How does Big Data Affect the F&B Industry?

Like the latest Michelin Star restaurants, big data is a hot topic in the Food and Beverage industry. But what exactly is big data and how is it impacting restaurants, bars and cafes alike?

According to Merriam Webster, big data is “an accumulation of data that is too large and complex for processing by traditional database management tools”. In a nutshell, big data makes sense of large data sets containing insights and information.

Restaurants can leverage this data to evaluate performance, understand customers, track competitors and analyze the market. Pair big data with artificial intelligence (AI) and you have a combination more epic than peanut butter and jelly!

Your customers are your best data source

Look no further, your business is already sitting on infinite amounts of data. Your customers are writing reviews and sharing photos and videos on TripAdvisor, Facebook, The Fork, Yelp, Google, Instagram and more! By aggregating and analyzing this information, you can deeply and objectively understand your restaurant and discover the dining experience from your customer’s point of view.

Perhaps your restaurant's food is sensational, but the staff are rude and the line to get in takes over an hour leading to many unhappy customers. Or conversely, maybe the waiters are incredibly friendly, but the food always arrives cold? Examining online content allows you to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of your restaurant.

Optimize your strategies, data paves the way!

Restaurateurs, café owners, bar managers… What’s on your menu tonight? Does it change? How do you determine the daily specials? Who are your most popular customers? Most satisfied?

By combining AI and big data, uncover customer sentiment, preferences and demographics, as well as competitor insights, pricing and market trends.

Define if your customers are mostly Italian families, German couples, British business travelers, American retirees or Chinese millennials. By extracting the most granular details about your customers, you can set your offers and pricing accordingly.

Enhance your offer: the Travel Appeal solution

CP Hotels Verona, a small Italian hotel group and restaurant, uncovered that, though their food was good, the visual presentation was leading to negative feedback online.

“According to the data of Travel Appeal, an area that generated criticism was breakfast. We made simple adjustments: changing the arrangement of food, improving the presentation, introducing a couple of new products and voila! The results of the reviews were visibly improved. The same pastries that were once criticized were now appreciated. Our guests now emphasize the variety and quality of our breakfast. (Customer Success Story: CP Hotels Verona)

With big data and artificial intelligence, discover exactly what each customer has to say, down to the last detail.

Download our latest eBook, Taking a bite out of big data: The Future of the Food & Beverage Industry to learn the top tips and tricks for your restaurant, bar or cafe.