Pricing Interventions Based on Energy Content in Restaurants

Socioeconomic Position and the Effectiveness of a Pricing Intervention Based on Energy Content in Restaurants: a Real-world Experiment

The goal of this clinical trial is to examine the impact of price decreases based on energy content in a full-service restaurant on immediate dietary consumption (in terms of kilocalories (kcals), sugar, fat, and salt intake) and dietary consumption the rest of the day following the intervention; and whether the intervention effects differ based on socioeconomic position (SEP).

Participants will be asked to visit the restaurant twice. At visit 1, participants will receive a control study menu with the existing pricing structure of the restaurant. At visit 2, participants will receive the same study menu with the pricing intervention introduced.

For comparative purposes a smaller subgroup of participants will receive the control menu at both visit 1 and 2 to allow the researchers to estimate whether any pre-post changes occur in the absence of a pricing intervention (and whether change differs by SEP).

Study Overview

• Status: Terminated
• Conditions: Obesity; Healthy Diet; Eating Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Pricing intervention

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United Kingdom
  • Liverpool, United Kingdom
    • University of Liverpool
  • Merseyside
    • Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom, L69 7ZA
      • University of Liverpool

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• UK resident, aged 18 and older, fluent in English, have an out-of-home meal at least once a month and have no dietary allergies

Exclusion Criteria:

• No further exclusion criteria as it is a real-world study

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Control; Participants will receive a standard menu with the existing pricing structure of the restaurant
Experimental: Pricing Intervention; Participants will receive a menu where lower kcal dishes are discounted by 30%	Behavioral: Pricing intervention; Participants will be provided with a menu with manipulated prices for products with lower kilocalories

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Total kilocalories (kcal) ordered at the restaurant	The researchers will observe whether the total kcal ordered is different with a standard menu versus the menu with price manipulations	1 hour
Total kcal consumed at the restaurant	The researchers will observe whether the total kcal consumed (taking into account leftovers and food sharing) is different with a standard menu versus the menu with price manipulations	1 hour

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Later kcal intake	The researchers will examine dietary intake the rest of the day following the restaurant visit to examine evidence of compensatory dietary intake.	10 hours
Total sugar, fat and salt intake	The researchers will observe whether the total sugar, fat and salt ordered is different with a standard menu versus the menu with price manipulations	1 hour

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Liverpool
• Collaborators: European Research Council

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 27, 2023
• Primary Completion (Actual): July 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): July 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 20, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 17, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): April 18, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 21, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 19, 2023
• Last Verified: July 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: Restaurant Study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Study data (anonymised) will be shared on the Open Science Framework (OSF)
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: On publication, indefinitely
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No