I once asked the owner of a small restaurant with about twenty items which dish earned the most. He named his signature plate without a pause. When we opened last week's order history, the top seller was something else entirely: a plain, cheap meal that guests added to almost any order. It changed how he arranged his menu. Impressions and numbers are different things, and you do not need analysis software to see the difference.
All you need is your order history, whether from your system or from a notebook you keep. Pick a normal week, not a holiday or a special promotion, and look for these four numbers.
1. Best sellers, and the ones nobody orders
Rank items by how many times they were ordered, and write a rough margin next to each. You will usually find three kinds. Items that sell a lot and earn well: protect them and put them first on the menu. Items that sell a lot but earn little: try a small price rise or a slightly smaller portion. Items that almost never sell yet take up space on the menu and in the kitchen: ask honestly whether they deserve to stay.
2. Peak hours and quiet hours
Split the day into blocks, count orders in each, and do it for different days of the week. The point is not to learn that lunch is busy, because you know that. The point is to find the gaps. If the hours between late afternoon and sunset are slow, that is a good window for a snack deal or a special. If Thursday night is a crush, get your team and prep ready before it arrives.
3. Guests who come back
Count how many guests ordered twice or more in a month, compared with those who ordered once. This tells you whether your restaurant is a place people return to or a one-time stop. If returning guests are few, the problem may be the experience itself, or that guests have no reason to come back. If they are many, they are the most valuable thing you have: find out what they order and thank them with a points programme or a simple message.
4. Average order value
Divide total sales by the number of orders. That answers a useful question: how much does a guest spend each time? If you want to raise it, do not touch prices first. Offer something that completes the order: a drink with the meal, a small dessert, an extra at the point of choosing. A small gain per order adds up quickly when it repeats dozens of times a day.
What to do once you know
- Change one thing at a time, so you can tell what actually made the difference.
- Move your most profitable items to the top of the menu and give them your best photo.
- Run offers in quiet hours, not in your busiest ones.
- Reach out to regulars with a message or an offer before they drift away.
If you use an ordering system that keeps order history, such as the Ordavya management dashboard, this is easier because the records are already there. If not, a notebook and a pen for the first week are enough to start.