Increasing your restaurant's revenue can be challenging, but there are many strategies you can test to attract customers, sell more and secure your business's growth.
If you want to get to know some of them, keep reading this article! In it you'll understand what revenue is, find out whether your restaurant is bringing in enough and discover effective strategies to lift your results. Check it out!
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What is revenue?
Revenue is the total sum of all sales made by a restaurant in a given period. In other words: it's the gross amount of money that comes into the establishment's till before costs and expenses are deducted.
So we can think of revenue as the total income generated by sales of the restaurant's products and services.
Gross revenue vs. net revenue vs. profit
Revenue is often confused with the restaurant's net revenue or its profit. Knowing how to tell these concepts apart is essential for good financial management.
Find out what each of them means below:
- Gross revenue: as mentioned earlier, it's the total sum of all sales with nothing deducted.
- Net revenue: it's the amount left after deducting returns, discounts, fees and Taxes on sales from gross revenue. It's a more accurate measure of what the restaurant actually earned from its operations.
- Profit: it's the amount that remains after subtracting all operating costs (such as rent, payroll, supplies etc.) from net revenue. This is one of the most important metrics for determining the financial health of the business.
From this, it's important to note that a restaurant with high revenue isn't always profitable. Se os custos operacionais forem elevados, o lucro acaba sendo muito baixo — e, às vezes, você sai no prejuízo.
So for the business to be genuinely profitable, you need to combine strategies to increase revenue with strategies to reduce operating costs.
Leia também: 7 tips to create a profitable restaurant menu
How do you calculate your restaurant's revenue?
Calculating your restaurant's revenue is simple: just add up the value of all gross sales made during a specific period (day, week, month).
Faturamento = product sale price X the number of units sold in the period.
Por exemplo, se você vendeu 30 pratos no valor de R$ 20 reais em um dia:
Faturamento = R$ 20 x 30
Faturamento = R$ 600
To do this math, it's essential to record every sale correctly. That's why it's so important to count on a reliable restaurant system and, ideally, an automated one — which helps reduce errors and gain efficiency.
with EPOC, for example, you can track your restaurant's revenue in real time from wherever you are.
You also get access to visual charts that are simple to understand, which help you analyze your revenue in detail and make more strategic decisions.
How much does a restaurant make per month?
A restaurant's monthly revenue can vary a lot and depends on several factors: business model, location, size, type of cuisine, customer profile, quality of products and services, among others.
So it's important to stress that a small restaurant's revenue isn't comparable to that of a luxury restaurant, for example. In the same way, a self-service restaurant is different from a delivery operation, and so on.
To find benchmark figures specific to your restaurant, you need to do some research taking into account all the factors we mentioned above.
But, generally speaking, the benchmark figures for restaurants' average monthly revenue are:
- Small: R$ 40,000 – R$ 80,000
- Medium: R$ 80,000 – R$ 150,000
- Large: R$ 180,000 – R$ 500,000
Again, it's worth noting: these figures can vary considerably depending on the characteristics of each business.
Leia também: How to calculate your restaurant's break-even point
How do you increase a restaurant's revenue?
There are several ways to increase revenue. Below, we present some of them for you to test in your business. Check them out!
1 – Raise prices using menu engineering
Raising prices is the most traditional way to increase revenue, but you need to act intelligently. If you change every price on the menu at once, your customers will feel the difference and that can end up hurting your business. So price increases must be cautious and strategic.
You can do this item by item, spotting the best opportunities through engenharia de cardápio.
It makes no sense, for example, to raise prices on items that already have a good Profit margin and are very popular. Focus first on the ones with less visibility and a smaller margin.
2 – Use upselling to increase the average ticket
Another way to increase your revenue is to get your customers to spend more on each visit, that is: raising the ticket médio.
For that, upselling is one of the best tactics. You can train your waiters to offer starters, wines, cocktails, desserts… Any item that gets your customer to consume more.
It may seem like a simple move, but at the end of the month it can make a big difference in revenue.
3 – Expand your sales channels with delivery and take away
What if you sold through other channels? That would certainly help you sell more, increase revenue and profitability. According to a study by the consultancy Galunion, 80% of food service operators consider delivery and take away profitable.
So if you're not working with these channels yet, consider starting right now. They'll expand your restaurant's reach, serve a different customer profile and, in doing so, help increase sales.
4 – Reduce service time
Especially at peak hours, cutting service time means serving more customers and, consequently, increasing revenue. That's why every minute shaved off the time customers spend at the table matters.
Pursuing operational efficiency, optimizing service on every front, is the secret of the most profitable restaurants.
In this sense, technology is your best ally. Some EPOC solutions that can help are:
- Digital menu: with EPOC GO, for example, the customer can browse the menu, place the order and pay independently, without having to wait for a waiter.
- Self-service kiosk: solutions like KIOSK let the customer place their own order quickly.
- POS: with EPOC POS waiters get a system that's easy to operate and can take orders quickly and without errors. What's more, the order goes automatically to the kitchen.
- KDS system: o KDS receives and organizes orders automatically, making order prep and delivery faster.
Beyond counting on technology, it's also important to define processes and train your team to reduce service time.
5 – Turn your waiters into salespeople
A waiter's role goes far beyond taking orders and bringing them to customers. Besides providing great customer service, your team should be focused on selling more. So invest in training.
Remember the upselling strategy we mentioned earlier? It only works if there's someone able to make the suggestions at the right moment and, ideally, in a persuasive way.
What's more, waiters should be prepared to make suggestions to customers with the goal of selling what's most advantageous for the restaurant, that is: the most profitable dishes.
Count on EPOC to increase your revenue
To implement these tips and increase your revenue, count on EPOC! Our solution was developed to help food businesses grow.
With EPOC you get the best technology to gain operational efficiency: POS, back office, KDS, digital menu, self-service and much more.
It also makes it much easier to run in-depth revenue analyses and build effective strategies to grow. To see how it works in practice, Schedule a free demonstration now!
