Improving Your Restaurant Through Data Analytics

Make Your Data Work for You

Managing a business is, in some ways, a numbers game. Your bottom line is often determined by details like how much you spend on chicken breast or which supplier you rely on for produce. If you’re not tracking these elements regularly, you’re doing a disservice to your business. That’s why finding a strategy for assessing restaurant data analytics is essential.

Read on to explore the transformative potential of data analytics in the restaurant context and gain tips and tricks on making the numbers work in your favor.

What Can Data Do for You?

Before you begin using restaurant data analytics to make decisions, you’ll want to understand what data analytics means and which elements you should be tracking.

Put simply, data analytics is the science of studying raw data and drawing conclusions from this data. This can refer to purchasing data, sales data, or even your marketing data. It’s all about the numbers and how they tell a story about your business.

When it comes to optimizing purchasing for your restaurant, data analytics tracking should cover a few key elements, including how much money you spend on products, equipment, and services and how much of each product you purchase on a recurring basis. Monitoring these numbers can show you where to cut back and when to switch programs.

How to Get the Most Out of the Numbers

Monitoring restaurant data analytics consistently can help you cut down on unnecessary spend and find opportunities for savings. There are many ways to do this but here are a few examples.

When you analyze how much you spend each month on products and compare it with your leftover stock, you can spot over ordering easily. Many operations rely on standing orders, but this isn’t always the best strategy, as demand can change month to month and quarter to quarter.

Another way to optimize using data is to review which menu items are most and least popular. Them you can look at the cost of the products needed to create those menu items and determine whether the least popular items are worth keeping on the menu.

Lastly, you can look for SKU redundancies in your regular orders and rationalize when possible. Maybe you use one type of dough for pizzas and another type for bagels. Data tracking can help you determine if switching to one dough for both applications will save money.

Avoid Data Collection Pitfalls

Monitoring restaurant data analytics can pave the way to success, but only when done right. There are a few things to consider when setting up your data tracking plan.

First, you’ll want to make sure all data you collect is kept secure. That means using platforms and programs that are highly rated for privacy protection. For example, Foodbuy’s data analytics tool, MPower, operates from a fully secure server with redundant security measures.

Second, you’ll want to make sure that your team fully understands the data you’re recording and how to use it. This will ensure your takeaways are effective and useful. You may want to train your team on this topic or provide them with informative resources.

Finally, you’ll want to address any internal holdups related to following a data-driven approach. Your staff may initially resist ideas and changes that are predicated by data reviews. Making sure that you know how to effectively communicate the rationale behind these changes is a strength.

Start Collecting Information

Ready to set up your restaurant data analytics strategy? Foodbuy Foodservice clients can access the MPower platform. This data collection software connects you with easy-to-understand insights into spend and savings opportunities. Members also appreciate these benefits:

MPower provides a single point of entry to all Foodbuy applications and reporting tools.

Members have complete access to real-time data at a moment’s notice.

Updated data visuals provide actionable data insights at a glance.

Users can easily add or change locations via the platform to increase onboarding speed.

By using MPower, members can maximize the Foodbuy program value within their organization, down to the operator level. Learn more about MPower today.