Why Restaurant Analytics Are Important

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Food and restaurant tech has surged over the past few years, with consumers becoming the no. 1 adapters to apps like delivery databases Grubhub or Seamless. Now, big chain store behemoths, Starbucks and McDonald’s are creating their own services, launching apps that customers can use to pre-order and pay for items before entering the store.

But for restaurants looking to utilize technology to help bolster business and increase customer loyalty, the focus is on analytics and understanding customer behavior over just simplifying procedure.

Restaurants Can’t Miss Out On Analytics

Analytics in restaurants are extremely important. The use of consumer analytics for preference and purchasing choices has been shown to be an increasingly important and powerful selling tool.

The most obvious example of utilizing customer analytics is Amazon. Anyone who has bought something on Amazon knows (which is basically all of us), when you make a purchase, you will see product suggestions you might be interest in, through the “People who bought this book also bought….” feature. I know I’ve bought another book or movie based off of these suggestions. Or take Netflix, who offers viewing suggestions based off of past choices of a movie genre or a television title.

These selling tools keep customers engaged with the service longer and may cause them to make another purchase. And they certainly keep people happy by supplying new content that the customer enjoys and wants to engage with.

Restaurants should be utilizing these services to find out how to better sell to their customers. As a general manager of a restaurant,  you could look through a customers order history and see what they came back to order on a second visit.

If you’re designing a beverage menu, you can look at what drinks people order with certain entrees or shared plates. This could allow you to suggest wine pairings with meals to further engage customers and increase check averages. 

Analytics Can Improve Back-Of-House Costs

New technology companies are looking to improve how restaurants function off the floor as well. There are many places where restaurants can loose out on potential revenue. Some potential revenue is lost at the table, by not taking the opportunity to sell more product. But some of that is on behind the scenes too, with how a kitchen may order it’s produce, or spend time prepping dishes that don’t sell, or tracking inventory.

Restaurants that track their business through analytics see many benefits. And there are a lot of areas a business can focus on to improve it’s services and create more sales. Analytics are a tool that can separate failing restaurants from successful ones. The information is there for businesses to use, but it’s up to them to take advantage of it.

See how Uncorkd can help you better manage your beverage program through analytics and our digital iPad menu.

 

Kyle Thacker
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