Gone are the days where restaurants could sketch up a menu and hope it resonated with their target demographic. Dining out has evolved beyond simple supper-time routines, and restaurants around the globe are now continually innovating the eating experience. Restaurateurs must think outside the box to attract customers and compete in the ever-growing competitive landscape.
Seeing that the industry is so dynamic and competitive, more than ever restaurant techniques and analytics become essential. Not only do these helpful tools allow businesses to better understand customer trends, but they also help them strategize and optimize resources to maximize revenue growth.
The broad term “Restaurant Analytics” includes a broad range of technology categories and software applications. A full-service restaurant could benefit from food cost optimization, menu engineering, predictive analytics, customer loyalty programs, operational analytics, and much more. Also, automated tools like MFT (Menu Formula Tracker), often integrate with businesses in the B2B area. This creates a vast space for foodservice insights to be discovered and applied, potentially leading to increased menu optimization and profitability overall.
To bring it down to basics, restaurant analytics is the big data analysis of restaurant operations, customer sentiment, industry trends, and other market data related to the foodservice industry. It allows restaurants to better understand their operations and use data-driven decisions to increase profitability and optimize customer experience.
The concept of sensor-driven analytics has entered the foodservice industry. This further introduces transparency into the restaurant operations. These technologies include kitchen systems that track food cost and waste, online reservation systems that monitor table turnover to forecast demand, and customer tracking devices that record feedback and measure customer loyalty.
Restaurant analytics help management isolate issues arising in their operations. This ranges from analyzing menu items and pricing to customer feedback. It can tell managers what items to improve, which items to discount, or when to focus their efforts during off-peak hours. It also tells restaurant owners which service level to strive for and where customers come from. This can help determine strategies of monetization or place to promote their campaigns
Increasingly sophisticated software and tools have allowed operations to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the foodservice industry. These tools have allowed managers to be able to manage more with less effort and improved accuracy. Having an intimate understanding of your customer’s behavior is key to adapting and competing for customers.
One example is guest loyalty. Leveraging a customer loyalty program gives you more insight into their buying behavior. Being able to track the frequency of visits and what items they specifically order gives restaurateurs a competitive edge. Knowing what items are popular with certain demographics gives restaurants the power to optimize their pricing accordingly. Loyalty programs also incentivize customers to keep coming back.
The most popular analytic software is Brizo, which helps restaurateurs attain greater control over their operations. Data is collected from a variety of sources including POS systems, customer interactions, and accounts payable processes. This data is then used to understand customer preferences and industry trends. Brizo also provides unique data fields specific to the foodservice industry which can be used for targeted research.
Restaurants need to stay ahead of the competition and analyze their customer’s behavior. Analytics have made it possible for restaurants to understand their market share and capitalize on their success. Restaurant analytics is no longer a luxury, it’s an essential for success in the dining industry.
