Can colors affect appetite? How about perceptions of cleanliness and sanitation? Here are a couple of fun facts about color which you've really got to know.
- Want to lose weight? See blue! This color can act as an appetite suppressant, so beware of your delectable entrees being served on blue dishes. It's also a calming color, slowing down the urge to eat.
- On the other hand, orange and red are known to increase appetite and blood pressure. This is great if you want to boost guests' energy and keep them ordering more from your restaurant.
- Don't forget about white. This wonderful mixture of all colors in the spectrum epitomizes cleanliness and sanitation... a good image for restaurants. If your menus have a white background, make sure they stay crisp and clean. At the first sign of wear, get new ones before your spic 'n span image starts to tarnish.
- Food defines much of our perception of color. When you describe the color of an object, many times you relate it to food—an eggplant colored this, and raspberry colored that, lime green such and such. In fact, in the Color Marketing Group's 2011 Color Forecast, some of the forecasted colors bear food-related names like Tomato Red, Berry Bright Magenta and Deep Apricot,.
"Why do two colors, put one next to the other, sing?
Can one really explain this?
No. Just as one can never learn how to paint."
~ Pablo Picasso
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