Data Mining for the Restaurant Industry

Data mining, also called data discovery, is the process of exploring and analyzing large quantities of data in order to discover meaningful patterns. Many different industries use this tactic to gain a better understanding of their operations; in the hospitality industry, hotels use it to differentiate their best customers and to make more informed revenue management decisions. Conversely, in the restaurant industry, very few operators are aware of or are using this essential information to make decisions, and are not as profitable as a result.

Hospitality Enhanced, a data driven decision-making consultancy, has been created to assist restaurateurs and their managers in utilizing their data to make more informed business decisions. According to the academic paper Data Mining on Time Series, an Illustration using Fast-Food Restaurant Franchise Data, “mining the large amounts of transaction data allows each restaurant to improve its operations management… and product management." The authors were referring to regression analysis, one of the principal tools employed by data mining experts.

For many restaurateurs, this information is not intuitive, and is therefore dismissed as not pertinent in their day-to-day operations. Many owners and managers are not grasping the extent of the paradigm shift that has occurred in this new economy; as a result, beginning in January we will be creating video blogs that introduce data mining techniques to the restaurant industry. Hospitality Enhanced’s goal is to guide the food and beverage industry in comprehending the advantage of fully utilizing the data at their disposal.

Our first video blogs will address the subjects listed below. Since collaboration is one of our key values, we want to know what you, the industry insider, would like to learn about. Please email hospitalityenhanced@gmail.com, or post ideas in the comments below.

-Intro to data mining
-Open source technology and the restaurant industry
-American eating habits and data modeling
-Data visualization and day-to-day operations
-Data and its use in a new (or potential) operation

Data is the new oil; it is time to start using yours to increase profitability.