Restaurant Menu Engineering Boosts Plant-Based Choices

What unsustainable behaviour needs to change:

India has long been one of the world’s most vegetarian-friendly countries, with plant-based eating deeply rooted in cultural and religious traditions. However, rising economic prosperity has driven higher meat consumption. Between 2000 and 2020, India’s per capita meat consumption nearly doubled, fueled by urbanisation, increased disposable income, and evolving food aspirations.

This shift comes at a high environmental cost. Animal agriculture is a major driver of deforestation, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. As India is projected to become the world’s most populous country, its dietary choices will have significant global environmental implications. The challenge is not just awareness but fostering meaningful shifts in daily food habits—a challenge behavioural nudges can help address.

The Green Nudge:

At Gracias Granny, a Mexican restaurant in Mumbai, a real-world experiment tested whether menu nudges could encourage diners to choose more plant-based meals. 

The interventions included:

• Descriptive Enhancements: Adding vivid, appetizing descriptions to plant-based dishes led to a notable increase in plant-based orders, especially in takeaway sales.
• Promotional Offers: A free churro incentive for plant-based meals boosted selection, proving that ‘perceived value’ can be a stronger motivator than sustainability messaging.
• Menu Structuring: Featuring a plant-based „Burrito of the Day“ resulted in 100% of orders from this category being plant-based– without reducing overall sales.

However, not all nudges were successful:

Messaging nudges that highlighted the environmental impact of meat consumption unexpectedly led to a drop in plant-based choices. Instead of motivating change, these messages reinforced existing food habits, showing that positive framing (focusing on taste and value) is far more effective than guilt-based appeals.

These findings demonstrate that subtle, experience-driven nudges—rather than moral arguments—can be a powerful tool for shifting food behaviour toward sustainability.

Do you know of any other nudges that encourage sustainable dining? Feel free to get in touch: hello@green-nudges.com 

From Rashmit Arora, co-founder of Gracias Granny, a Mexican restaurant in Mumbai; Chris Bryant, founder of Bryant Research; Billy Nicholles, Researcher at Bryant Research; and Charlotte Flores, a Food Systems Researcher. Conducted by Bryant Research, this study combines academic insights and real-world restaurant data to identify which menu nudges and promotions encourage plant-based choices—and which do not.