Drive Revenue Initiative: Analyze Day of Week Trends
Recipe: 5 Minutes + Any Subscription Level
In this initiative, you will:
- Run an Item Sales Report to view trends across individual days of the week
- See how sales trends can be used in your operation
- Automate this activity
The Item Sales Report, also called a Product Mix or PMIX Report, shows you which menu items make up your sales for the selected days. The TREND date format lays out like periods, such as Fridays, side by side for comparison.
Want us to walk you through it step by step? Log into Avero in another tab of your browser, then click this link to launch a pop-up tutorial: Drive Revenue: Analyze Day of Week Trends
Report: Item Sales Report
To see our complete how-to guide for this report: Item Sales Report
Navigate to your Item Sales Report using the navigation pane on the left.
Start by selecting the business you want to analyze and change the date type to Trend.
About the Trend date format
See our complete guide: Trend Reporting
A trend report is used to identify how something is changing over time. This can be very specific (what are people ordering between 4-6 pm on Fridays) or very broad (which of my 7 locations is increasing in labor spend), the point is to understand what is changing and evolving in your restaurant.
Avero's trend reporting can compare entire weeks or months to each other to see high-level changes over seasons, or it can compare specific days of the week or recent weekends to each other.
Select Trend in your date filter.
- A trend of DAYS would be calendar days - 7 Days would show the last 7 Days side by side, with a total and average.
- A specific DAY OF WEEK limits the trend to the day - 7 Mondays would be the last 7 Mondays side by side with averages and totals.
Select 5-7 and a Day of the week to get started.
Explore any other filters you may want to apply, like narrowing down to a specific meal period or choosing different metrics like net sales or item quantity. See all the metrics available in our Metrics Glossary!
View your Day of Week Trend Report
Avero automatically includes contextual information like Weather, Check and Cover Count, and Average Check.
Pin this report to your Dashboard so you can review it at-a-glance to forecast volume and see changes in customer behavior as they are happening.
Pro-tip: You only need to pin this to your dashboard once - no matter which Day you selected, the report will always update to be yesterday's day-of-week on your dashboard. So, if you pin a "Last 7 Mondays" report, it will show the last 7 Mondays, including yesterday on a Tuesday but the last 7 Thursdays, including yesterday, on a Friday!
Create an Action Plan
For a restaurant in most circumstances, a sales report comparing the last 10-12 Days can provide a good idea of rolling sales and small shifts in customer behavior.
This date filter option is available in nearly every sales report so it is a great way to zoom in on recent trends or zoom out on large shifts that may not be discernable in the day-to-day - such as: At what point last fall did the number of customers on Fridays begin to drop off? - when thinking about setting a date to change to winter hours.
A group adding a new restaurant might similarly want to see when the volume for the new location begins to pace with the existing portfolio - the visualization of the trend report is a great way to keep tabs at a glance and can be pinned right to your dashboard!
Tips for building an Action Plan based on trends you may notice:
- Are sales of certain items higher on a particular day of the week? Look for a cause for this increase - does the office building across the street come in for a Tuesday Happy Hour that causes sales of Sliders to increase? Are there free summer concerts in the park on Wednesdays that are causing an increase in To-Go orders?
- Ask your staff about trends you notice - they are speaking directly to your customers and may have insight.
- Look for Sales dips - if the Meatballs are consistently high in popularity Monday-Wednesday but the sales drop heading into the weekend, find out why. Are there weekend specials that distract guests from ordering your staple dish? Are these specials more interesting or profitable and a better sale? If not, consider a weekend special or a promotion to add Meatballs to a table when specials are ordered.
- Notice the impact of Weather - items may shift in popularity based on changes in local weather. When a heat wave hits, you can highlight your selection of Draft Lagers on social media, knowing that your sales of those items increase on days over 80 Degrees - you can also order more product to ensure you don't run out, using data to understand your demand drivers. Cold weather might be a perfect recipe for stewed meat specials or hot cocktails.