Big Data Checklist for Your Restaurant
Big Data Checklist for Your Restaurant You have a restaurant. With this restaurant business you want to make profits, right? What can you do make sure you generate profits on an annual basis? Keep up with customer needs as frequently as possible to enhance their dining experience, so they can keep coming back for more. So, how do you track frequencies and how do you make sure the customer keeps coming back? Make use of big data. Big data is a collection of information that helps you understand your business. Understanding your business lets you gain control over all operations both internal and external. Internally, employees and staff members can extract big data. This is possible through the direct communication line from your services to its delivery, which is achieved through point-of-sale transactions. Externally, everything digital like social media, which includes hits, likes, and conversations that have something to do with your restaurant, is your source of information. With external and internal information, you can evaluate it to draw in more customers or keep the existing ones. Things to consider when dealing with big data: Big data solutions can be confusing just because it is a MASSIVE load of information that one might not have a clue how to handle. Be certain you are collecting the right kind of information to help you achieve the right kind of outcome. Which might be to grow your business through relevance and positively impacting your customer experience. Here’s what to consider when using big data solutions for your restaurant. Point-of-sale is where you can access all the information you need to convert big data into valuable information. Start Small. Avoid getting overwhelmed. Break the information down into pieces you can handle, one step at a time. Goal-set. Be specific. Decide what you’re trying to achieve- are you trying to cut food costs? Sort out scheduling problems? Determine which items on your menu are most popular? Talk to a POS vendor. Find out whether all the information you are getting is readily available from the data collected. Appoint a chief data officer who will build cross-functional data collection as a focus. Find software that will integrate unstructured data with structured data sources to review relevant sites and social media forums to give insight on your target market, competitors, and products. Find out if your systems are “connected.” A restaurant has a pool of software and networks, which includes POS, kiosks, kitchen-management systems; online reservations that generate log files. Find a way to organize all systems so they are in line with each other.
Small operations can benefit from big data solutions, you don’t have to spend lots on software. Integrate a solution that is cost-friendly and suits your organization. Avoid drowning in too much data. Pick a point of focus and strategize for efficiency and maximize your time instead of tackling everything at once. Don’t get tied up in technology. You have countless options when it comes to technology. With mobile apps that allow you to do online ordering and table tablets, which are amazing technologies, but consider the adequate use of all the data collected from those nodes of information. No “one-size fits all” solution. Many big data solutions are available. You have to pick one that best suits your business and its needs. Make the customer feel at home. With the collection of personal information through POS transactions, you can access email addresses, birthdays, anniversaries, physical addresses- depending on how detailed the information your electronic systems at your restaurant is. But remember, customers have privacy concerns. The customer doesn’t want their information used fraudulently. Do not put the customer at risk. Gain loyalty and trust by abiding to privacy laws when dealing with personal information. Know the customer a little better. Through monitored visits, repeat in menu selections, drink preferences, favorite “spots”, you get to know your customer more and thus are able to customize their dining experience based on observed preferences. Find out customer birthdays and anniversaries for instance- get to KNOW your customer. Do they have kids? What places they like visiting? What activities they enjoy? This can be used in reward programs and newsletters so their emails are giving them information that is relevant to their interests. Build a database through email, TripAdvisor, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Foursquare to see the conversations and mentions that your business is getting. By keeping in the loop with social conversations you are made aware of what your customer thinks about your business, what they like and what they don’t like to improve on your efficiency. The more you give the customer what he/she likes, the more money you can make with that customer’s loyalty and word of mouth. Aim for efficiency in your business. Constantly think of ways to make your business more efficient. This allows you to cut turn around time, costs, and optimize on improving operations. Let big data help you to achieve this.
With big data you can monitor the activity on your servers to pick up trends such as, which items on the menu get the most sales and who is making those sales. In this way you get see the top performers and remunerate or reward them accordingly in terms of an incentive scheme. Gathering this information will give you an idea of what kinds of food your customers are most likely to buy, that way you can restructure your specials, for instance. The use of big data aids you in comparing sales to labor costs. You can track all the labor time like scorecards, a server’s average check size, tips, amount of time spent at the table, types of entrees sold and whether the server sells the special, a dessert or bottle of wine. You can detect peak and off-peak times so you can staff the restaurant smartly to accommodate traffic in your restaurant. This is all generated from the point-of-sale transactions and server information.
Small operations can benefit from big data solutions, you don’t have to spend lots on software. Integrate a solution that is cost-friendly and suits your organization. Avoid drowning in too much data. Pick a point of focus and strategize for efficiency and maximize your time instead of tackling everything at once. Don’t get tied up in technology. You have countless options when it comes to technology. With mobile apps that allow you to do online ordering and table tablets, which are amazing technologies, but consider the adequate use of all the data collected from those nodes of information. No “one-size fits all” solution. Many big data solutions are available. You have to pick one that best suits your business and its needs. Make the customer feel at home. With the collection of personal information through POS transactions, you can access email addresses, birthdays, anniversaries, physical addresses- depending on how detailed the information your electronic systems at your restaurant is. But remember, customers have privacy concerns. The customer doesn’t want their information used fraudulently. Do not put the customer at risk. Gain loyalty and trust by abiding to privacy laws when dealing with personal information. Know the customer a little better. Through monitored visits, repeat in menu selections, drink preferences, favorite “spots”, you get to know your customer more and thus are able to customize their dining experience based on observed preferences. Find out customer birthdays and anniversaries for instance- get to KNOW your customer. Do they have kids? What places they like visiting? What activities they enjoy? This can be used in reward programs and newsletters so their emails are giving them information that is relevant to their interests. Build a database through email, TripAdvisor, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Foursquare to see the conversations and mentions that your business is getting. By keeping in the loop with social conversations you are made aware of what your customer thinks about your business, what they like and what they don’t like to improve on your efficiency. The more you give the customer what he/she likes, the more money you can make with that customer’s loyalty and word of mouth. Aim for efficiency in your business. Constantly think of ways to make your business more efficient. This allows you to cut turn around time, costs, and optimize on improving operations. Let big data help you to achieve this.
With big data you can monitor the activity on your servers to pick up trends such as, which items on the menu get the most sales and who is making those sales. In this way you get see the top performers and remunerate or reward them accordingly in terms of an incentive scheme. Gathering this information will give you an idea of what kinds of food your customers are most likely to buy, that way you can restructure your specials, for instance. The use of big data aids you in comparing sales to labor costs. You can track all the labor time like scorecards, a server’s average check size, tips, amount of time spent at the table, types of entrees sold and whether the server sells the special, a dessert or bottle of wine. You can detect peak and off-peak times so you can staff the restaurant smartly to accommodate traffic in your restaurant. This is all generated from the point-of-sale transactions and server information.
