The secret behind the secret menu, and why it means big buzz for restaurants

Cost of Living4:54The marketing secrets of secret menus

The Thai Islamic noodles dish has been one of the best-selling items at Salad King in Toronto for the past 30 years, and it's not even on the menu. 

"To this day, we still see customers come in and go, 'Oh, I heard about the secret menu,'" said Alan Liu, the owner of Salad King.

The popular dish got its start in the early days of the restaurant, when Liu's parents made a noodle curry and decided to make it a special. It was such a popular choice that people kept asking for it, even after it was no longer being offered. 

Liu says the noodle dish is the their second most sold item. 

"People enjoy the fun of being in the know of the secret menu item. So it's really no more complicated than, it's fun, people enjoy it and it still sells well," said Liu. 

Off-menu items, or secret menu items, have become a popular trend among restaurants, the hype fuelled further by influencers on social media. 

Creating clout

Matthew Philp, an assistant professor of marketing at the Ted Rogers School of Business Management at Toronto Metropolitan University, says it's easy to see why people love it. 

"Here's this secret menu item. Here's this special thing that only I know about — or not many people know about. And so that makes you feel a little bit in the know; you feel good about yourself for knowing these things," said Philp. 

But it's not just about being in the know. Philp said the even bigger boon is the ability to share the secret with friends, which is where social media and influencers come in. 

"It provides some clout," said Philp. 

"If you can craft a consumer experience that makes them feel exclusive, then they're going to be more likely to share it. So then it just spreads [by] word of mouth, and word of mouth is very influential on consumers' decision making — much more influential than a typical advertisement."

Butterbeer at Starbucks

Scroll down to Sabrina Tam of Montreal, who has used secret menu items to boost her TikTok account to hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of likes. Her secret menu item reviews are the most popular videos on her account, and that helps her land contracts with restaurants. 

She says she can make up to $15,000 a month working with restaurants, reviewing new items, but she says it's the fast food chains that can make big money off it. 

"At the end of the day, it brings them sales and it creates a buzz around them, 100 per cent," said Tam. 

Tam started these reviews as something to do at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when her morning routine included a trip through the Starbucks drive-thru. She decided to take followers on TikTok along with her. 

"I found like these secret menu recipes on Pinterest or blogs and other people as well were starting to share recipes, so I started, like, going to Starbucks and trying them out," said Tam. 

Now when Tam stops at her local Starbucks, the employees there know who she is, and what they're in for. 

Tam does more than just secret menu reviews. In one of her recent videos she reviewed a butterbeer drink, based of the Harry Potter beverage, that she'd heard a Starbucks in Quebec had created. 

She says in less than 24 hours the video had more than 30,000 views. 

"It creates, like a desire inside of them. It's comes and plays with their curiosity and it really makes them want to try it," said Tam. 

Apple pie fries 

Philp says it's a fine line for businesses to walk. These establishments want to get people into the mystery of the secret menu and drop hints, but blatantly saying you have a secret menu makes it not so secret.

McDonalds did an internal competition where it asked its employees to submit their nominees for the fast food chain's secret menu. Some of the more unique ideas included apple pie fries, or French toast Big Mac buns. 

But completely outing your secret menu isn't the way to go, says Philp.

"It's not like a binary thing of telling consumers about it or not. There is some grey zone," said Philp. 

For the Salad King, Liu said it wasn't his parent's intent to create a buzz around a secret menu item, although it has worked out well. It had more to do with Liu's father and his ability to update the menu. 

"My dad didn't know how to work the printing program that's used to lay out the menu, so he could never figure out how to shove it in, and that's the honest reason why it's not on the menu," said Liu. 

Now, Liu is capable of updating the menu, but says they've kept the best-selling dish off the menu anyway. 

"To be honest, if you look at it from an economic perspective, we'll probably sell more by putting it on the menu than leaving it out, but it's just more fun this way."

Produced by Danielle Nerman.