MarketMan

Reusing the same menu design may seem like a way to be consistent & save time...

But that means you're most likely missing out on the 💸 profit-potential 💸 of a strategically designed menu.

Get the full menu-design rundown over on the blog + max out the value of every single page!

https://www.marketman.com/blog/restaurant-menu-design-best-practices-to-drive-sales

Spending $100's monthly on flyers, an SEO-optimized website, and online ads might seem essential for drawing patrons to your restaurant...

(Our guide on improving your restaurant's website also agrees)

But driving clicks to your menu is just the beginning

Turning those clicks into profit is where it really counts.

Without a high-performing menu, your marketing efforts could fall short.

That's where restaurant inventory technology comes in, helping you:
> Monitor menu item performance
> Identify profit-draining gaps
> Track supplier price changes actively

It’s how MarketMan users have slashed their COGS by 2-5%! 💸

Going from 1 to multiple locations is a big step. Here's what you need to know so you can scale successfully.

https://www.marketman.com/blog/scaling-success-a-guide-to-restaurant-accounting-for-enterprises

What's one of the largest contributors to the 17% of restaurants that fail in their first year?

Not being able to make more than what they spend per meal.

Calculating your break-even point not only helps you pinpoint the revenue needed to cover your expenses but also guides you in allocating your money wisely.

Discover more in our "all-you-need-to-know" break-even analysis guide — your essential tool for financial management in the restaurant industry.

👉 Dive deep into this critical restaurateur skillset on our blog!

🔗 www.marketman.com/blog/restaurant-break-even-analysis

Restaurant Break-Even Analysis Explained: All You Need to Know | MarketMan | Restaurant Inventory Management Calculating your break-even point is a key figure in the operations of your restaurant and refers to the amount of revenue required to cover the total fixed and variable expenses accrued during a particular time period. Here’s everything you need to know about conducting a restaurant break-even an...

Don't sleep on the profit-maximizing power of your menu design. 😴💸

PS - Discover all 8 must-haves on the blog ⬇️

🔗 www.marketman.com/blog/restaurant-menu-design-best-practices-to-drive-sales

7 cost-effective strategies to transform your outdoor space into an inviting summer hotspot 😎⬇️

Prep Your Patio: a good clean goes a long way

Comfort is Key: prioritize shade & keep your guests and staff protected from the heat

Design Visuals: create ambiance with low-budget outdoor lighting options

Service: keep staff happy with breathable uniforms, good shoes, & mobile tech

Summer Menu Design: offer refreshing specials that are quick to prepare and enhance the outdoor experience

Scheduling Staff: leverage your historical sales data & trends to craft more accurate staffing schedules

Outdoor Entertainment: games & live music significantly enhances your restaurant's appeal

Get the full how-to for making the most of the sunny season. ☀️💸

https://www.marketman.com/blog/low-budget-outdoor-restaurant-design-ideas-to-increase-sales-this-patio-season

There are 3 simple ways MarketMan reduces food waste by an average of 4% 💸 ⬇️

1. Detailed analytics that empower you to make faster & smarter COGS-reducing decisions.

2. Powerful suggestive ordering that forecasts demand, reduces food waste, and maximizes profitability.

3. Ingredient breakdowns for every menu item so you can quickly & easily identify your least or most profitable items with confidence.

What would your restaurant do with 4% more profit?

Possible sneak peek into 2025: fast-food dynamic pricing?

Wendy's will be shaking up the fast-food industry with surge pricing experiments next year.

But not in the way you might think. 🤔

Rather than bumping up menu prices during peak times, Wendy's is looking to drive more traffic by providing more "value" during slower periods.

This isn't new to the food industry – think happy hour and early-bird specials.

It is new to the *fast-food* industry & incorporates AI with suggestive selling based on factors like weather.

What do you think about dynamic pricing for the fast-serve industry? Will Wendy's see success & others will follow? Is it a good strategy for generating more revenue?

