This news may not come as a surprise to many, but many restaurant goers associate cost with quality.

So if you are thinking about lowering your prices, your patrons may suddenly decide your food is worse – even when you haven’t altered a single thing on the menu!

A new study, which was presented at the Experimental Biology meeting last week, found that the perception of taste varies wildly in accordance to the price of the meal. The group of researchers – who had bases in nutrition, economics and consumer behaviours – also found that the monetary value of the meal has no correlation to the amount eaten at a sitting.

“We were fascinated to find that pricing has little on how much one eats, but a huge impact on how you interpret the experience,” said Brain Wansink, a professor at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.

The group, all from Cornell University, headed to an Italian diner in New York to conduct their experiment where they studied the dining behaviour of 139 people who opted for the all-you-can-eat-buffet. During the process the researchers systematically changed the cost of the buffet, alternating it between $4 and $8. The clientele were then asked to rate their experience.

The results were surprising, as professor Wansink explains: “Simply by cutting the price of food at a restaurant dramatically affects how customers evaluate and appreciate the food.”

Those who forked out $8 for their meal enjoyed were, on average, 11% more satisfied with their plates than those who paid half the price.

With these results it perhaps reinforces the notion that the majority of people associated cost with quality, though officially those who oversaw the experiment did not draw any steadfast conclusions from their work.

But what is interesting to take away from this study is that those who paid less felt more guilt, which was attributed to perceived ‘over-eating’. In reality there was not a great difference between the amounts of food consumed between the two groups.

Perhaps those who spent $4 felt as if they had taken advantage?

And what advice is there for customers looking to marry an enjoyable meal out whilst keeping costs to a minimum?

“If you’re a consumer and want to eat at a buffet the best thing to do is eat at the most expensive buffet you can afford. You won’t eat more, but you’ll have a better experience overall.”