The foodservice industry is in a state of constant flux, with restaurateurs continuously changing menu items, marketing strategies, and technological solutions in a bid to stay ahead of the competition. With so much change happening on a regular basis, it’s next to impossible for restaurants to keep up with the latest trends without the help of an analytics platform—and that’s where digital analytics come into play.
Digital analytics platforms provide restaurants with the data and insights they need to make sound strategic decisions. These platforms focus on data-driven insights from trend analysis, menu planning, and marketing performance, to name a few. To get the most out of your digital analytics platform, you need to start off with the right evaluation and understanding. With a few key points, you can ensure that you’re using your digital analytics in the most effective way possible.
First and foremost, you need to understand the data points that are being tracked and monitored. Different analytics platforms offer different features, so it’s important to determine which data points are important for your restaurant to track. This can include tracking customer reviews, menu item popularity, sales performance, and customer demographics. Once you’ve identified the data points you’re tracking, you can start assessing their accuracy and relevance.
Another point to consider is data enrichment. With data enrichment, you can further analyze the data points to gain even more insight. Data enrichment involves combining data points from various sources to enhance your overall analytics. For example, you can use restaurant loyalty program data to supplement sales data. This gives you the ability to see how customers interact with your loyalty program and gain further insights from it.
Next, when evaluating and understanding a restaurant digital analytics platform, it’s important to keep an eye on the benchmarking. Benchmarking is comparing your performance and analytics against those of the competition and the industry. This will help you understand how your restaurant is performing in comparison to others. It can also flag up areas that need improvement, give insights into why certain metrics are moving in a certain direction, and give an overall view of the competitive landscape.
Finally, when evaluating digital analytics, restaurants should also look into the reporting capabilities of the platform. This will help you to better understand different trends related to your restaurant’s performance. A good analytics platform should not only provide detailed reports, but also allow you to view the data in different formats such as charts and tables. This will enable you to better visualize the data and gain deeper insights into certain metrics.
Understanding restaurant digital analytics platforms is crucial for improving your restaurant’s performance. By evaluating the data points being tracked, data enrichment, benchmarking, and reporting capabilities of the platform, you can better understand the analytics of your restaurant and make more strategic decisions. With the right insights, you can take your restaurant to the next level.
