It’s All In The Numbers

Most restaurants run on smaller profit margins that the average person realizes. There just isn’t much room to slip up when you’re running a restaurant. And for those looking to buy a restaurant or restaurant company, those profit margins, along with a variety of other numbers, can make or break the deal.

But what are the numbers that private equity firms and other buyers look at? It’s not just the number of customers served or the monthly revenue being generated. Those numbers certainly tell you something, but they don’t dig into all the different points that may make a restaurant attractive to potential buyers.

The problem with those types of numbers is that they’re generally averaged out and looked at to make important decisions regarding the future and viability of a restaurant. But there’s so much more depth to those numbers that gets lost when you look at average sales or customers in the door over the last year.

There’s more to a restaurant than meets the eye. That’s why it’s become so important to have a way of aggregating and analyzing all of the data that a restaurant generates. Whether it’s the numbers related to customer frequency or the data generated by customers’ choices off the menu—it all has to be taken into account when a PE firm or another buyer is looking at purchasing a restaurant.

There’s also more to a restaurant’s success than its food. Everything from weather patterns to competitors opening in the area can have a significant impact on sales. Local events or weather may be out of a restaurant owner’s control, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be accounted for. Rather than just seeing the sales numbers, our software can provide restaurants with more information on why these numbers matter, and how to change them if necessary.

Take marketing, for example. While a good marketing campaign might drive more traffic to the restaurant, it’s usually hard to accurately measure how much of that is the work of the campaign. Our software learns each unique restaurant’s business, and is able to assess the value of these campaigns, revealing what could be done to make them even more effective.

It’s imperative that restaurant owners, as well as would be buyers, have the information that they need to make decisions about a restaurant’s future. Never has this been easier than it is now. Data analytics has proven to be the most effective way to gain an in-depth understanding of a restaurant’s guest purchasing trends and predictive activity.  When you can see your future down to day part and menu mix (good and bad), it is much easier to plan for it.

It really is all in the numbers, and if you can access those numbers and the insights they provide, you’ll be perfectly positioned to make the best choices for your business. And once our software is up and running, you’ll get that data in the form of clear, easy to read charts, graphs, and insights.

Want to see what our software can do for you? Then contact Marketing Vitals today and we can get you started with a free demo of our software, as well as answer any questions you might have.