With food prices at uncomfortable levels right nowconsumers are carefully weighing each potential trip to a restaurant. Those businesses, in turn, are finding strategies to keep people coming through the door, experimenting with promotions and tweaking their overall approach. But one method that’s actually working out for some chain restaurantss is a marketing strategy called barbell pricing. Even if you haven’t heard of it, you might have already experienced this model without realizing it.

What is barbell pricing?

As explained by trade publication Restaurant Business Online, barbell pricing is when a restaurant lures you in with promotions deals while simultaneously pushing higher-end items. Denny’s has been employing this strategy this yearand Red Robin is also making moves toward this model by offering a $10 meal promo while also promoting its higher-end Cheese Lovers burgers, priced at over $15 per burger.

What this does is draw in multiple types of customers. Lower-income diners, who are most impacted by inflation, come in for lower prices, while customers who might be less affected by rising food costs are drawn in by the allure of premium items, which they are willing to spend extra to get. Plus there’s always the old-fashioned upsell: Once you’re in, the restaurant has the opportunity to convince you to upgrade from lower-end items to fancier ones on the spot. Or tack on some drinks. Or