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The holiday season is a huge calendar event in the restaurant industry, with bookings booming as guests look to let their hair down and enjoy a festive feast. Over the Christmas season, 63 percent of adults plan to eat out so your restaurant needs to be prepared for the increase in demand.
There is an appeal there pointing to the frenzy, intensity, preciseness, and organized chaos of chefs and restaurants vying for public attention. I must admit that I am intrigued and having spent some time around that level of intensity find these operations both exciting and nerve wracking.
One key area to focus on is drink sales, with cocktail sales accounting for about 23% of a bar's revenue. Start by tracking all the income your bar generates, including sales from drinks, food, and any additional services. Bars that effectively manage their inventory and reduce waste tend to maintain higher margins.
You can have a crowd-pleasing menu, loyal regulars, and a packed dining roomand still watch your margins disappear. Too many restaurant menus are built on intuition and aesthetics, not real numbers. What Is Menu Engineering and Why Should You Care? Because not every dish thats popular is profitable.
You can also use sales trends to adjust menu pricing and share customer-favorite menu items, helping you get the most out of high-demand dishes. You can also use sales trends to adjust menu pricing and share customer-favorite menu items, helping you get the most out of high-demand dishes.
Quick-service restaurants maintain a steady customer satisfaction score of 79 (on a 100 point scale), while full-service restaurants — despite slipping 2 percent to 82 — remain one of the highest-rated industries in the Index, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI®) Restaurant and Food Delivery Study 2025.
From salted egg yolks and chili crunch fusions to mushroom-infused teas and freeze-dried fruit powder garnishes, Kimpton’s in-house experts share the standout ingredients, menu items and techniques that will come to the table in 2025.
A spike in food costs, a drop in sales volume, or one slow season can wipe out months of hard work. A spike in food costs, a drop in sales volume, or one slow season can wipe out months of hard work. That includes the ingredients and packaging for your menu items, but not things like rent and payroll.
Identify your biggest pain points. An inventory management system with automated restocking alerts keeps your stock levels in check. Are you aiming to speed up service, cut labor costs, or increase online sales? Can it increase sales or customer retention? Start by pinpointing where your restaurant struggles the most.
Without KPIs, spotting inefficiencies in your workflow is nearly impossibleleaving you without the data needed to make informed decisions and grow your online sales. 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?
Photos of your menu items, ambiance, and even happy customers will give potential guests a glimpse of the dining experience you offer. Nowadays, running a successful restaurant takes more than great food and good service. To do so, you must have an optimized website and engaging social media profiles.
Real-time inventory systems help restaurants cut food waste , save money, and improve operations. Here’s how: Track Stock in Real-Time : Monitor inventory levels instantly to avoid overstocking or understocking. Forecast Demand : Use sales data to predict future needs and order the right quantities.
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. Knowing the true cost per serving means you’re not guessing where to set menu prices. Knowing the true cost per serving means you’re not guessing where to set menu prices.
The next youre racing to keep inventory stocked while customers wait for tables. Whether youre a seasoned owner or just starting out, this advice will help you boost efficiency, keep your team motivated, and turn customers into regulars. Free meals after long shifts or a staff pick on the menu build camaraderie.
In this article, you will learn: How to identify top-selling and underperforming menu items Ways to adjust pricing using real sales data How timing and frequency trends improve planning and customer experience Lets dig into what your restaurant data might already be trying to tell you. Which dishes are getting ordered the most?
Start by analyzing these Top 7 POS Sales Reports to know where your restaurant is headed. These reports help you understand sales trends, manage inventory, optimize staffing, and improve customer satisfaction. Sales Exceptions Reports : Spot voids, refunds, and discounts to minimize losses and detect irregularities.
When it comes to managing inventory, restaurants face a choice: POS inventory alerts vs. manual tracking. On the other hand, POS inventory alerts offer real-time updates, automate ordering, and minimize human mistakes. Managing restaurant inventory can be a major challenge, but the right system can make all the difference.
POS systems do more than handle payments they utilize POS data to help restaurants analyze and manage seasonalsales trends. By leveraging POS data, restaurants can adjust inventory, staffing, and marketing strategies to maximize profits during busy periods and minimize waste during slow seasons.
billion transactions and $67 billion in sales in 2024. Companies saw a sales boost in 2024 as loyalty transactions increased by over 30 percent. This edition of Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine's Research Roundup features delivery data, tariff troubles, summer dining trends, and Beer Serves America.
How would you recommend menu items to guests to enhance their dining experience? Have you ever handled a situation where a customer asked for a dish not on the menu? What techniques do you use to upsell menu items or drinks? Hiring the right wait staff is one of the most critical decisions for any restaurant owner.
By accurately calculating food costs, restaurant owners can set the right menu prices, reduce waste, and maximize their profits. Whether youre a seasoned restaurateur or just starting, mastering food cost management is the key to boosting your restaurants profitability. With a target food cost of 30%, the menu price is set at: $5.15/0.30
Hacienda La Esmeralda won all three main categories, a first for the competition, and achieved record-breaking scores of 97 and 98 points for its natural and washed Geshas, respectively. With scores of 97 and 98 points, we may see a new world record for coffee prices in just a few months. The BoP auction will take place on 6 August.
