Restaurant Analytics: Easy Ways To Use Data To Drive Sales

Want a closer look at what's happening behind the scenes in your restaurant? Collecting the right restaurant analytics can show you what’s really going on, like which dishes are the most popular, which ingredients make the most money and how well your team is doing. Data can also help prove your already-good instincts about your restaurant. 

As a restaurant owner, this data is essential because it provides real, actionable insights into things like sales, inventory and what customers want. It also shows patterns in guest behavior that might be harder to spot in person. 

Keeping track of these numbers and what you see with your own eyes can also help you make changes that boost sales and cut waste. Most of all, you can help create a better experience for your customers.  

After you check out my guide below, you'll have a better grasp of what these numbers mean. Plus, you'll know how to use them to take your business to the next level. 

Why should you collect customer data?  

If you don't collect data, you'll have no data to look at!

And with most aspects of restaurant sales going digital, collecting data without bothering customers is easier than ever.

Here’s how that data can help your restaurant: 

• Make smarter decisions: Restaurant analytics can show you your customers’ habits. This includes spending habits, how often they visit and what they like to eat. You’ll know what’s working and what you need to change without having to guess.
• Boost customer experience: They can give you a better idea of what your customers want. For example, you can keep them wanting more by tailoring promotions to what they like. This would be like if you sent a deal to a customer for a veggie burger, which also happens to be their most ordered item.
• Take action faster: You can fix your schedule, waste less and do things faster. You'll find problems quickly and fix them to save time and money. Maybe you're hiring too many people when it's slow. Knowing the numbers will help you save money on workers and hire fewer people when it's not busy.
• Make more profit: By seeing your restaurant costs, like what people like to order and how much it costs to make, you can tweak the menu to help keep a healthy profit margin.

Now, let’s talk about what these numbers really are and where they come from. 

The data points that matter most 

Restaurant analytics can get complicated fast, but I'm here to walk you through them and show you what they represent.

So, where do restaurant analytics come from? 

This data is often found in tools you use every day. Like your POS system, payment processors, inventory, payroll and even your social media platforms.

Here are the most valuable metrics from these tools that I recommend focusing on: 

• Sales data: Sales reports are often found in your POS system and tell you what is profitable and what’s selling or not selling.  
• Payroll data: Payroll data shows you how much you’re spending on labor costs. It can help you with scheduling and making sure you don’t hire too many people during slower periods. 
• Inventory levels: Your inventory numbers show you where you can modify how much you spend on food and where you may need to cut back to lower waste. This is tracked in your inventory management tool.  
• Customer analytics: This includes how often they order, how much they spend, their favorite items, demographics and location.   
• Promotion data: I highly recommend using SMS and email campaign marketing if you aren’t already. Both types of platforms can give you data that shows you how well your promotions are working. 
• Customer feedback: This is an easy one. Customer reviews provide direct feedback on where you can improve or what you should keep doing. You can also take an average of your ratings across multiple review sites to get an overall idea of where you stand. 

I’ll go more in depth on how you can gather these restaurant analytics below. 

How to pull valuable data that’s relevant to your restaurant 

Knowing what kind of data to pull can feel overwhelming. Luckily, I’m here to help you navigate the data that is most relevant to your restaurant.

Here are some of my top ways to pull valuable insights and customer data:

Use a website builder to learn customer behavior

One of my favorite ways you can find performance insights is with your website builder. Website builders can show you things like: 

• How many customers are visiting your site 
• How long customers are staying on your website 
• What pages are viewed the most, like menu pages, for example 
• What devices customers are using to view your website
• What customers are ordering and what type of order (delivery or pickup)  

Knowing this kind of customer behavior information can uncover opportunities to improve your website and make it easier for customers to use. For instance, if you’re seeing that people visit the homepage and immediately leave, that may be a signal that it’s time to change your website. 

Website builders like Owner.com can help you collect and export customer and sales data all in one dashboard. You can do things like run reports and export customer lists that tell you cool things like the number of new and returning customers during a certain time frame. 

And, if getting more direct online orders is your goal, this will be right up your alley. 

Track data via mobile app to better understand your regulars

I love mobile apps. There are a lot of reasons why a mobile app can be beneficial for your business. But analytics are really helpful in showing you demographic information about your customers, which can tell you what kind of promotions you need to offer them.

Mobile apps are used by regulars. So they give you a clear view of what they order, how often, and from where. For example, we've seen restaurants use their mobile app data to help inform where to open new locations. Mobile apps also help increase repeat orders by 85%, according to our data at Owner.com.

For example, Ottavio’s Italian Kitchen decided to partner with us. With our mobile app, they saw their online order sales go up to $24,000 a month within just a year. 

Include an online ordering platform to see customer preferences

Many online ordering systems can automatically collect and analyze your customer data. This tool is a great way to track what customers order the most frequently and what time people order. Also, you can find out which items pair well together by learning what customers often order together.

And, those same systems can ensure you can collect customer data without hurting the customer experience. Many restaurants have slow checkouts as you can see below:

For example, the process may involve navigating through several screens to complete forms manually, with no option for accelerated checkout like Apple Pay and nothing pre-selected by default.

Owner's recent checkout redesign is 24% faster than our old design - already one of the fastest checkouts on the internet:

• Checkout in a few clicks or taps on one screen
• Accelerated checkout is the default option
• Remembers your saved info from any previous orders

And, with Owner.com’s online ordering system, you can keep your profits in a good place and save on third-party commission fees. Plus, it can automatically suggest add-ons, so you don’t have to do the work yourself. Knowing what people order online and suggesting add-ons can certainly boost your average check size. 

