Forecasting, Simplified
Restaurant forecasting is complex and it’s easy to make mistakes. As a restaurant owner you’re already dealing with technology disruption, changes in consumer preferences, and the rising cost of labor. Accurately predicting performance is more important than ever. How can technology improve your forecasting process?
Anticipating store sales is crucial to the overall success of your business. Forecasting gives you more control over the decisions you make about business operations. How many people do you need to work? How much product should you order for next week?
Forecasting is best done by using your historical sales to predict what you’ll do in the future. Starting with that baseline, different factors will affect whether you think you’ll make more money or less money than you did last year.
- Are your sales trending up or down on average?
- How’s the weather?
- Have you had any significant staffing changes?
- Is there a holiday or a planned event near your location?
Next, you need to be scheduling based on how much you expect to in sales. It is crucial that you forecast to the hour and schedule accordingly. If 3pm is typically a slow time for your store, you don’t need to have a bunch of staff on hand.
The next, and perhaps most important step, is sharing your sales goals with your staff. Break your goals down into micro goals that motivate your crew at any point in the day. Daily and hourly goals help crew focus on exactly what they need to do in the next 30 or 45 minutes.
How are you forecasting? What factors do you consider when increasing or decreasing your sales goals? We want to hear from you! Email us at support@zignyl.com and let’s chat.
Interested in learning more about zignyl’s forecasting solution. Schedule a few minutes with a brand ambassador and we’ll walk you through it.