined lunch purchases at St. Andrew’s, a restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Guests received menus using one of three price formats: numbers with a dollar sign, numbers without a dollar sign, or prices written in words.

Guests receiving the numeral-only menu spent more than those receiving either format referring explicitly to dollars. The report also found other factors, including group size and time at the table, mattered more in explaining spending.

The setting limits the lesson: one US restaurant, one meal period and dollar prices. The result supports a local test. It does not establish the same response among UK diners, across delivery apps or at every style of restaurant.

Why removing a currency symbol might affect a choice

The suggested explanation is a reduced reminder of payment. Repeating a currency symbol beside every dish draws attention to money. Removing those repeated cues might leave more attention for the dish and its description.

Treat this as a proposed explanation, rather than proof of what happens in each guest’s mind. Someone choosing dinner within a fixed budget still cares about the total, regardless of the font or symbol.

A guest comparing two mains also needs useful information. Does the fish include potatoes and vegetables? Is the steak price for the whole dish? Will a side be necessary? A missing £ sign answers none of these questions.

When to try a menu without £ signs

Consider testing a numeral-only format when guests sit down with a dedicated food menu, the currency is clearly stated and prices stay easy to identify. This is a practical option during a scheduled menu update, when printing a trial batch costs little.

For example, a neighbourhood bistro might compare these two presentations while keeping every other element unchanged:

• Roast chicken, crushed potatoes, seasonal greens and thyme gravy. £18.50
• Roast chicken, crushed potatoes, seasonal greens and thyme gravy. 18.50

On the second version, use a visible statement such as “All prices in pounds sterling (£)”. Place the statement where guests will see the information while choosing. This is a design recommendation, not a substitute for checking the pricing requirements applying to your business.

The trial changes one detail: the symbol beside each price. Removing decimal places, moving prices and rewriting descriptions at the same time would make the result harder to interpret.

When keeping currency symbols makes sense

• Takeaway boards and window displays. Customers should understand the offer and price during a quick glance.
• Menus reaching visitors from abroad. Make the currency explicit rather than expecting everyone to assume sterling.
• Digital ordering and payment screens. Keep the currency and total clear throughout the purchase.
• Mixed-price offers. Supplements, sharing dishes and prices per person need clear labels explaining what each number means.

Ask your team where guests hesitate. If customers already ask whether a number is a price per person or per dish, resolve the wording before running a symbol test.

Clear prices matter more than a tidier layout

UK Competition and Markets Authority guidance says customers must receive clear, complete prices up front, normally including unavoidable charges and applicable taxes such as VAT.

Removing repeated £ signs is a typography decision. Leaving customers uncertain about the amount payable creates a different problem. Keep prices legible, explain what each dish includes and make charge information prominent. Check the full guidance for charges dependent on the customer’s order.

Check your website as well as printed menus. Our guide to fixing online menus covers a related problem: customers struggling to find usable menu information before visiting.

How to test menu price formatting fairly

1. Prepare two otherwise identical menus

Keep the dishes, prices, descriptions, type size, spacing and placement the same. Version A retains the symbols. Version B removes the repeated symbols and states the currency clearly. Use the same print quality for both.

2. Compare similar guests and services

Where practical, randomly assign one version to each table during the same services. Everyone at a table should receive the same version. Record the version against the bill, and brief staff to give the same recommendations to both groups.

If your system does not support this, alternate versions across comparable services. Record differences such as bank holidays, promotions, large parties or shortages. A busy Saturday compared with a quiet Tuesday will tell you little about a £ sign.

3. Measure spend per guest and the quality of the sale

Divide sales by covers for each version, using the same basis throughout. Separate food and drink where possible, and exclude tips consistently. Track side orders, desserts and the mix of dishes sold alongside average spend.

For a wider review of dish popularity and contribution, use our restaurant menu engineering guide. Extra revenue is less useful if the sales mix moves towards dishes with weaker contributions.

4. Use the numbers without overstating the result

Here is an illustrative calculation, not a forecast. Suppose each version reaches 200 covers. Version A produces £6,400 in sales, or £32 per guest. Version B produces £6,560, or £32.80 per guest. The observed difference is 80p per guest, or 2.5%.

Check whether a few expensive wine orders or large parties explain the gap. A small difference after a short trial is uncertain. Set a review point in advance, cover several comparable services and repeat the comparison before committing to a full print run.

5. Check the guest experience

Ask staff to record price questions and misunderstandings. Look at both versions under your actual dining-room lighting. A presentation producing more confusion needs revision, even if the sales figure looks promising.

Your next menu update: make one controlled change

Before paying for a reprint, choose one menu and prepare the two versions. Confirm the currency is obvious, ask staff to flag unclear prices and decide how you will record covers and sales. Run the comparison without changing the dishes or their prices. Use your own results to decide which format earns a permanent place.

Products / Tools / Resources

• Cornell: $ or Dollars. Read the original report and its setting before adopting the finding.
• CMA price transparency guidance. Check how to present total prices, taxes and mandatory charges.
• Your existing EPOS reporting and a spreadsheet. Record menu version, covers, sales, dish mix and price questions without buying a separate testing tool.

Restaurant Owner Resource