Read the full article from The Week: https://theweek.com/business/wendys-dynamic-pricing
Photo by Batu Gezer on Unsplash

The inventory you order either generates revenue or becomes waste.

How can you ensure your business profits from your orders rather than wasting them?

Enter: Suggestive Ordering

MarketMan's Suggestive Ordering is the *inventory superpower* you won't know how you lived without, because with it you’re:

👉 Making informed strategic decisions that optimize inventory & lower COGS
👉 Accurately forecasting menu item demand and creating more accurate orders
👉 Reducing food waste by eliminating over-ordering
👉 Increasing customer satisfaction by ensuring high-demand items are available
👉 Spending a lot less time calculating and ordering inventory

& the best part? The system is constantly learning and tweaking based on your data, so it's always up-to-date.

This is the kind of feature you need to see for yourself 👀

In case a restaurant owner somewhere needs to hear this: just because you're experiencing high COGS right now, doesn't mean it's too late to turn things around 💚

Reviewing supplier agreements, optimizing menu prices, and minimizing waste are all small changes that can lead to significant improvements.

6 ideas to INCREASE restaurant sales on Father's Day...

(PS - Father's Day falls on Sunday, June 16th this year which isn't far away)

Create a special menu: steaks, burgers, BBQ are popular & profitable! Fixed price or special discounts are both great options.

Dads eat for FREE: an offer that's hard to resist!

Gift card promotions: offer a bonus gift card or discounts on future visits when customers buy a certain amount in gift cards.

Social media promotions: create buzz about your special event for weeks leading up to the day & more people will come

A special event: turn it into an event with start times, pricing details and special menus, or hold a meat raffle so guests are eligible to win free stuff

Father's Day brunch: some dads just prefer brunch!

Need some creative inspiration? Check out the examples we've included in the blog:

Six Ideas to Increase Restaurant Sales on Father’s Day | MarketMan | Restaurant Inventory Management From crafting special menus to harnessing the power of social media promotions, discover how you can make Father's Day a record-breaking event for your food and beverage business.

The Dolar Shop streamlined their 50+ international restaurant operations with MarketMan & love this feature...

"Our favorite feature of the receiving function is that you can see price changes for all of our ordered items"

Food cost? Labor cost? Prime cost? COGS?

Not tracking any of it? We got a free spreadsheet template with your name on it: https://www.marketman.com/resources/restaurant-profit-and-loss-template

Calculating COGS without taking inventory seems simple enough...

But it leads to inaccurate numbers that may keep you in profit-draining practices.

Luckily, having visibility of what's coming through your doors & being served to the guests makes it possible to control your revenue.

How?

When you track something digitally – even if it's just in a spreadsheet at first – you uncover trends & insights you didn't have before.

You can make data-driven decisions, like which items to increase, decrease, re-source, or get rid of all together.

You bring a whole new lens to your menu and discover how it can drive more profit without sacrificing quality.

Suddenly you've gone from theoretical to ACTUAL in your thinking and that's a VERY powerful way to approach sales & growth.

Get started with a simple inventory tracking spreadsheet: www.marketman.com/resources/restaurant-inventory-sheet-template

OR book a demo to witness how transformative it can be inside of MarketMan @ www.marketman.com 👀

There's really only one way to ride the cash flow rollercoaster...

1 word: budgeting!

So you aren't overspending in "good" months.
So you're keeping enough cash reserves to operate through "bad" months or minimum wage changes.

& it doesn't have to be fancy or intricate either.
A well-kept spreadsheet can help you get the job done, so we've put together a little freebie template to get you started.

https://www.marketman.com/resources/restaurant-budget-spreadsheet-template

NEW *PRODUCT FEATURE* ALERT 🔔 >> Restaurant Operators, you're going to want to hear this...