Those priorities include increased marketing and sales efforts alongside new benefits and programs to attract and retain staff. The primary response was menu price increases, with nearly 61 percent of respondents adjusting prices to cope with the new reality.
Smart Cost-Cutting Strategies for Restaurants Effective inventory management requires a well-trained, organized team using consistent routines, streamlined processes, accurate par levels, menu cross-utilization, and reliable inventory software to minimize waste and maintain efficiency.
From improving customer satisfaction to managing inventory, every day presents a new opportunity to optimize operations. In 2025, one of the most powerful tools at your disposal will be your Point of Sale (POS) system. As a restaurant operator or owner, youre no stranger to the challenges of running a successful business.
By Tracie Johnson, Contributor Running a restaurant requires more than just a good idea, a great menu, and determination. Technology investments increase long-term productivity whether they be for customer relationship management (CRM) software , point-of-sale system upgrades, or cybersecurity enhancement.
Want to make smarter menu decisions? Use your POS system to analyze sales, profitability, and trends. Here’s how: Identify Top Performers : Track sales volume and item rankings to spot customer favorites. Spot Seasonal Trends : Use data to adjust your menu based on customer preferences throughout the year.
POS systems do more than just process payments they enable restaurants to personalize menus by analyzing customer data. Learn more in our latest post: How POS Systems Enable Menu Personalization. Real-Time Updates : Adjust menus instantly for accuracy and relevance. Improves Operations : Smarter inventory and menu management.
Whether you’re a seasoned operator or just getting started, understanding the numbers behind your business can mean the difference between breaking even and breaking records. Restaurant accounting is the process of interpreting and analyzing the revenue, cash flow, inventory, and income statements of a restaurant.
Sales tax, payroll taxes, income tax – the list is extensive. It transforms tax season from a frantic scramble into a smooth, orderly process. Profit margins are notoriously narrow, and navigating the complexities of expenses, payroll and tax compliance can make or break even the most promising culinary venture.
By accurately tracking ingredient costs and streamlining menu pricing, it helps restaurants minimize waste, maintain profit margins, and make data-driven decisions. Integrated systems also provide real-time insights into inventory levels, ensuring better cost control and operational efficiency.
Restaurants can now use customer data to enhance restaurant menu design, creating smarter menus that increase profits and improve the dining experience. Spot Best-Sellers : Focus on the 16% of menu items that drive 80% of sales. Improved Efficiency Trim menus and reduce food waste. Ready to learn how?
Daily Sales Report Daily sales reports track daily revenue, helping you monitor performance and make informed decisions. Prime Cost Report A critical report for restaurants, it breaks down the combined costs of goods sold (like food and beverage inventory) and labor costs. What is Restaurant Accounting?
Include key milestones like finalizing the lease, completing renovations, hiring staff, ordering equipment, and doing test runs of your menu. Consider having a seasoned team member from your original location help with onboarding at the new one. A well-thought-out timeline will help prevent delays and overspending.
This calculation involves dividing the cost of food sold by the total food sales and multiplying the result by 100 to get the food cost. By closely monitoring and optimizing this percentage, restaurants can better manage their inventory, minimize waste, and lower their overall expenses, ultimately maximizing cost reduction.
From streamlining orders to managing inventory and staff, these systems provide the tools restaurant owners need to stay competitive in 2025 and beyond. Data Insights: Real-time data helps optimize staffing, menu adjustments, and inventory. Cost-Effective: Affordable monthly plans replace hefty upfront hardware costs.
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.
A modern Point of Sale (POS) system is more than just a cash registerits the central hub that powers day-to-day business operations. From processing payments and managing inventory to tracking sales and streamlining service, POS systems play a critical role in improving efficiency and customer experience. system uptime.
Smarter Menus : Analyze sales trends to adjust menu items, pricing, and promotions for what customers love most. Efficient Operations : Track ordering patterns ( dine-in vs. delivery ) to optimize staffing and inventory, ensuring smooth service. Example: Recommend vegetarian specials to frequent plant-based diners.
Menu pricing is a delicate dance. It requires accurate data on food costs, total sales, overhead costs, labor costs, and all the many costs in between. Just when you've found the ideal menu item price, the cost of eggs skyrockets and you're back to square one. There are a lot of prime costs associated with that plate.
Diners simply scan a code with their phone, browse the menu, place their order, and pay – all from their table or even while waiting in line. With just two bartenders and one server, they served over 300 customers, generating significant weekend sales. Perfect for serving more guests with fewer staff.
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. Inventory Issues : Manual stock counts and outdated tools lead to inaccuracies and waste. Outdated Sales Data : Delayed reporting prevents real-time decisions that boost profits.
and task completion times (how long to process inventory?). Pull sales reports to see if slow days are dragging down cash flow, or check inventory logs to spot overstocking issues. Ask your team too; theyll often point out clunky processes, like manual data entry, that numbers alone might miss. Feedbacks your friend here.
Master the Menu Before Multiplying It Before you even think about duplicating your operation, you need a menu that’s not just tasty but also replicable. Use Technology Like a Pro, Not a Fanboy Point-of-sale systems, reservation platforms, inventory management apps — these aren't flashy gadgets. Trim the fat.
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