Bottom line, you get the customer data you need but keep online ordering fast—so you don't hurt conversion rates.

Use POS data to forecast sales and lower food costs

In addition to your website and your online ordering system, most POS systems offer valuable data about sales patterns and food costs. By looking at your POS data, you can see all of your sales patterns and inventory levels, plus reveal which dishes on your menu are hot sellers. 

You can also see: 

• What people pay with
• What they like
• When they come to eat

This can further help you decide what to buy and how many people to hire. 

I personally recommend Clover for a POS system, and it also integrates well with Owner.com.

Look at payroll data to save on labor costs

I highly recommend pulling your payroll data to see how much you spend on labor. Labor costs are one of the most expensive restaurant costs you need to budget for, so knowing where you can trim down can save you money. It can also help you make better staffing decisions. 

Let’s say you look at your payroll data and notice a trend that you’re overstaffing during slower periods. From there, you’ll have a better idea of where you can cut unnecessary labor costs by hiring less staff, leading to better cash flow long term. 

Request feedback and reviews 

Positive and negative customer feedback is a very valuable form of customer data and can give insightful pointers on your strengths and weaknesses.  Data doesn’t just mean stuff in a spreadsheet or dashboard—feedback is data, too.

If you’re lacking reviews, you should try requesting reviews. A technique I like to use is enticing your customers to leave feedback in exchange for a discount. 

Collect insights from social media

If you’re active on social media, you can use the platforms to see your broad engagement data from your customers. 

For instance, if you’re active on Instagram you can try out Instagram Insights. This is a free tool available for business profiles and can show you how people are engaging with your content. Social media is also a good way to read comments which can serve as feedback. 

This isn’t as important as the other collection methods, but it can be an interesting way to see things like which days and times your promotional posts are getting the most action.   

6 strategic ways to use restaurant analytics 

So now that you know what kind of data you can track, what do you do with it all? 

Below I'll cover more of my favorite ways to use restaurant analytics. These methods can help you make smart choices that make your customers happier and earn you more money.

1. Adjust how you market to existing and new customers 

You should market differently to new and existing customers. By grouping your customers, you can create better messages and focus on the right numbers to help each type o f customer grow.

For existing customers: 

Use your restaurant’s numbers to track how often your customers visit again, how much they spend and what their favorite menu items are. You can also track when customers start slipping away. This can help you send them the right offers after their first few orders so you can turn them into regulars.   

With this information, you can tailor specific promotions for your regulars—or VIPs. These VIPs are super valuable and tend to make large and consistent purchases.  So, shoot them a promotion that gives them a discount if they bundle items of a higher check size. 

For new customers: 

Restaurant analytics can help you figure out how your new customers are finding you online and in person. For example, you can see how many new customers are coming to your website and if they’re placing online orders. 

If they’re not finding your website at all, you may need to boost your local SEO strategy so that Google can place you higher on search engines.

2. Spot inventory issues to save on food costs 

You can use your restaurant’s numbers to cut down on waste and save on food costs. 

If you know how fast you use up your food, you can see if you're using too much or not enough. This can help you find problems like having too much or too little food before they get bigger and harder to fix down the line.

Your inventory numbers can also show you if you're not using up enough of your ingredients in time and how much of it may be going to waste.  

Lastly, I like to compare pricing with other suppliers. For example, if you spend a certain amount of money on meat each year, but you see a different supplier selling for less, you’ve just found a way to save yourself some more cash. 

Check out my video on food cost percentage below if you want to learn more:

3. Modify your menu pricing and items 

Restaurant analytics can help you keep fair menu prices and ensure you have a menu-market fit. By looking at how much people buy and how much food costs, you can decide what to keep or remove from your menu and how much to charge. 

Your online ordering system or even customer reviews can help you identify your unpopular items. If they aren’t showing great sales data, then you may want to consider removing them. 

Those tools can also tell you what your high-demand items and seasonal items are, which you could increase the menu prices for.

4. Update your hours of availability 

Take a look at your past orders to see when most people are placing online orders. This way, you can make sure you’ve got enough staff on hand during busy hours to keep things running smoothly.

On the flip side, find those slower times when fewer people are ordering online. That’s your chance to either cut staff or run special promotions to boost orders.

5. Get customers to spend more with you 

Use your analytics to see how often your best customers come back and how much they spend. This will help you make special deals they'll really like. The more you make your loyalty program deals just for them, the more they'll keep coming back. 

For example, my friends at Samos Oaxaca used Owner.com’s loyalty program, which has given them a $150,000+ increase in sales and $70,000+ in savings. 

You can also drive more loyalty by interacting with your customers through your reviews and social media comments. 

Check out my video below if you want to learn more about how to build a profitable loyalty program:

6. Send targeted promotions 

A great way to drive repeat business is by personalizing your SMS and email marketing campaigns. I like to use numbers to put customers into groups based on how they order. It can help see who orders a lot, who doesn’t order often and who always gets the same thing. Once you have that info, you can send promotions that really speak to each group. 

For example, you could offer a discount to someone who hasn't visited in a while or give loyal customers a special deal on their go-to order.

Don’t forget to track how these promotions perform! Seeing what gets the best response helps you fine-tune your future offers and make them even more effective.

Make confident, profitable moves with restaurant analytics 

Using restaurant analytics isn’t just about gathering numbers—it’s about learning from them. You can’t truly understand your business unless you know your data. It helps you see how things really work and diagnose issues the right way.

Many platforms either don’t give you access to customer data or make it harder to understand. Owner is different. We give you the tools to easily access and make sense of your data. Ready to take control of your business? Try a free demo with Owner.com and start making data-driven decisions today.

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