ChowNow

JANUARY 23, 2025

Regular customers make up the backbone of any restaurants sales , but if you put a group of restaurant owners around a table, the conversation inevitably focuses on growth through new customer acquisition. Sales: 80% of sales typically come from 20% of clients. Software Development: 80% of bugs often result from 20% of the code.

2025

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 3, 2025

Social media, online reviews, and delivery platforms make digital branding just as important as physical branding. The Charlotte-based hospitality branding agency has a wealth of experience developing comprehensive hospitality concepts. In case you were wondering why they chose the name The Plaid Pengun, Haubenhofer tells the story.

Social Media

ChowNow

FEBRUARY 12, 2025

New concepts, ghost kitchens, and delivery-only brands are popping up constantly, making it harder for any single restaurant to stand out. Between online reservations, third-party delivery apps, and direct ordering from your website, digital interactions often happen before a guest ever steps through your doors.

2025

ChowNow

JULY 11, 2025

On the flip side, a cluttered or confusing category setup can overwhelm guests, slow down ordering, and lead to missed sales opportunities. Poor example: A fast-casual spot that breaks the menu into 12 categories—some redundant (“Wraps” and “Handhelds”), some confusing (“Buildables” instead of “Bowls”).

Menu

Restaurant Business

JUNE 27, 2025

By Lisa Jennings on Jun. 27, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Jeff's Bagel Run has 15 units open, expecting to reach 30 by the end of the year. Photo courtesy of Jeff's Bagel Run. Jeff Perera jokes that his bagel chain is the result of a love story. “I I made a bagel for my wife, because she asked me to,” he said. She’s on time.

Fast Casual

ChowNow

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Third-party delivery apps start out as a convenient way to reach new customers, but they always take a significant chunk of your profits. While these platforms do bring in orders, they also come with the price of high commission fees, loss of customer data, and a weaker connection between you and your guests.

Ordering

SpotOn

DECEMBER 11, 2024

Fast casual restaurants are popping up faster than you can say "build your own grain bowl." " They're somewhere between a full-service casual dining restaurant and a quick-service restaurant or fast food chain. Looking for tips on starting your fast casual restaurant?

Fast Casual

Restaurant Business

JULY 8, 2025

deals this week as fast-food pizza chains work to reverse stubbornly weak sales. deals this week as fast-food pizza chains work to reverse stubbornly weak sales. price point. But sales and traffic challenges more recently have resurrected the need for more value-based marketing. By Jonathan Maze on Jul.

Leadership

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 31, 2024

This final edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup for 2024 features news of operator challenges and priorities, delivery trends, wages and hourly worker considerations. Those priorities include increased marketing and sales efforts alongside new benefits and programs to attract and retain staff.

Franchising

Modern Restaurant Management

DECEMBER 18, 2024

So much data is generated at every point within a restaurant, whether fast casual or fine dining. ” Value-Driven Dining for the Modern Consumer – In a time when consumers seek out both quality and quantity, L&L continues to provide substantial portions at an accessible price point.

2025

Restaurant Business

JUNE 23, 2025

They are popping up more often in conversations this year, and they point toward deeper trends in the restaurant tech market. —Cambridge Dictionary Restaurant tech M&A is heating up, and along with bold-faced deals like DoorDash/SevenRooms, there has also been a boom in smaller transactions in which the buyer brings on the acquired company’s team.

Hiring

ChowNow

JUNE 12, 2025

Knowing how to cost a dish is one of those “absolutely must-have” skill sets for restaurant owners. It’s like knowing how to make a schedule, do inventory, or cover a section of tables if a server calls out sick and you’re shorthanded. It’s just part of the job. It’s the foundation of knowing your actual food cost.

Operations

Restaurant Clicks

JULY 22, 2025

The casual, no-frills atmosphere makes it a comfortable place to grab a filling meal, especially for folks who like honest, straightforward barbecue without the extras. Reviews on Yelp, TripAdvisor, and other platforms point to consistent quality and a taste that feels true to the region.

