The compromise effect in action: Lessons from a restaurant's menu

•We investigate the existence of the compromise effect in the field.•Individuals tend to avoid alternatives at the lowest or highest end of the price spectrum.•Options which become a compromise gain on average five percent in market share.•The results are robust to different model specifications and endogeneity. The compromise effect refers to individuals’ tendency to choose intermediate options. Its existence has been demonstrated in a large number of hypothetical choice experiments. This paper uses field data from a specialties restaurant to investigate the existence and strength of the compromise effect in a natural environment. Despite the presence of many factors that potentially weaken the compromise effect (e.g., a very large choice set, the opportunity to choose familiar options), we find evidence for it both in descriptive statistics and regression analyses. Options which become a compromise after a change in the choice set gain on average five percent in market share.