A former Wetherspoons barmaid has shared a secret about working at the chain - and it might have made you spend more money. The pub worker revealed the sneaky trick as part of a new documentary about Wetherspoons on Channel 5.
Sophia Nasif, who used to work at Wetherspoons full time, said there was one trick bartenders used to tempt customers into spending more money. She revealed that when pouring someone a spirit and mixer, she used to offer a ‘double’ before offering a ‘single’.
This apparently tempts those buying drinks into opting for the double - and the trick was has been backed by psychologists who specialise in consumer behaviour as well as fellow former exployees of the pub chain.
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Sophia said on Channel 5’s Wetherspoons: How Do They Do It?: “You say the word double so it sticks in their head first.” Fellow former 'Spoons employee George Andrews added: “If you have a gin and tonic for instance, when you came to order that, you would say ‘double or single’ in that order.
“It was something that was whispered for me to do because it did help upsell.” Sophia continued: “It worked most of the time because most of the time people would go ‘do you know, why not? I’ll have a double then’.”
Psychologist Kate Nightingale added: “You are going for the easiest, fastest solution, that’s how your brain is designed. If you are asking them, double first makes it so much easier for the brain to quickly choose that first option.”
And this wasn’t the only trick of the trade revealed on the programme. Ex-pub manager Craig Henry noted: “One of the best things to say to somebody is not ‘do you want’ but ‘how many?’ You’re not really giving the person a choice of not having onion rings, you are basically saying ‘so how many onion rings would you like, six or 12?’
“You are guaranteed that will upsell. It’s part of the training, part of the criteria for members of staff to try and add an extra item onto every order.”
