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Menu pricing isnt just about covering costsits about finding that sweet spot where profitability, customer perception, and operational reality meet. Set prices too low, and youre leaving money on the table. Somewhere in between is the number that makes sense for your food costs, your market, and your restaurants unique position.
Many restaurant operators have misconceptions about average order volume (AOV) and how it works, making statements like: I need more customers to make more money. In this article, youll learn simple, practical strategies to make it happenno awkward upselling or overcomplicated tactics required. Try a server game like Perfect Order.
If you’ve taken a look at Grubhub’s app lately, you may have noticed an immense amount of new restaurants available for online ordering. While customers might initially be delighted by the array of choices they have, the prices will leave them shocked and disappointed. Because of this, both consumers and restaurateurs pay the price.
Restaurants get hit from all angles so when there is a chance to push the envelope on pricing – many do. Of course, there is a handful of masterful chefs and restaurateurs who can charge crazy prices to sold out audiences. These are the restaurants where dining is much, much more than just consuming food.
Wine lists that resemble an encyclopedia of the wine making craft are just the price of admission. The price they pay is a lack of balance in their lives, relentless stress, and always concerns about when their star will lose its shine. Everybody loves food that you can hold in your hands. Ahbut there are signs of change.
It blends sales data, food cost, and menu psychology to help you stop guessing and start making decisions that grow your margins. Real menu engineering efforts are grounded in hard numbers: data, food cost percentage, and how much profit each dish actually brings in, so you know exactly what to promote, rework, or cut.
If youre one of the thousands of restaurants that added online food delivery in recent years, you might be wondering: is it actually helping my business grow? These metrics give you a clear picture of your delivery performancefrom order volume and customer retention to delivery speed and profitability.
When you decided to open a restaurant, you probably didnt picture yourself glued to spreadsheets or tracking the price of eggs, but keeping an eye on the numbers is how you stay open year after year. A spike in food costs, a drop in sales volume, or one slow season can wipe out months of hard work.
Managing delivery orders shouldnt feel like running an obstacle course, but for many restaurant operators, thats exactly what it is. Juggling multiple food delivery apps means switching between tablets, manually entering orders into the POS, and trying to keep track of ever-changing fees and commissions.
Understanding what customers order, when they order, and how often is an untapped goldmine of information for restaurant operators. Using that data can help you answer questions like: Are we pricing our bestsellers too low or overpricing items customers arent buying? What do repeat orders say about our customer preferences?
In 2024, restaurants across the country saw an average five percent increase in transactions and an average eight percent increase in profits with only four percent caused by price hikes. In recent years, the food service industry has undergone a rapid transformation of automation and increased technology usage.
Understanding your target market is the foundation of making smart decisions for your menu, pricing, and overall guest experience. In this article, you will learn: How to define your restaurants target market to guide your business decisions. Income: Do your customers prioritize affordability, or are they willing to pay premium prices?
You can't scroll news sites without seeing more articles about inflation, but was does it mean for restaurants? Those who don’t are effectively lowering their prices. Understand if your prices are keeping pace with inflation and maintain a markup that matches the costs associated with paying suppliers and staff.
In this article, youll learn: The most important restaurant KPIs for restaurant profitability, efficiency, and growth How to calculate and benchmark major KPIs using simple formulas Practical tips for tracking KPIs without getting overwhelmed Lets start by breaking down what KPIs are, and why they require your attention.
A bar is a profitable business option if you’re looking to enter the food industry. It just goes to show how important drink pricing and cost management are to maximizing profits. It just goes to show how important drink pricing and cost management are to maximizing profits. This final number is your net profit.
In this article, you will learn: The five most important restaurant costs to track and manage Easy strategies for controlling food costs and labor costs Tactics to save money without hurting your guest experience Lets start with the big picture and learn where your money is actually going.
Nobody has time for that when there is a crowded dining room, to-go orders flying out the window and customers complaining about their favorite menu items going up in price. We’re going to park this one here until a little later in this article. Take food cost management for instance.
Online ordering has transformed the restaurant industry, turning what was once a convenience into an absolute necessity. In 2025, the US online food delivery market is expected to reach $424.9 Customers expect to browse menus, place orders, and pay for their meals with just a few taps of their phones. billion in revenue.
Are you doing all the right thingsserving amazing food, delivering top-notch service, crafting perfectly balanced drinksbut the tables still arent filling up like they should? The problem isnt your food or serviceits visibility and customer engagementand were going to help you fix that. Upload high-quality photos.
Keeping menus updated across various online ordering systems and third-party delivery apps can feel like a never-ending game of catch-up. Manually updating menus across multiple online ordering channels is tedious, time-consuming, and prone to mistakes. Without it, updating a menu is a long and laborious process.
Is online ordering inefficient? Do you lose money due to food waste? Experiencing over-ordering or last-minute shortages? A higher-priced system that saves time and reduces errors might be more valuable than a cheaper, less effective alternative. Are labor costs too high? The best tech investments solve real problems.
Every online order, email sign up, and reward program interaction generates valuable insightsbut if that data just sits there, youre missing a major opportunity. Think about it: What if you could automatically send a special offer to a customer who hasnt ordered in a while? Or adjust your staffing schedule based on peak ordering times?