Back of House

The Rail

MARCH 31, 2025

Here are some quick fixes: Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems: Modern POS systems simplify ordering and payment. By Jose Chavez, Contributor Managing multiple locations is tough in the restaurant business. Communication is hard when multiple locations can get teams and office spaces out of sync.

Technology

Restaurant Business

JUNE 24, 2025

It's complicated Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants could sell Bahama Breeze Olive Garden sales surge on delivery and free take-home meals Premium OPINION Financing Does Chipotle have a structural problem? And then the company reported its first negative same-store sales quarter in five years. By Jonathan Maze on Jun.

Fast Casual

Restaurant Business

JUNE 17, 2025

In-store sales at convenience stores hit a record $335.5 When it comes to value , three-quarters of c-store consumers said made-to-order food at c-stores is a good value, up 13 points from last year. And fast-food customers Convenience-store foodservice grew 5% last year and is expected to jump another 5.7% By Heather Lalley on Jun.

Food

SpotOn

FEBRUARY 26, 2025

Restaurant P&L basics Sales Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) Labor costs Overhead costs Profit and profit margins Using your P&L statement Restaurant P&L basics A restaurant profit and loss statement is a spreadsheet that shows how all your money is coming in (sales) and where it's going out (costs). Prime costs.

License

Lavu

JULY 4, 2025

From managing orders and tracking inventory to analyzing sales data in real time, today’s POS systems are essential tools for restaurants of all sizes. Over time, these registers became more advanced, and they morphed into becoming multi-use point-of-sale or POS systems for restaurants.

POS

Restaurant Business

AUGUST 5, 2025

05, 2025 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Same-store sales fell 1.3% In the second quarter, 20% of Denny’s orders included a value-oriented dish, and the chain saw sales improve among the $50,000-$70,000 income bracket. It was not enough for Denny’s to completely overcome a “choppy” macroeconomic backdrop, as same-store sales declined 1.3%

Loyalty Program

Lavu

MARCH 28, 2025

Plus, since the system is cloud-based, these promotions sync automatically across all sales channels, including in-house dining and online orders. It tracks customer rewards points automatically and triggers personalized offers for key dates like birthdays or anniversaries.

Specials

Black Box Intelligence

JANUARY 16, 2025

Comp Sales -3.2% Comp Traffic Best Region: New England Best Segment: Family Dining Best Cuisine: Breakfast Worst Region: NY-NJ Worst Segment: Fast Casual Worst Cuisine: Sandwich The December 2024 Restaurant Industry Trends + A Year in Review 2024 saw many ups and downs. Decembers sales and traffic data may appear weak at first glance.

2024

Black Box Intelligence

MAY 8, 2025

We covered sales, consumer trends, workforce challenges, and what to expect in 2025. Traffic & Sales: Momentum Slowing After Early Rebound The industry saw a three-phase cycle over the last 12 months: Early 2024: Marked by a slowdown. Q1 2025: A renewed slowdown, with comp traffic falling to -3% and sales growth down from 3.9%

2025

Lavu

MAY 9, 2025

In the competitive restaurant industry, choosing the right Point of Sale (POS) system is crucial. In this guide, youll discover why Lavu is the top choice for growing restaurants ready to scale with confidence. Modern POS systems do more than process payments – they streamline operations, improve efficiency, and boost profits.

POS

Lavu

JUNE 26, 2025

Whether you run a quick-service restaurant or a casual dining spot, understanding the real cost of a kiosk system is essential to budgeting smartly and maximizing ROI. If you run a fast casual or quick service restaurant, you have the option of improving the customer experience by using self-order kiosks.

2025

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 11, 2025

– Jackie Abril-Carlile, Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts Culinary Instructo r and Executive chef and general manager at North Mountain Brewing Everything Has Changed At the onset of COVID, most fast casual restaurants went from primarily dine-in business to mostly takeout and delivery models.

