Using Data as a Profit Driver

Recent reports have shown restaurant sales and traffic on a downward slope in the last few months. It’s important to understand how your business holds up to these trends. Toast, the cloud-based point of sale, analyzed 700, full-service restaurants to get an idea of what sells the most and why.

It ultimately answered the question of whether upselling or improving table turn time is more important for full-service restaurants. The following are some of the statistics from the study.

• Out of menu items sold, 62% is food, 15% is non-alcoholic drinks, and 23% is alcohol.
• Guests who purchase appetizers, alcohol, and dessert on a single check will spend, on average, $2.34 extra per minute. That’s the difference between a guest staying 30 minutes and spending $100 without appetizers, alcohol, and dessert and a guest staying the same amount of time and spending $170 with those items.
• Guests who order alcohol spend 101% more and stay 48%
• Guests who order dessert spend 82% more and stay 19%
• Guests who order appetizers spend 76% more and stay 20%