In this guide, youll learn how to use ChowNow tools along with a handful of other effective strategies to increase order volume, boost your current customer traffic, and grow your overall sales. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to stay top-of-mind with customers and remind them its time to order again from your restaurant.
Youre not just managing food and staff, youre battling slim profit margins, high operating expenses, and constantly changing customer preferences. Because the truth is, most restaurants dont close because of bad food. The Alternative: Validate your idea, clarify your customer base, and align pricing with your market.
Each system has its own tablet, order flow, and set of requirements, making it difficult to keep up with operations smoothly. Each platformUber Eats, GrubHub, DoorDashrequires its own tablet, login, and order management system. Order management issues. Fortunately, theres an easy solution. Consumers report that 24.4%
Have you noticed how food delivery apps are becoming essential in attracting and retaining diners? In this article, we’ll show you exactly how to create a food delivery app tailored to your restaurant’s needs, while staying competitive in a booming industry. The global online food delivery market size was valued at USD 221.65
With rapid advances happening across various industries, including the food industry, you might be wondering: What does AI have to do with running my restaurant? It allows AI to understand and respond to human language, which is how virtual assistants can answer customer questions or take online orders. The short answer?
Every day, youre juggling staff, food quality, inventory, customer service, purchasing, and moreall while trying to cultivate a dining experience that wows your customers enough to keep them coming back. Customer Service and Experience Great food and drink is only truly enjoyed when its coupled with a great service experience.
A single missteplike a delayed order or a system glitchcan throw off an entire shift. Whether theyre grabbing takeout, dining in, or ordering delivery, diners dont have patience for long waits or clunky systems. The easier it is for customers to place orders and receive their food, the smoother operations run. The result?
One of operators most difficult challenges is balancing restaurant operating costs without compromising the food, service, and customer experience that makes your restaurant unique. If youre pushing out more orders, getting more ingredients, and staffing more servers, these costs will reflect that.
If your site is clunky, hard to navigate, or missing basic features like a prominent online ordering button, your potential customer will bounce because diners have little to no tolerance for friction or confusion when theyre looking for food. 77% of diners visit a restaurants website before they dine in or order takeout or delivery.
From full service to fast-casual to legacy fast-food brands, the one constant was disruption. Many brands were able to turn a profit from the lockdowns and social distancing orders by shifting operations toward drive-thru, delivery, pick-up, and curbside models. More recent price increases have nearly doubled this number.
By the time you finish this article, youll know how to approach restaurant marketing the right way and not waste time doing guesswork, crossing your fingers, and then hoping you see new customers walking through the door. Everything from food to labor is getting more expensive, which means restaurant margins are tighter than ever.
If you want to increase order volume for your restaurant, focusing on online takeout and delivery is key. But growing online order volume isnt always easy. Many restaurants struggle with high third-party app fees, low website traffic, and clunky ordering experiences that drive customers away.
There’s a reactionary movement that I keep seeing in restaurants; a movement that assumes the answer to the restaurant bottom line is to take more and give less or give too much to justify raising prices. A menu should thus be designed and priced to make those items seem essential.
Here’s the kicker: It cost each restaurant $900 to participate in the week (I guess to cover town wide promotion expenses) and every restaurant must agree to deep discount pricing for guests. There is no cache of money to turn to, and the prices we charge are not based on greed, but necessity. We would love that.
Since the start of the pandemic, safety measures such as social distancing, lockdowns and mask-wearing have completely changed our understanding of how consumers spend on food. Meanwhile, sales at cafes, fast-food restaurants, coffee shops, and casual-dining establishments fell by 27 percent. Shortage of workers is one reason.
Every restaurant concept should be intentional about their branding, from food trucks and cafes to brunch spots and fine dininggreat branding is how your restaurant stands out and stays memorable. Ask yourself: Why does my restaurant exist beyond serving great food? But how to brand a restaurant isnt always clear.
77% of diners look at a restaurants website before going out to eat or ordering takeout or delivery. If you dont have a website, that means over three-quarters of the people near your restaurantyour potential customerswill never come in or place an order because they have no way to find you when theyre looking for a place to eat.
After all, it’s not just the quality of your food that can keep customers coming back — 73% of diners base their satisfaction on the quality of service they receive. In this article: What strategies do you use to motivate and engage your restaurant employees? Hiring the right people can make or break your business.
Over the past year or so, rising foodprices and energy costs have been affecting many people around the world. In fact, in March 2023, the BBC reported that foodprices had reached a 45-year high in the UK , with many other major coffee consuming countries also going through similar price increases.
In this article: How to calculate your restaurant customer acquisition cost (CAC) How to optimize your restaurant’s CAC and reduce costs What is a good cost per customer acquisition? For example, if you run a social media campaign or pay for online ordering integrations, all of these contribute to your overall marketing expenses.
In this article: How do you handle inventory management to keep the bar always adequately stocked? Strong relationships with vendors help you land the best pricing and priority delivery, especially for high-demand items. Another factor to consider is pricing. How would you improve or refine our current drink menu?
The food was, of course excellent, but more importantly reflective of the region and its history and the experiences of the chef. This is where people met to talk about their families, local events, a bit of politics, a love of music and art, and laugh with reckless abandon over a plate of magnificent comfort food. author unknown.
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