3 KPIs You Need to Track Using Your Restaurant POS
This post originally appeared on Restaurant Insider by Brad Bortone

With increased competition and a stronger industry reliance on data, restaurant owners need to have perspective into every aspect of operations. Restaurant POS software allows for this visibility by allowing users to gather data on key performance indicators (KPIs), and also by organizing it in a way that offers clear business insight.
With a proper restaurant POS platform, owners can capture real-time views into all aspects of the business’ revenue.
This allows them to make reactive and proactive decisions about everything from staffing to stocking the shelves.
With the right handle on the right performance data, you’ll have a better understanding on which roadblocks are hindering efficiency, and which items are most benefiting the bottom line.

Let’s take a look into three of the most basic KPIs you should be monitoring on a regular basis to ensure your restaurant is performing at a profitable level.
Food costs and losses.
At the end of the night, most owners are content to look solely at food and beverage sales as a measure of success. But with the right restaurant POS software, you can easily gauge how the night’s sales measure against daily, weekly and monthly food costs, to help determine:
- Profit margin per table, customer, seating, etc.
- Specific foods and usages
- Alcohol vs. non-alcoholic beverage sales
- Average food loss per night
Having the power to break down restaurant sales by type of food allows you to precisely gauge which shopping you should do, and which is working against your profits.
Labor, staffing and turnover.
Once you have a better handle on food sales and purchasing, you can then drill down further to gauge your staffing balance. While a slow service might drive owners to schedule more waitstaff, that might not be the answer.
Perhaps having more servers on the floor is a hindrance. Instead, the problem may reside in the speed of the kitchen, which extends wait times and slows table turnover. Likewise, turnover might also be affected by how long it take to clear and reset a table, perhaps driving the scheduling of more bus and cleaning staff.

Employee productivity.
Looking beyond how MANY people are on the floor, you also need to consider how well those people are working for you. Just being present and taking orders is one thing. But is your waitstaff properly upselling specials, desserts, drinks, etc? Are they making pairing recommendations?
By analyzing how each staff member is selling, and cross-referencing this data with overall sales, you’ll likely get a very quick, clear picture of which staff members are dedicated to making you money, and which need a lesson in salesmanship.
These are just three of the countless KPIs worth tracking. Your restaurant POS can offer you myriad other insights through customized readouts that provide all new perspective into even the most complicated restaurants.
No matter the size of your business, this information can only benefit your bottom line.
