The foodservice industry is a hotbed for incredible growth and opportunity, but also a source of daunting competition and industry transformations. Each year, the data landscape evolves with new restaurant tech, new entrants, and broader scaling across different restaurants for tech-enabled experiences. In this space, market research is especially important for restaurants, chefs, and technologists seeking to understand the customer needs that shape the industry and how they can best position their businesses to provide solutions as the industry grows and changes.
Market research is the primary tool for restaurant and foodservice professionals to gather and analyze contextual information about their target market, their current customers, and the trends disrupting the industry. Market research helps operators understand, analyze, and monitor the industry and rapidly adapt to customer needs with more accurate, creative, and targeted solutions.
This article will evaluate the pros and cons of market research in the foodservice industry, outlining the value it provides and the resources it requires to succeed.
The Pros of Market Research Restaurants
The restaurant industry is rapidly changing. Customers are becoming more demanding, and their expectations continue to rise. Restaurants have to constantly evolve to meet changing customer tastes, competition from emerging competitors, and food trends.
Market research is critical for understanding customer needs, target audiences, and emerging trends. It is the most comprehensive way to gain insights and an essential tool for accurate decision-making. One of the greatest advantages of market research is the ability to identify customer and industry trends early, giving operators the ability to adjust before it’s too late. With more accurate information, operators can make informed decisions that drive growth, create more impactful marketing campaigns, and optimize their menus to increase pocketbook appeal.
Market research is also beneficial for corroborating existing strategies and perfecting them. Knowing exactly what customers are looking for enables operators to deliver on their promises and establish loyalty and trust. What’s more, market research can reveal emerging consumer needs or trends that have yet to be addressed. This data can be used to create new products, services, and offerings to differentiate and stand out from other restaurants in the industry or region.
Moreover, market research can help restaurants save time, resources, and budget by making decisions that impact their bottom line. With accurate market insights, operators can cross out unnecessary investments or tasks and instead, prioritize the most impactful needs. By focusing on the data-driven needs and expectations, operators can build innovative experiences that drive success.
The Cons of Market Research Restaurants
Clearly, market research for the foodservice industry has many advantages. However, some challenges are also associated with it. First, market research requires significant capital investments. Restaurants need to invest in resources and specialists to conduct market research or in solutions like Brizo, which provide the market research insights and analytics restaurants need.
Additionally, market research requires data collection on customer trends and preferences, which can be difficult to collect. Many restaurants struggle to get reliable and accurate data about customer preferences, needs, and experiences. To overcome this challenge, many restaurants use 3rd party tools to automate customer feedback and track customer data, such as menu ordering, tracking, and delivery services. This can help provide a more detailed view of customer and market trends, but it can also require additional investments.
Finally, market research requires immense dedication and patience to be successful. Restaurants need to commit to executing comprehensive primary and secondary research and integrate the findings into their business decisions. This can take considerable time to interpret and compare, making market research a long-term process.
Concluding perspectives
Overall, market research for restaurants should be seen as an investment in the future. Restaurants that don’t make use of market research are likely to miss out on valuable insights that can drive growth and customer retention. Market research can provide operators with the wealth of data needed to make informed decisions and develop better-targeted products, services, and experiences.
However, market research for foodservice and restaurants also requires major investments in data collection and analysis. Operators have to carefully consider the pros and cons to decide if market research is right for their business. Accurate data collected with the right resources can provide insights that can make or break a restaurant’s success.
