Revel Blog

Leveraging Point of Sale Data in a Quick Service Restaurant

Kelly Hogan | March 22, 2022 |

data New Feature Product Features business intelligence
Leveraging Point of Sale Data in a Quick Service Restaurant

Is it possible to make good decisions based on gut-feeling and industry knowledge? Absolutely. But this doesn’t mean that you should make decisions without data as well. 

Data-driven decisions help restaurant operators achieve greater cost savings and profitability over time. By using data, you can really see if decisions you’ve made have a positive impact long term. 

Tracking and measuring the impact of your decisions is as important as making the right decision in the first place, as it allows you to identify your successes and pitfalls, and correct your course accordingly.

How Restaurants Leverage Data to Optimize Restaurant Operations 

Customized reports around restaurant operations can give businesses insight into how different areas of their business are performing. 

Some key categories to monitor include sales performance, product performance, employee productivity, operation optimization, marketing performance and customer relations. Answer the following questions through data insights in order to improve overall operations and increase revenues: 

1. Sales performance


  • What are the sales trends over time (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) and overall?
  • How is my restaurant doing now compared to the previous period?
  • How do multiple restaurant establishments compare to each other in terms of sales and profitability?
  • How do different groups of establishments perform?
  • What is my average order value?

2. Product performance

  • Which products are profitable (and not profitable)?
  • Which products are most frequently discounted, voided?
  • What kind of modifiers do customers regularly select?
  • Which modifiers are most profitable?
  • Which modifiers are not used at all?
  • How many combos are sold and what are their values?
  • Do combos sell more than the same individual items together?
  • Have I cannibalized my revenue by introducing combos?
  • What is the cost of goods sold (COGS) trends over time?

3. Employee productivity

  • Which employees perform the best and who needs more training?
  • How much does each employee up-sell compared to other employees?
  • How many discounts/voids is each employee making?
  • Which employee is the top performer by order volume and revenue?

4. Operations optimization (e.g. speed of service)

  • What is the most popular payment type?
  • What are my most valuable customer groups (based on previous order history)?
  • Which establishments have the biggest amount of returning/ new customers?
  • What is the preferred ordering channel for customers?
  • What is the preferred dining option for customers?

5. Marketing Performance 

  • Who is our target customer?
  • How well did our campaigns perform (open rate, click-thrus, ect.)?
  • How is our social media engagement and website traffic compared to our competition? 

6. Customer Relations 

  • Who are my most valuable customers (based on their previous order history)?
  • What is the share of returning customers and new customers?

Now that you have an idea of the types of questions quality data can help you answer, consider how you are gathering data today, and whether you can improve your process for capturing and analyzing these key business insights. 

What is Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing? 

We have talked a lot about the importance of data and what questions could be answered with data. But, what tools does a business need to gather all this data to create reports that executives can then use to make informed decisions for their business? 

This is where business intelligence (BI) tools come in, as well as data warehousing. Business intelligence (BI) combines business analytics, data mining, data visualization, data tools and infrastructure, and best practices to help organizations to make decisions based on quantitative facts and results. 

When applied correctly, BI gives a comprehensive view of an organization’s data and enables operators to use that data to drive change, eliminate inefficiencies, and quickly adapt to market or supply changes.

Data Warehousing (DW) is a process for collecting and managing data from varied sources to provide meaningful business insights. The data warehouse is the core of the BI system which is built for data reporting an analysis. 

Revel Data Connector

Revel Systems® has recently introduced a new solution that allows operators to access Revel point of sale (POS) core data using business intelligence (BI) tools called Revel Data Connector. This solution provides visibility and transparency into essential business insights for executives on a corporate level. 

Essentially, Revel Data Connector aims to solve descriptive and diagnostic analytics problems and may be used as a foundation for other types of analysis.

Benefits of Revel Data Connector 

Perhaps the biggest benefit of Revel Data Connector is the solution’s ability to serve as an alternative data source that allows business analysts to build custom reports at scale using the BI tools they know best. 

This solution gives business operators the flexibility to analyze data in order to make critical business decisions. Here is a snapshot of a few of the other benefits available through Revel Data Connector:

  • It removes all the manual work needed to export reports 
  • The data can be configured through multiple dimensions and metrics 
  • Data is structured and prepared for analytical purposes and custom reporting
  • Revel Data Connector can access data from all establishments utilizing a Revel POS
  • Its infrastructure is easily scalable to ensure best possible performance
  • Corporate analysts save significant time preparing data for visualizations and analysis

Harness the Power of Your Data with BI Tools 

Quality data can revolutionize operations and empower companies to do what is best for their business. BI tools make it possible not only to harness quality data, but to also transform it into clear, actionable insights through custom reports and dashboards. 

Through BI you can grow your revenue and decrease costs by quickly identifying where your business needs to improve and where it is thriving. 

Consider the possibilities a solution like Revel Data Connector affords you! Whether through menu enhancements or identifying pain points in the guest experience, you can significantly improve your service, forecast trends, track inventory levels, maximize your marketing return on investment (ROI) and more. Contact a sales representative at +1 (833) 437-3835 today to learn more!