Are you curious how restaurant businesses decide on what menu items to remove? Or how to choose a new location to open a restaurant? In most cases, there’s plenty of data and analysis behind such decisions in the food and beverage industry. In order to guarantee restaurant success, managers need to gather, consolidate, and analyze different types of data. From stats on sales and the performance of different menu items to marketing data and inventory analytics, these numbers can help managers significantly. In recent years, artificial intelligence and innovation have been among the biggest restaurant technology trends. This has drastically changed the food service industry. In this post, we’ll share more about restaurant data analytics and how eateries can benefit from gathering data.
Key takeaway: Restaurant data analytics can be used to establish various sales trends. It can help with finding patterns in customer behavior and orders, and deciding which menu items to replace are other aspects of a food service business. Restaurant data is gathered by various tools: restaurant POS, inventory management software, CRM, marketing platforms, employee management systems, and more.
What Is Restaurant Data Analytics
Restaurant data analytics is the process of gathering and analyzing data generated by a food service business’s operations. It should be consolidated and interpreted as well. There are various types of data that can be collected from different sources. Small eateries might focus primarily on sales data while large restaurant chains use stats related to all aspects of their operations. Here are some of the main aspects of restaurant data analytics.
- Sales. Tracking daily sales data and consolidating it to analyze weekly, monthly, seasonal, or yearly sales trends. Sales data analytics is among the best tools to forecast demand and review menu items.
- Customer experience and profile. Analyzing customer preferences can help eateries improve their menu design and create personalized marketing campaigns.
- Labor and employee analytics. Tracking productivity, staff hours, and other metrics is important. However, thanks to restaurant data analytics, managers can maintain service quality while decreasing labor costs and identify overstaffing or understaffing.
- Restaurant marketing. As the food service sector is very competitive, marketing and advertising efforts should be based on data and analytics. Tracking the performance of different marketing channels can help achieve efficiency in terms of restaurant customer acquisition.
- Operations. From tracking data on table turnover and average wait time to identifying bottlenecks and kitchen inefficiencies.
How Is Restaurant Data Collected
The digital age allows eateries to collect data from several sources. Restaurant POS systems are the most important source for restaurant and catering businesses. They capture sales data that can be used to track revenue trends, popular menu items, peak hours, and other important metrics.
Inventory management software is crucial in the food service niche market. That’s because restaurant businesses deal with perishable inventory. Minimizing waste and losses can be achieved with efficient stock management.
Here are some other solutions that help with restaurant data analytics and collection.
- Customer relationship management system;
- Delivery and online ordering apps;
- Review platforms and other customer feedback solutions;
- Employee management software;
- Marketing tools and social media data collection solutions.
Benefits and Ways to Use Restaurant Data Analytics
There are multiple pros of incorporating restaurant data analytics solutions into a food service business. Let’s examine some of the main benefits and the ways to use these powerful systems.
- Thanks to data analytics, restaurants can improve the decision-making process. Managers can make informed decisions about inventory, restaurant training programs, menu items, and more.
- Analyzing data can help maintain profitability by analyzing food and labor costs. Furthermore, collecting the right data means that managers can take into account portion sizes and the performance of waiters. This will allow them to increase net profits.
- Thanks to QR codes for restaurant menus, eateries can easily remove certain dishes from the menu and add new options. Thanks to restaurant data analytics, this is done based on sales data.
- Modern restaurant technology allows businesses to understand customer habits, order history, and other patterns. This can be very useful when creating a loyalty program or searching for ways to improve customer service and restaurant tipping.
- Digital marketing has become one of the most important branches in today’s world dominated by social media and electronic devices. However, in order to achieve high ROI, restaurants need to collect and analyze data from previous campaigns.
- Forecasting demand allows food service businesses to order ingredients and beverages from their suppliers. Setting automating reordering points, par levels, and identifying restaurant fraud and theft can also be done by analyzing collected data.
Frequently Asked Questions about Restaurant Data Analytics
In addition to being one of the best solutions for restaurants and businesses that specialize in B2B sales, BlueCart also has a plethora of useful resources. From guides on how to build an eco-friendly restaurant to tips on how to increase wholesale sales, you’ll find many useful articles on our website. Below we’ve shared the answers to a few common questions regarding restaurant data analytics.
How to Consolidate Restaurant Data?
Consolidating collected data is as important as gathering it. Modern restaurant technology solutions allow businesses to organize data into different database tiers. That’s especially important for large eatery chains and companies that have multiple sales channels. There are companies that offer data consolidation and analytics services. Using the services of such companies can help managers and other decision-makers create custom reports and other analytics tools that are otherwise unavailable. This service is primarily suitable for large enterprises in the restaurant industry. Small and medium businesses in the food sector use the available capabilities of their restaurant POS and other software.
What Are the Trends in Restaurant Data Analytics?
Artificial intelligence is the biggest trend in restaurant data analytics. Thanks to AI’s powerful capabilities, restaurant managers can analyze data and discover trends and patterns quickly. AI is expected to revolutionize various processes. Examples include online food ordering, supplier relations, food inventory management, and even certain back-of-house processes.
Another trend in restaurant analytics is related to the application of innovations. In the past, most software tools used to analyze restaurant businesses were focused on sales. Nowadays, technologies can also analyze and offer improvements in fields like marketing, customer service, and staff performance.
What Are the Most Popular Restaurant Data Analytics Solutions?
There are dozens of different options in terms of restaurant data analytics. Some of them are POS software solutions like Toast, Lightspeed, and Square. Customer relationship management (CRM) systems like SevenRooms and OpenTable have excellent restaurant data analytics capabilities. BlueCart is another great solution for food service businesses that wish to collect and analyze data. Thanks to our platform, business owners can simplify ordering from suppliers. Furthermore, BlueCart also has powerful kitchen and bar inventory management tools to help restaurant managers track and analyze inventory.
BlueCart: From Wholesale Ordering Software to Restaurant Inventory Management
Our platform helps both suppliers and their customers with dozens of features and tools to automate certain processes. BlueCart can help you avoid the negative effects of restaurant inflation, keep track of inventory levels, and analyze data. Whether you want to find suppliers or use our restaurant inventory system, sign up for BlueCart today. Broadline distributors and wholesalers who specialize in specific categories can also use our platform in many ways. Schedule a demo and see what they are.