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How to Conduct Restaurant Market Research Like A Pro

Thorough market research is crucial to strategic decision-making in any industry, and the foodservice market is no different.

Manufacturers, distributors, and restaurant tech companies all need access to market intelligence to analyze customer needs, industry trends, and competitive landscapes. Market research helps businesses make informed decisions on everything from product development to sales campaign messaging.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the essentials of restaurant market research and how to conduct it effectively with a market intelligence platform like Brizo.

Restaurant Market Research: Why Is It Necessary

Understanding the ‘why’ behind market research can be a game-changer for anyone involved in the restaurant industry. Here’s how it makes a difference:

Identify Consumer Preferences

Market research helps draw a clearer picture of what consumers want and expect. By understanding their tastes and preferences, you can develop and offer the right products and services to meet their needs.

With the end consumer in mind, the sales and marketing campaigns you craft will resonate better with the foodservice establishments serving them. 

Prospect Strategically

It’s not enough to only research the end consumer. You need to know your buyers, too! For most foodservice suppliers and vendors, your direct customer is a restaurant business who, in turn, uses your product or service to enhance their own operational or customer experience.

Understanding the needs and challenges of your buyers is necessary to fine-tune your messaging and streamline your sales processes. Having a good understanding of your total addressable market (TAM) and ideal customer profile (ICP) will enable efficient prospecting and ensure you are offering the right product or service for your market.

Assess Competitors

Understanding the competitive landscape for your product or service is key. Market research provides insight into what others are doing right (or wrong), allowing you to strategize effectively and hone your competitive edge.

By understanding your competition, you can gain insights into what approaches are most effective, what strategies to avoid, and how to adjust your product and positioning to stand out from the crowd and achieve better results. You can also use benchmarking to identify new opportunities and trends.

Stay Ahead of Market Trends

The restaurant industry is constantly in flux. To stay relevant, you need to conduct research and ensure your products or services align with current and future market demands.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of upcoming trends and market shifts will help you identify new opportunities and adjust strategies to ensure long-term success. Additionally, trend tracking can help you stay ahead of the competition and identify potential risks to your brand or product.

Mitigate Risks

In a sector as dynamic as the foodservice industry, risks are inevitable, but staying informed is one way to combat them. With careful research, you can gain a clear view of the market and identify potential pitfalls and blind spots, enabling you to make informed business decisions and reduce risks.

On the flip side, research can uncover new opportunities, allowing you to make the most of your resources and grow your foodservice business. It can also help you better understand your customer base and tailor your products and services to better suit their needs. 

What’s Next?

Whether you’re manufacturing new products, distributing ingredients, or developing the latest restaurant technology, incorporating insights from restaurant market research into your business strategy is a necessary driver of success.

For even deeper insights, you can explore Brizo FoodMetrics – your go-to foodservice market intelligence platform.

Steps to Conducting Restaurant Market Research

Taking a strategic approach to gathering, analyzing, and interpreting market data is a powerful precursor to making informed business decisions. For vendors and suppliers in the foodservice industry, these steps will help you conduct effective market research:

1. Define Your Objectives

Clearly define what you want to achieve with your research. Is your goal to understand your prospects, identify market shifts, or analyze competitors? What about identifying your total addressable market or zeroing in on your ideal customer profile? 

2. Choose the Right Methods

Use a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods. Online surveys, focus groups, and interviews can provide in-depth insights, while data analysis and market segmentation offer quantitative support.

3. Analyze Your Competition

Understand what your competitors are doing. Analyze their strengths and weaknesses to identify opportunities for your business.

4. Understand Your Audience

Dive deep into the preferences, behaviors, and needs of your target restaurants. This will help tailor your offerings to meet their expectations.

5. Leverage Technology

Utilize technology like Brizo FoodMetrics, a market intelligence platform for advanced analytics and insights. Having such a powerful tool at your disposal can give you an edge in understanding the detailed dynamics of the market.

6. Stay in the Know on Trends

The restaurant industry is fast-paced. Keep up with the latest market shifts and trends to ensure your strategies remain relevant and effective.

7. Update Your Knowledge

Market research is not a one-time task. Regular updates are essential to keep up with the evolving market.

By following these steps, you can conduct restaurant market research effectively, ensuring your strategies are data-driven and aligned with market needs. Remember, in the restaurant industry, knowledge is power. Equip yourself with the right information to make data-driven decisions and stay ahead of the curve.

Conclusion

Navigating the ever-changing landscape of the restaurant industry can be a challenge. To guide your sales and business strategies, you need a robust, reliable source to help you conduct effective market research.

The data-driven insights offered by a market intelligence platform Brizo FoodMetrics can be leveraged to enhance your sales productivity, increase your conversion rate, and make smarter business decisions.

Here’s how Brizo FoodMetrics can help:

Ready to transform how you conduct restaurant market research? Find out how Brizo FoodMetrics can help you scale your business in the foodservice industry. Dig into the data with a free trial today!