5 Ways to Increase Margins Using Reporting

Running a restaurant is no easy feat, particularly during a pandemic, but Georgia restaurants are bouncing back in a big way with an all-hands-on-deck approach and smarter restaurant tech. Small but mighty tech additions like QR code ordering, online ordering, and handheld order-and-pay devices are not only improving the guest experience and boosting throughput, but also providing restaurants with invaluable guest data.

That data, in turn, is helping restaurant operators improve their business in other ways, especially when it comes in the form of easy-to-read cloud-based reporting like what you get from our preferred technology partner, SpotOn. Here are 5 ways you can utilize advanced point-of-sale reporting to reduce costs and increase revenue at your restaurant.

1. Forecast your needs with ease.

Guest trends have changed dramatically over the last 18 months, and will continue to do so. Notice more people ordering take-out and delivery with the Delta variant scare? Seeing a boost in weekend sales now that football is back? Cloud-based reporting makes it easy to review sales and labor over any duration to see how those trends are changing in real-time, so you can plan your staff schedules and inventory accordingly. Knowledge is power, and in this case, that power is cost savings.

2. Increase average ticket prices.

Use your inventory and menu to your advantage. With menu reports by item, you can easily increase average ticket prices by pairing hot sellers with upsell items. These detailed reports can help you discover which areas on your menu are the most popular and which are most commonly discounted and sold at lower average prices. Want to tempt customers in at a certain time of the day? No problem. Use the data from your menu reports to run a special on a hot seller they just can’t refuse right alongside a popular pairing that turns a higher profit.

3. Improve your menu.

See what’s popular and what’s not selling so you can update your menu in a way that better utilizes your inventory and drives profits. Particularly if you run a restaurant with a variety of order customization and modification options, reports detailing product mixes and modifiers will be your new best friend. By dividing your product mix into each combination of modifiers requested at the time of purchase, you can gain insights on guest behavior and modify your standardized menu accordingly. Maybe a lot of people are removing an item from one of your pizzas, or requesting additional condiments. With this report, you’ll be able to easily spot those trends, so you can adjust your menu to create a more appetizing and profitable menu.

4. Save time closing out.

Quit scrambling for a pencil and rubbing your eyes at the end of a busy night. With cloud-based reporting, closing out doesn’t have to be such a headache or cost you wages as staff stick around after their shifts. Detailed, electronic reports can quickly provide you with the info you need to handle and allocate tips, batch your payments, reconcile cash registers, and configure any other daily reports you need for your restaurant. Take Von Elrod’s Beer Hall & Kitchen, for example. With SpotOn’s high-power reporting, the restaurant was able to track restaurant trends, reconcile margins, and reduce their daily closeout from 2 hours to just 30 minutes.

5. Boost efficiencies from anywhere.

You no longer need to be tied down to your back-office. With cloud-based reports, you can access reports from anywhere—at home, at a different store, or on vacation—and make changes accordingly. Too many waiters and not enough cooks? You’ll see that in your staffing report and can then alter your schedule to meet changing customer preferences. Getting slammed with online orders? Turn on order pacing after looking at your hourly reports.

With profit margins already razor thin, modern point-of-sale reporting is proving to be a game-anger by helping restaurants identify opportunities for cutting costs, allocating labor efficiently, and boosting sales. Consider using a POS like SpotOn to provide you with built-in, intuitive reports. In addition to saving anywhere from $300 to $400 a month compared to using third-party reporting integrations, you’ll have the smart tech you need to make data-driven business decisions and boost your bottom line.