Why Popular Music Is Costing Your Restaurant Money
The largest study ever run on restaurant music disproved the assumption most venue owners live by
4 min read
Music in most venues gets decided by whoever’s working the shift. Someone opens Spotify, picks something familiar — and that’s that.
HUI Research looked into what that actually costs. Twenty weeks, sixteen restaurants, 1.8 million transactions from real point-of-sale systems. Venues where music was chosen deliberately earned 9.1% more than those playing top-chart hits.
- What they actually measured
- Why a familiar song pulls guests out of the room
- Sometimes silence beats music
- What to do with this
- The choice most venues never make
- What the research says
- FAQ
What they actually measured
The researchers focused on one thing: whether the music matched the character of the venue — its cuisine, price point, audience. Whether what was playing belonged where it was playing.
In some restaurants, playlists were built with that question in mind. In others, staff put on whatever was trending.
Category Uplift
Desserts +15.6%
Side dishes +11.1%
Burgers +8.6%
Beverages +7.6%
Total revenue +9.1%
The uplift held across every category simultaneously.
Why a familiar song pulls guests out of the room
Popular music hooks from the first second — with an insistent intro, words you already know, the memories attached to them. By playing it in the dining room, a venue owner creates competition for the guest’s attention. Instead of settling into conversation, tasting the food, or simply being present — the guest drifts somewhere in the past, pulled there by a song they recognize.
Music chosen to fit the space works as environment. Guests don’t register it separately from the room — it’s part of it. Sound can slow things down or accelerate them, signal the status of a place as quietly as lighting or table settings do.
9.1% in revenue is a measure of guest presence.
Sometimes silence beats music
In 2003, researcher Susan Wilson tested what happens when venues play easy listening — a genre deliberately stripped of edges: no rhythm you want to tap your foot to, no melody that gets stuck in your head. Wallpaper music, put on so there’s something rather than nothing.
Guests in that setting spent less than guests in silence.
Music played just to fill space dissolves atmosphere rather than building it.
What to do with this
Genre is a consequence, not a starting point. The starting point is the place you’re building and the people coming into it.
Classical music, for instance, consistently raises order totals in higher-end restaurants — Adrian North, Alastair Shilcock, and David Hargreaves documented this in 2003. Guests read the status of a space through its details, music among them. When everything in the room signals quality — the interior, the light, the way food arrives — people allow themselves to order another glass or add a dessert. In an everyday neighbourhood café, the same classical music feels displaced, like Wagner at a graduation party.
Time of day is its own variable. The guest who comes in for lunch on a Wednesday and the one who arrives Friday evening are often different people in different states of mind. One needs to eat and get back to work; the other came to spend time away from it, with no particular reason to hurry. Deliberate curation accounts for both.
The choice most venues never make
Music in a restaurant is a decision about where your guest will actually be — in your space, in conversation, in the meal — or somewhere in their own memories, pulled there by a song that got there first.
Most venue owners never make that decision consciously. It just happens, while someone on staff scrolls through Spotify.
Moodby is a background music service built so that choice is intentional. 350+ stations curated by venue type, genre, and time of day. No music curator required, no licensing fees to collecting societies.
What the research says
- According to HUI Research and Soundtrack Your Brand (2017), venues where music was curated to match the venue’s concept earned 9.1% more than those playing chart hits — based on 1.8 million transactions across 16 restaurants over 20 weeks. The uplift was recorded across all menu categories: desserts +15.6%, side dishes +11.1%, beverages +7.6%.
- According to Adrian North, Alastair Shilcock, and David Hargreaves, published in Environment and Behavior (2003), classical music — Vivaldi, Handel, Strauss — consistently raised order totals in higher-end restaurants. Guests reading the room’s status through sound allowed themselves to spend more across all menu categories.
- According to Susan Wilson, published in Psychology of Music (2003), neutral background music in the easy listening genre performed below jazz and classical music in its effect on guest spending — and below silence.
FAQ
Does music affect restaurant revenue?
Yes, and it’s been measured on real transaction data. HUI Research’s 2017 study analyzed 1.8 million transactions across 16 restaurants and found a 9.1% revenue gap between venues with deliberately curated music and those running top-chart playlists.
Why does popular music work against a venue’s atmosphere?
Popular tracks are built to be heard: they hook from the first second, surface memories, pull attention toward themselves. In a restaurant setting, that works against guest presence — the person stops being at the table and retreats into their own head.
What does it mean to match music to a venue?
It means answering one question: does what’s playing reinforce the feeling of the place, or create friction? Classical music fits where everything else signals quality — the interior, the service, the presentation. In a casual neighbourhood café, the same music feels out of place.
Does the music need to change throughout the day?
HUI Research found that even well-matched music loses its effect without updates — tracks become familiar and start pulling attention toward themselves. A guest on Wednesday at lunch and a guest on Friday evening are often different people in different states. Deliberate curation accounts for that.
