What Is POS Reporting? Key Reports You Should Track

Many restaurant owners have a powerful tool right in front of them but aren't using it to its full potential: POS reporting. 

It provides insights into sales, inventory, labor, and customer trends, which can help you make smarter decisions and streamline operations for your restaurant. POS reporting takes the guesswork out of running your business, letting you focus on growth and success.

Our restaurant profit margin calculator can quickly show you how your restaurant's profit margins compare to industry averages.

In this post, I’ll dive deep into POS reporting: what it is, its benefits and the key POS reports you should be tracking. 

What is POS reporting?

POS reporting turns raw data from your POS system into powerful insights that help you make smarter decisions and improve your restaurant’s performance. 

It tracks key metrics like sales, labor, inventory and customer trends, giving you a clear view of how things are really going. 

Every transaction—sale, refund or menu item—is recorded, so you get detailed reports on what’s working and what’s not. With this info, you can:

• Increase prices for popular items: If a dish is selling well and consistently has high demand, raise the price slightly to increase profit margins.
• Promote popular items: If a dish is a favorite, highlight it on your menu or create special promotions to drive more sales.
• Remove or revamp underperforming dishes: If certain items aren’t selling well, remove them from the menu or change the recipe to make them more appealing to customers.

What are the benefits of POS reporting?

POS reporting offers a range of valuable benefits that can transform how you manage your restaurant. Key benefits include:

• Real-time operational insights: Gain visibility into your restaurant’s performance at any moment, allowing you to track sales, inventory and staff productivity in real time.
• Early issue detection: Spot emerging issues, such as low sales or overstaffing, before they impact your bottom line, enabling you to take corrective action quickly.
• Efficient employee management: Monitor labor costs and employee performance to ensure you’re optimizing staffing levels and controlling payroll expenses.
• Streamlined payroll processing: Use accurate data on hours worked to simplify payroll, reducing the risk of errors and saving valuable time.

Key POS reports you should be tracking

Tracking key POS reports is crucial for running a successful restaurant. These reports provide valuable insights into revenue, labor costs, inventory and customer behavior, helping you make informed decisions to improve operations and increase profits. 

Sales reports for revenue trends

Sales reports are crucial for gaining valuable insights into your restaurant’s overall performance. By tracking key metrics, you can uncover revenue trends, identify areas for improvement and make more informed decisions about your menu, pricing and operations. 

To get a clearer picture, focus on the following metrics:

• Total sales: Shows overall revenue, helping you spot trends and plan for busy or slow periods
• Transactions: Measures the number of sales, helping you identify if customers are ordering less or if upselling is needed
• Average check size: Indicates how much customers spend on average, guiding you to strategies for increasing spending like upsells or bundles
• Menu item performance: Tracks which dishes are selling well and which aren’t, helping you promote top items and reevaluate underperformers

By reviewing these metrics regularly—daily, weekly and monthly—you can optimize your menu, pricing and operations to improve profitability. 

For example, if a dish’s sales are declining, try tweaking the recipe or offering it at a different price point. For top sellers, consider featuring them in promotions or specials to drive even more revenue.

This data helps you refine your menu and informs decisions about staffing, inventory and marketing. By continuously tracking and responding to these insights, you can optimize your operations, reduce waste and increase profitability.

Labor reports to manage employee costs 

Labor reports are essential for managing your restaurant’s labor costs and ensuring you're staffing efficiently. By analyzing these reports, you can track labor costs as a percentage of revenue and optimize your scheduling to reduce costs without sacrificing service quality. 

Key benefits include:

• Tracking labor costs: Comparing labor costs to revenue allows you to assess if staffing levels are too high or low, helping you make adjustments based on actual sales.
• Optimizing scheduling: Labor reports highlight peak and off-peak hours so you can schedule the right number of employees for busy times and avoid overstaffing during slower periods.
• Improving efficiency: Regularly reviewing labor data helps identify the most productive shifts, giving you insights to improve staffing decisions.

By leveraging labor reports effectively, you can restaurant prime costs, improve efficiency and maintain excellent service standards.

Turnover rates to control food costs 

Tracking the turnover rates of key ingredients is vital for food cost percentage and maintaining efficient operations. 

Key benefits of tracking ingredient turnover rates include:

• Preventing overstocking and waste: If an ingredient has a low turnover rate, you might be ordering too much, leading to spoilage and waste. By tracking turnover rates, you can adjust your orders to match the actual demand, reducing excess stock and cutting waste.
• Ensuring ingredient availability: On the flip side, high turnover rates might indicate that you’re running low on a key ingredient, potentially leading to shortages. By keeping an eye on turnover, you can avoid running out of popular items that are essential to your menu.
• Optimizing order quantities: When you track how fast ingredients are used, you can fine-tune your ordering process. For instance, if you know a particular dish is seasonal and only sells heavily in the summer, you can adjust the order amount to meet that specific demand without overstocking.
• POS system alerts: Many restaurants use POS system alerts to notify them when stock levels of key ingredients are low. These alerts help streamline inventory management, ensuring you only order what’s necessary and preventing stockouts.

By regularly monitoring turnover rates and setting up alerts in your POS system, you can better control food costs, minimize waste and maintain consistent quality and availability, all while keeping your menu offerings fresh and profitable.

Customer reports to track habits 

Customer reports provide valuable insights into your guests' behavior, helping you adjust marketing strategies, track visit frequency and understand spending patterns. 

The data is especially useful for quick-service restaurants (QSR) and fast casual dining, where retaining customers and offering personalized service can significantly boost profits. With customer reports, you can track:

• Loyal customers who visit often.
• Guests who have only visited once and may need offers to come back.
• Those who haven’t visited in a while and may need targeted strategies to re-engage them.

To make the most of customer data, I recommend focusing on monitoring visit frequency, analyzing spending habits, identifying popular items and segmenting your customer base. This will allow you to create targeted strategies that increase customer retention and drive more sales.

By using customer report data, you can refine your marketing efforts, enhance customer loyalty and ultimately drive higher sales.

Payment reports to monitor spending  

Payment reports are essential for understanding how customers prefer to pay and identifying any unusual payment patterns that could indicate errors or fraud. 

By regularly reviewing payment reports, you can ensure smoother transactions, maintain accurate financial records and reduce the risk of errors or fraudulent activities. 

Three ways you can effectively utilize this data include: 

• Monitoring payment trends: Track which payment methods are most popular with your customers, allowing you to adjust your offerings. For example, if mobile payments are increasing, consider adopting more mobile-friendly payment systems.
• Identifying errors or fraud: Watch for unusual payment patterns or discrepancies. This might include multiple failed transactions or large payments from unfamiliar sources, which could indicate errors or fraudulent activity. Quick detection can help protect your business from financial loss.
• Optimizing payment systems: Ensure that your payment processing system is efficient, secure and up to date. A fast, reliable payment system minimizes the chances of transaction errors and improves customer satisfaction. Regularly test your system for vulnerabilities and update as needed.

By effectively using payment reports, you can streamline payment processes, reduce errors and protect your business from fraud.

Use your POS data to level up your business and boost sales 

Your POS system is more than just a transaction tool—it’s a powerful asset for making smarter, data-driven decisions. By tracking key metrics such as sales trends, labor costs and inventory levels, you can improve operations, reduce waste and enhance the customer experience.

Leveraging the insights from your restaurant analytics can take your restaurant to the next level. This data can help boost sales, increase profits and keep you ahead of the competition.

Partnering with Owner.com allows you to streamline your online ordering process. We directly integrate with major POS systems like Clover and Square, ensuring more efficient online orders and restaurant operations. Schedule free demo with us today to see for yourself.

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