An examination of menu item selection behavior of restaurant customers with eye tracking technique.

It is thought that the arrangement of restaurant menus with strategies such as location, labeling and visual effects the choices of the consumers. By examining the eye movements of the restaurant customers, in which order they examine the menu and how much focus they can be determined, it can be determined the impressive spots (sweet spots) or blind spots (sour spots) in the menu. It is believed that it is possible to design menus that can affect the choice of consumers by determining these points. Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to determine the effect of the menu item position and visual, which is one of the menu design items, on the choice of food from the menu. In this context, the current research was carried out in a simulated restaurant environment with daily restaurant features. This research, designed in the design and development research model, was carried out with 13 participants. Participants were determined on a voluntary basis by purposeful sampling technique. The study was carried out by examining three differently designed menus by consumers with the help of eye tracking device (Tobii Pro Glasses 2). Tobii Pro Lab Software program was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the analysis of the research data, the results of the research were evaluated in two stages. The first is whether the use of visuals in the menu has an effect on the purchasing behavior. It was concluded that the use of visuals in the menu is not completely effective, but that the visual can be effective when used as a medium of change in the menu. The second stage is the effect of location on purchase behavior in the menü. In the research, the most focused area of the consumers was the middle part of the right page in the menu and orders were given from this part. Although an average screening path is specified in the study, contrary to the literature, the first point to look for does not coincide with the point where the orders are highest. Consequently, considering the difference in the definition of "sweet spot" in the literature; Assuming that the most focused point is the sweet spot, it can be said that the middle part of the right page of the menu is the sweet spot, and when the first point in the menu is accepted as the sweet spot, it can be said that the sweet spot is not found as a result of the research. Also, the order of gaze had no effect on purchasing behavior. The results obtained are discussed in the light of the literature. Keywords: Menu Design, Eye Movements, Eye Tracking, Consumer Choice Behavior