For restaurant owners and operators, tracking data and monitoring analytics is one of the best possible ways to improve your customer service, waste less, and earn more.
“Businesses using big data can expect to see an average profit increase of eight to 10 percent — a testament to why restaurant owners and operators have embraced big data to help understand customer wants and expectations to keep them loyal. Executives in the food industry understand that knowing their clients’ preferences will help them to create better promotions, increase sales, and improve their operational efficiency, leading to a better customer experience,” explains Ido Levanon on ModernRestaurantManagement.com.
Analytics can help restaurant owners and operators:
- Maintain inventory
- Improve guest experience
- Boost staff performance
- Drive revenue
Now, let’s dive into each of these key benefits and explore how analytics can help improve your restaurant’s operations and bottom line.
Stay on top of your stock
To begin, analytics are hugely important for restaurant owners and operators because this data can help you stay on top of your inventory.
“How important is taking inventory? Well, you allocate between 25 to 35 percent of your operating budget to purchasing food, so proper inventory management can stretch a significant portion of your budget. Like it or not, how you approach taking inventory at your restaurant is critical to the success of your small business,” explains QSR Magazine.
Analytics can help restaurant owners and operator stay up-to-the-minute on information like:
- current stock value
- current stock quantity
- products due for re-ordering
- top-selling products
- worst-selling products
- overstocked products
By maintaining the most updated information on your restaurant’s inventory, owners and operators can waste less food, spend less money, and ensure the kitchen is always ready for the day or week ahead.
Improve customer experience
Another big benefit of using analytics? This data can help you understand customer behavior better and then use that information to improve their experience at your restaurant.
“Information like purchasing habits, preferences, demographics, and personal information can be used to build long-lasting customer relationships which in turn drives sales. For instance, sending out gift coupons on birthdays or anniversaries, or keeping in mind food allergies while sending out a promo offer to a guest,” explains FSR Magazine.
Capturing data on your guests is a great way to learn information like:
- Favorite orders
- Typical time of order
- Typical spend per visit
- Usage of any promos, deals, or loyalty programs
- Preference or frequency of dine-in, delivery, or takeout orders
Once captured, all of this data can then be used to hyper-effectively market to customers with special deals, meals, or promos based on their very particular preferences.
Even better? This kind of personalized attention works to improve your customer’s experience at your restaurant. A true win-win for everyone!
Improve staff performance
Third, analytics can help restaurant owners, operators, and managers improve staff performance.
Data on your staff can inform you on who’s working the most (or least) hours, your highest earners by day, week, or month, or the highest earners of tips.
Information like this is invaluable to restaurant owners and operators because it can help inform scheduling and promotions.
Additionally, monitoring your staff’s performance is a great way to boost staff morale and motivation. Think: a monthly contest with a prize awarded to the staff member with the most revenue earn.
Drive revenue
Finally, analytics can help restaurant owners and operators drive sales and bring in more revenue.
“Fast-casual restaurants are now able to discover the root causes and factors that drive revenue and, by using predictive analytics, they can predict next month’s or next quarter’s revenue based on these underlying factors. By using insights based on root-cause analysis and predictive analytics, fast-casual restaurants can prescribe actionable recommendations to change business operations and strategies to optimize profitability,” explains Peter Chen on Big Data Analytics.
In short? Predictive analytics can helps restaurant owners and operators cut down on inefficiency and boost profit margins.
Big data for big revenue
While the benefits of analytics for restaurants are clear, the National Restaurant Association discovered 1/3 of restaurants have fallen behind with tech adoption and data collection.
If you’re a restaurant owner or operator interested in harnessing the power of analytics for your restaurant, Dash can help. Learn more here.
