By Lisa Ward

Bars and restaurants may want to pay more attention to the type of drinking glasses they choose.

According to a recent study, people prefer wide-rimmed glasses to narrow-rimmed ones (think red-wine glasses vs. champagne flutes). They are not only prepared to spend more on beverages in wider glasses, they are more likely to reorder drinks that they are served in a wider glass. Drinking from wider glasses even makes them feel better.

In the study, the authors gave 120 French business students either juice or soda in either a wide-rimmed or narrow-rimmed glass. (The type of beverage didn't have a statistical effect on the results.) The participants served drinks in the wide glasses said they were more likely to buy the beverage in the future, answering an average 4.34 on a seven-point scale. For students who got a narrow glass, the average was 3.64.

Wide glasses also led people to pick a more expensive beverage. In another experiment, the authors had waiters give 200 patrons of a bar two types of wine to taste. Half the group was served both drinks in wide-rimmed glasses, and the other half of the group was served both drinks in narrow ones.

The result? Patrons served drinks in wide-rimmed glasses were more willing to spend more: In all, 60% of them chose the more expensive option. Meanwhile, only about 47.5% of patrons served drinks in narrow glasses chose the more expensive beverage.

Why might people prefer wide-rimmed glasses? Nathalie Spielmann, a professor at Neoma Business School in Reims, France, and one of the paper's authors, says that wide glasses, even if they hold the same amount of liquid, may be seen as bigger and therefore better.

The wider glasses also seem to make people feel better -- literally. In a different part of the paper, the authors gave 101 French business students nonalcoholic apple cider in either a wide-rimmed or narrow-rimmed glass. Students then rated how happy, excited and pleasurable they found the drinks. The wider-rimmed glasses got an average of 5.11 on a seven-point scale, compared with 4.56 for the narrower ones.

Lisa Ward is a writer in Vermont. She can be reached at reports@wsj.com.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 24, 2025 12:00 ET (16:00 GMT)

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