Restaurant Analytics
How to Use Restaurant Menu Analytics to Increase Sales
Menu analytics help sales when you use them as a loop: find the point where guests drop off — they open the menu but do not order, they open a dish but do not add it, they add it but remove it — make one change at that point, and compare the same period before and after. The gain comes from many small, checked changes, not from a single report.
The path from scan to order
| Step | Signal | Usual suspects |
|---|---|---|
| Opens the menu | Scans or visits, by hour and table | A hidden or damaged QR code, a slow first page |
| Browses | Which categories and dishes are opened | Category order, long lists, missing photos |
| Considers a dish | Dish opened but not added | Unclear description, price, missing allergen information |
| Orders | Dish added and ordered | A long checkout, a sold-out item discovered late |
Five signals worth acting on
- A dish many guests open and few order: rewrite its description, add or replace the photo, or check its price against similar dishes.
- A dish few guests even open: move it up its category, or give it a photo; it may simply not be seen.
- A table or area with few scans: check that the code is visible, clean and readable from the seat.
- A busy hour with few orders per scan: guests may be browsing while waiting for staff — make ordering easier at that time.
- Two dishes often ordered together: suggest one next to the other, or offer them as a combination.
Change one thing at a time
- Write down the signal and the number today — for example, how many guests opened the dish and how many ordered it over two weeks.
- Decide on one change: a new photo, a shorter description, a new position.
- Leave everything else alone for the same length of time.
- Compare the same weekdays before and after, not a quiet week with a busy one.
- Keep the change if the number moved the right way; undo it if it did not.
Small venues see small numbers. If a dish is opened a handful of times a week, wait longer before you judge a change — a few orders either way is noise.
What analytics cannot tell you
- Why a guest did not order: talk to staff and read feedback alongside the numbers.
- Taste and portion: a dish that sells once and never again is a kitchen question.
- Orders taken outside the system: they do not appear in its reports.
Which numbers to track in the first place: restaurant analytics metrics every owner should track.
Menu analytics in Thmenu
Thmenu counts how often each QR code is scanned, by day, hour and table, and which dishes guests open. When orders go through the menu, menu performance shows for each dish how often it was opened, added to the cart and ordered, and — once the period holds enough orders with more than one dish — which dishes are ordered together. You can mark dishes as featured so they appear in a section of their own. Sales figures need orders placed through Thmenu; a view-only menu still gets scan and dish-view numbers.