How to Use Data in Your Restaurant POS System to Drive Traffic

Running a restaurant on instinct might feel exciting, but it’s risky. Your gut can help you make quick decisions, but data is the co-pilot that prevents food cost and labor chaos.

Continue reading or watch the video above to learn how to use your restaurant POS system to uncover problems, boost sales and increase profitability — because feelings don’t pay the bills, facts do.

Why using data in your POS system matters

Even if you’re not a “numbers person,” your POS reports can expose issues long before they become expensive problems. With the right tracking, you can identify:

• Sales trends
• Labor inefficiencies
• Cash flow leaks

If you want to drive traffic and improve restaurant profitability, start by tracking these five key POS metrics every week.

Prime cost

Prime cost is the combined total of your cost of goods sold (COGS) and labor cost, including taxes and benefits.

Target benchmarks:

• $850,000+ in annual gross sales: 55% or lower
• Approaching $2–3 million: 50% or lower

You can hit these targets without cutting quality, guest satisfaction or your core values. The golden rule applies here: That which we measure improves.

Cost of goods sold by category

Don’t lump everything together. Break down your COGS into categories such as:

• Food
• Bottled beer
• Draft beer
• Wine
• Liquor
• Merchandise

For example, if your overall COGS is 35%, you can’t tell where the problem lies. But if bottled beer should run at 25% and you’re at 30%, you know exactly where to focus your efforts.

Labor cost by position

Generic “front of house” and “back of house” labels aren’t enough. Break it down by specific positions.

If prep labor is 4% of sales when it should be 1.5–2%, you’ve found the issue. This level of detail allows you to optimize scheduling and reduce labor costs without hurting service quality.

Daily sales and guest counts

Use your POS data to track both sales and guest counts:

• Are sales trending up or down?
• If sales are steady but guest counts are falling, could it be pricing, marketing, service or cleanliness?

Sometimes high-priced specials hide a drop in guest visits. Spot the trend early and fix it before it hurts long-term traffic.

Voids and discounts

POS data can highlight training issues and operational problems:

• Voids often mean staff entered orders incorrectly
• Discounts may point to burned food, long ticket times or poor service

Monitoring these daily lets you address issues before they affect customer satisfaction.

Use your POS system to detect theft

Your restaurant POS system is one of the best tools for spotting theft.

POS reports to watch:

• No sale report – Flags suspicious voids and deletes that may indicate cash theft
• Transfer report – Reveals when items are moved between tickets, a common theft tactic
• Comp report – Every comp should have manager approval; patterns can signal theft or procedural issues

By reviewing these reports daily and cross-checking with cameras, you can stop losses fast.

Train managers to be analysts, not babysitters

Empower your managers to read POS reports, understand your P&L, forecast labor and spot red flags. Data-driven managers are essential to improving restaurant profitability. 

Your gut got you here — data will set you free

Start with one POS report this week. Act on what you find, repeat the process and you’ll quickly gain control of your numbers, reduce costs and drive more restaurant traffic.