Loyalty Program

Lavu

MAY 30, 2025

Faster Food Delivery: Speed ordering leads to speedy food service. Increased Table Turns: Less wait time to order and faster food delivery moves customers in and out of a restaurant quicker. Integrating Order and Pay at the Table with Your POS System The key to offering order and pay at the table is a point-of-sale (POS) system.

Ordering

Qu

MARCH 28, 2025

This marked a significant milestone, as the restaurant industrytraditionally underrepresented at such eventsemerged as a focal point of technological innovation. In December 2024, technology leaders from various industries gathered at Amazon’s premier conference, AWS Re:Invent, where Qus CEO participated in a panel discussion.

Fast Casual

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 11, 2025

Delivery/Takeout : COVID created a shift from in-person dining to takeout and delivery options, increasing reliance on third party delivery services, and on attractive takeout options. From a legal perspective, Insurance : the pandemic highlighted the limitations of insurance policies. – Pooja S.

Mobile Ordering

Lavu

JUNE 13, 2025

Some restaurant chain owners see the transition as a step toward going cashless in the future because restaurant point-of-sale systems make it so easy. With cashless options such as credit cards, mobile payment apps, and contactless payments, customers can make quick and hassle-free payments, reducing wait times at the point of sale.

2025

Lavu

MAY 23, 2025

In this post, well break down five clear signs that your point-of-sale system is holding your restaurant backand what you can do to fix it. Outdated Sales Data : Delayed reporting prevents real-time decisions that boost profits. In quick-service and fast-casual restaurants, 16% of orders result in customer complaints.

POS

Lavu

JULY 18, 2025

Quick Service Restaurant Mistakes Often Start with an Outdated or Inflexible POS System Of all the items your restaurant requires, a modern, flexible point-of-sale system (POS) is critical. From poor staff scheduling to inefficient workflows, quick service restaurant mistakes can quickly add up. The good news?

Customer Service

SpotOn

DECEMBER 30, 2024

Restaurant profit margin calculator How to lower restaurant costs How to increase restaurant sales Gross and net profit margins for restaurants In restaurants, profit margin is the percentage of revenue left over after expenses and costs are taken out. We all know it. Restaurant profit margins are pretty low.

Operations

Restaurant Business

JULY 14, 2025

In May, the number of news searches that resulted in no click-throughs was nearly 69%, up 14 points from a year ago, according to Similarweb, implying that people are searching for something, reading the overview and leaving without clicking on anything. Here are some tips and tricks to consider. I’m being sarcastic, of course.

Social Media

Modern Restaurant Management

MARCH 4, 2025

On a year-over-year basis, small business sales (+2.1 Month-over-month sales (+0.1 Year-to-date, combined sales growth for January and February is 3.5 percentage points less than sales growth from the same two-month period in 2024. Independent operators feel the squeeze the most. percent) showed healthy growth.

Delivery

Modern Restaurant Management

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

Most Restaurants Increased Sales in 2024 Approximately 63 percent of restaurant operators that manage finances said their profits in 2024 increased compared to last year. Most Restaurants Increased Sales in 2024 Approximately 63 percent of restaurant operators that manage finances said their profits in 2024 increased compared to last year.

Point of Sale

Modern Restaurant Management

APRIL 1, 2025

Key data points: The demand for takeout and delivery has slightly outpaced the demand for dining in. 28 percent of consumers say they are ordering takeout and delivery more frequently than last year. Among delivery apps, DoorDash is the clear favorite.

Pricing

Modern Restaurant Management

APRIL 29, 2025

New data from the National Restaurant Association’s 2025 Off-Premises Restaurant Trends report highlights how off-premises dining has become both a consumer preference and business essential, with the convenience and availability of takeout, delivery, and drive-thru now deeply embedded in everyday life.

Reservations