The American psychologist Barry Schwartz published in 2004 his theory arguing that increasing choices can be detrimental to happiness and “that eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety” for shoppers/customers.
In terms of beer, the argument could be put that way: in a tap house, facing many different beers on tap, we do not want to make the wrong decision. With that many options, the perfect sip must be there and I have to find it. This increases expectations which can easily lead to disappointment and frustration.
Schwarts argues that reducing choices would make the customer’s life easier by reducing the pressure of decision: “you like IPA? Here’s one”. No stress, no particular expectation, more time to enjoy your pint.
But could this be verified in the beer business where customers always seek new experiences, new flavours etc.?
There must be some sort of sweet spot between a frustrating not enough options and a confusing extended beer list.
It seems to me that customers are each day more educated about beer and most of the time do not need to be impressed by their drink but rather just want to enjoy a quality product in a nice environment.
Offering different beer styles, cutting out sub-category variations with hundreds of IPAs and stouts on the menu, good and honest brews without frills and gimmicks, that may be where lays the tap house sweet spot.
I would like to investigate this a little deeper to see if this theory can be verified in beer bars and brewpubs, and I would love to hear what people out there think about this.
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