When it comes to the foodservice industry, proper market and customer intelligence is critical for restaurants, chefs, and producers to remain competitive in the market. With hyper-local trends, new technologies, and changing customer needs, the importance of staying in tune with market intelligence can’t be overstated. Fortunately, tried-and-tested restaurant market intelligence platforms like Brizo have been specifically designed to provide powerful insights into the food industry.
From sales prospecting to competitive intelligence, market intelligence services are useful tools that every food industry professional should understand. Here, we will discuss the different types of market intelligence, why it is important, and how it can be used to sustain and grow businesses in the foodservice industry.
What Is Restaurant Market Intelligence?
At its core, restaurant market intelligence offers an actionable look at a restaurant’s performance relative to competitors in the same region and sector. The data helps uncover customer needs, market opportunities, and above all, potential strategies to increase sales, profitability, and gain competitive advantages.
Market intelligence informatics help identify trends in food revenue, menu prices, and preferences in particular zip codes. This type of information has never been easier to access. Not to mention, market intelligence also exposes key customer diets, needs, and trends.
Why Is Restaurant Market Intelligence Important?
Using restaurant market intelligence has become a mainstay for restaurants who want to increase customer engagement, stay competitive in their region, and take advantage of market opportunities. Knowing when a menu item is popular, when customers frequent a restaurant, and why customers go to a particular restaurant are all invaluable pieces of information that can be obtained through market intelligence.
Information gathered can allow the restaurateur to introduce new items on their menus, adjust prices to appeal to seasonal customers, and identify key customer preferences. The better a restaurateur understands its customer base, the better they can tailor their menu and strategies to maximize sales. Additionally, data gleaned from market intelligence can also be utilized to compare menu prices against competitors in the area and identify potential locations for ideal expansion.
How to Evaluate and Use Restaurant Market Intelligence
When evaluating and using restaurant market intelligence, there are a few key steps to keep in mind.
1. Understand the Data and the Problem: Understanding the data and the problem you are trying to solve should always come first. In order to accurately interpret your data, you must know the variables you are investigating, how they are related, and what kind of data you are receiving.
2. Correlate the Data and Identify Trends: Once you’ve identified the problem, you can begin to correlate the data to analyze and identify trends in customer responses, budgeting outputs, and menu items.
3. Utilize the Data: Once you have identified the trends in your data, you can use them to optimize your customer approach. From knowing when to change up your menu or prices to where to open up a new restaurant, market intelligence can provide you the answers you need.
4. Implement Strategies and Monitor: After you’ve identified and found strategies for your restaurant using the data, you must remember to monitor and adjust as necessary.
