Australia is famed for its hospitality industry; a vibrant sector rich in, and reliant on, smaller businesses. They’re the independent, often family-owned venues that bind highstreets and entire communities together. In the accommodation and food services industry, small businesses employ half a million Australians, the third biggest industry for small-business employment.
Economic pressures and softened consumer spending have forced many of these small restaurants, bars, cafes and other venues to find ways to boost, or even just sustain, revenue; from increasing menu prices to adding more tables and negotiating cheaper rates with suppliers.
One of the most impactful, but overlooked. ways to boost revenue, though, is data science. While it sounds like an alienating or unrelated process for a small restaurant or bar, data holds the key to revenue maximisation, irrespective of the size of your business.
Data into dollars
In essence, data science focuses on turning data into actionable insights for your business. Whether it’s collected from your reservation software or QR codes for order and pay, your business almost certainly has masses of data at its fingertips. When this data is anonymised, it provides trends and insights that venues can use to increase profit and guest experience.
Through it, venues can improve their entire business, increasing the value they offer guests and their own bottom line, without having to hike prices or have difficult conversations with suppliers. Ultimately, it enables small venues to make more money from the same seats and enhance the guest experience.
Make more money from the same seats
Through data-driven software, venues can reduce the time seats sit empty, by making recommendations on party size or dining durations, when to institute cancellation policies to decrease last-minute cancellations, floor plan configuration recommendations and more.
For example, if your venue’s reservations are for two hours, and tables typically stay occupied for an average of one hour and ten minutes, you could implement 90-minute slots, to create more availability and revenue opportunities. Or if certain menu items are popular or unpopular, you can either cut back or double down on those ingredients or dishes.
Through tools such as our revenue-management solution, for example, operators can also see how much demand was missed across booking channels by summarising data on recent reservation attempts. This helps businesses better manage these channels and better manage their books to offer more reservations across their most profitable channels.
Enhanced experiences
Diners benefit through greater availability, a better dining experience and more unique experiences and offerings. According to SevenRooms research, 68 per cent of Australians say that cost of living pressures are making them focus more on the quality than the quantity of their dining experiences, while 43 per cent would be willing to share their data for personalised experiences. Data is how you can enhance the quality and personalisation you provide.
Data allows venues to better understand their customers, such as their order history, frequency of their visits, spending patterns and more. This information can be used to tailor marketing campaigns, loyalty programs, and special offers to guests based on their unique habits and preferences. These are the personalised experiences that Aussies demand and are happy to pay for today.
Today’s operators are busier than ever, but their data holds the key to automatically filling more seats, more often, while enhancing their guest experiences. By embracing data, even the smallest restaurants, bars and cafes can make more informed decisions, improve guest experience and satisfaction, and increase revenue.
