Leveraging Data for Success in the Restaurant Business

In the fast-paced world of the restaurant industry, it’s not just serving delicious food that’s going to get you ahead of your competitors. Restaurants need to start leveraging data to boost performance levels and customer experiences as well as improving business processes. 

So how can data be used to better the success of your company?

It helps you understand your customer base 

Here’s the great thing about utilising data: It can help you understand your customer base a lot better. This includes:

• Delving into customer behaviors
• Looking into when your peak periods are
• Understanding how often customers return to your restaurant
• Identifying what your most popular dishes are 

This can help you improve dish quality, service levels and properly prepare for busier periods.

There are a multitude of ways you can collect data, such as:

• Customer feedback surveys and forms
• Loyalty programmes and apps 
• Face-to-face feedback 

Here at Yumpingo, our Customer Experience Management platform can help you access the power of customer feedback because it integrates with your POS systems. 

“From a time-saving point of view, integration means you don’t have to manage a whole new tech stack,” explains Darren Jackson, Commercial Director, at Yumpingo.” 

“It works seamlessly with your existing systems, to become a natural part of the way your teams interact with customers.”

And that seamless integration means customers are going to give you more detailed and honest feedback. For example, by gathering feedback through emails and in-store devices, customers tend to give more accurate feedback because you’re asking them while they’re still thinking about the experience. “They haven’t left and gone shopping or to the cinema or rushed to get kids home. All of which changes the way they might remember your service offering,” explains Darren.

On top of that is the customizable aspect of POS integration. “By fine-tuning reviews to reflect exactly what the guest ordered, you can make them feel like they’re unique experience matters to you and your team. And the data we gather for individual dishes allows the kitchen teams to focus on specific problems that may be cropping up in a menu item.”

Based on the information provided, we can calculate NPS and Sentiment Scores to help you understand where your strengths and weaknesses are. This can then help you know exactly what your customers are looking for in terms of service and food quality. 

Our platform also suggests Smart Actions where it gives you the top, simplest ways you can implement changes to improve customer experience, and ultimately boost your NPS Score. 

For example, data could be used to make menu changes, like introducing more vegetarian dishes. This can help you meet consumer demand and attract and retain more customers.    

Streamline your business processes

Gathering customer data is also a great way for you to streamline your business processes. For example, it can help with improving your stock take, as information can be gathered on your most and least popular dishes, helping you understand what produce and how much of it you need to buy.

At Yumpingo we ask diners about the particular dishes they ate so that you can gain granular detail about all of your dishes. This can also show you if there are any dishes not being ordered or finished, giving you the opportunity to alter ingredients or remove them from the menu altogether. 

This can also help you reduce food waste, as it gives you a deeper understanding of what produce you should be ordering and how much, as well as helping you prepare the right amount of food to avoid waste. To discover more about how you can reduce food waste in your restaurant read our blog on taking action against food waste in restaurant operations. 

Review possible trends

Gathering data can help you review possible trends happening within your restaurant and the industry. For example, data can show you when your busiest periods are during the week, month or year. Obviously, we all know that Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for the hospitality industry, which is why a lot of preparation goes into the run-up. But what if you could do this all year round? 

Knowing when your busiest day of the week, month or part of the year is can help you prepare properly, reducing food waste and increasing profits all year round.  

You may also be able to see what dishes are enjoyed more at different times of the year so that you can plan ahead and offer the dishes your customers are looking for. At the end of the day, utilising customer data can help you make data-driven decisions that will likely help you and your business succeed.  

Manage staffing rotas 

You can track real-time and historical data, like customer traffic patterns, reservations and order volumes to see when high-volume traffic in your restaurant occurs. Using this information can help you accurately plan rotas with an adequate amount of staff. This avoids overstaffing issues and helps increase profits. 

Data can also be used to assess staff performance, helping to identify any skills gaps and what training needs to be implemented to help boost customer satisfaction and in turn increase profits. 

So if you’re looking to start leveraging data to improve the success and profitability of your company, get in touch with Yumpingo today to see how we can help. 

Through our Customer Experience Management, you can gain real-time feedback, paired with Smart Actions to help you improve business processes and customer experience to help boost profits.