How to Read Your Restaurant Ordering Analytics to Boost Revenue

Numbers only help if you act on them. QckOrder's dashboard shows, per location and per period, tiles for revenue, average order value, items sold and number of orders, and charts for orders and revenue over time, busy hours and weekdays, top items, table versus to-go, payment method and time per order. It does not show guest profiles. The guide to reading your numbers says what each one counts. Here is how to use what you do get.

Revenue

Revenue shows what orders brought in for the period you pick. Compare the same weekdays across weeks, rather than a Monday with a Saturday. A dip after a menu change is a signal to look at which items moved.

Average order value

Average order value is revenue divided by the number of orders. If it rises after you rewrite descriptions or reorder the menu, that change helped. If it falls after a new low-priced item appears, you may be giving guests a cheaper path. Read upselling through menu design for ideas.

Items

The items view shows what guests order. Use it to find three groups:

• Stars: sell well, keep them prominent.
• Quiet dishes: rarely ordered. Try a better photo, a better name or a different place in the category.
• Dead weight: never ordered. Consider removing them.

Orders and busy periods

Orders per period show when you are busy, and the hour and weekday charts show which hours and days are busiest. Staff for those hours, and make sure the orders list is watched then. For peak planning, see handling a holiday rush.

Time per order

The time-per-order view averages how long your team takes to accept, prepare and complete an order. A long time to accept points to a screen nobody watches, and a long time to prepare points to the kitchen. Compare the same weekday and hour across weeks. See order history and timing.

Compare locations

If you run more than one location, compare them. The same menu can sell differently in each place, so a dish to cut at one location may be a star at another.

A simple monthly routine

1. Pick the same period as last month.
2. Write down revenue, average order value and orders.
3. List the top five and bottom five items.
4. Change one thing, such as one description or one photo.
5. Check again next month.

What the analytics do not tell you

They do not show why a guest left, how long tables stayed or who ordered. Combine them with what your staff see and what reviews say, as in long waits and reviews.

Conclusion

A few figures, checked regularly, are enough to make better menu decisions. See QR ordering for restaurants or the pricing page to get started.