Stuck having annoying duplicates every time you add a new inventory item? 😩

Frustrated by the inaccuracy of inventory reports that don't reflect real opening and closing inventory counts for specific periods? 😡

You asked and we listened with 1️⃣ Automated Inventory Merging Feature for new items and 2️⃣ Automated zero counts for new items in reporting.

1️⃣ When you add a new inventory item, MarketMan's algorithm will suggest opportunities to merge with existing items. Drill into all the existing purchase options and recipes the existing item is in, and decide how to move forward in just a few clicks.

2️⃣ MarketMan now automatically places a zero in opening inventory counts for new items that were added during a report's selected time range. This means your reports reflect the most accurate data right from the start! (PS, this is for report calculations only – it won't be applied as a real inventory count)

How many duplicate inventory items do you have right now? 😫

Adding a new inventory item doesn't automatically mean its "new" so why is it such a painful exercise to merge?

This has been a pain point for restaurants ALWAYS, so we've added an algorithm to MarketMan to FIX IT.

Adding a new item but it a similar item already exists? MarketMan will let you know, and then make suggestions for how to merge it.

Even better? You can dive into the suggested merge options to look at the number of purchase options it has and the recipes it's in, so you can confidently decide whether to:

➝ add the new item as an additional purchase option to an existing one
➝ OR... keep it as a separate item

It's as simple as that! In just a few clicks, your reports become more accurate, you remove all those annoying duplicates, your inventory is super organized, and your systems are dripping with EFFICIENCY. ⚡️

"I run a small chain of restaurants. As we've grown, its gotten much harder to keep track of our COGS" 🤯

This is why our customers are leaving comments about MarketMan on Reddit.

The more locations you have in the software, the more data you generate, and the more clarity you get into the *real* numbers of your business. (PS: That's how Taco Del Mar lowered its average COGS across 3 locations by 3%!! 😮)

There is power in numbers in the food service business – when every dollar counts and COGS is critically important.

The best part? To start generating data and benefiting from these in-depth reports, you actually have to do less. 😅

Scanning invoices, inventory counts, expense tracking, vendor management – it gets to be easy and automated.

COGS is constantly updated based on your POS sales, recipes, inventory, expenses, invoices, and vendor payments for real-time reporting.

MarketMan can notify you when COGS reaches a certain limit so you don't have to constantly be nose-deep in the numbers.

So yeah, MarketMan 100% 💯

"His commitment to driving value across partnerships makes him an invaluable asset"

NEW *PRODUCT FEATURE* ALERT 🔔 >> Managing your Commissary (+ ordering from one) just got EASIER 😅

Want your customers to decide how and when to get their deliveries?

Starting to offer next-day delivery for orders placed before noon?

Restaurant operators want to be specific about their preferred delivery time, and Commissaries want to make ordering from them the best experience possible.

Enter the Commissary Delivery Policy feature!

Commissaries can list out multiple delivery options for customers to choose from like delivery day, delivery time, cut-off day, cut-off time, alert day, and alert time.

By setting specific delivery options, Commissaries can offer quick-action incentives like next-day delivery for orders placed before noon! Everybody wins with this handy new feature! 🥳

Are you or your company coming to the National Restaurant Association show in 5 DAYS? 🥳

Keep your eyes out for Connor Reap, Savanna Clouse, Kristen Prince, Tessa Dickinson, and Taigh Panzer and come say hi! ⬇️

Hang out with fellow industry experts and catch up on all the latest restaurant trends and technology in one conference? *Signs up immediately* ✅
Calendars? Marked. ✅
Bags? Packed. ✅

MarketMan is heading to Chicago for the National Restaurant Association Show!

Meet our team May 18-21, 2024 in Chicago’s McCormick Place to chat all things restaurant tech.

Deep dish pizza and even deeper chats about the power of restaurant software? What more could we possibly ask for? 🍕

Keep your eyes peeled for their smiling faces and come say hi 👋

Dear Friends of Meal Ticket,

I want to take a moment to address the recent tragic events in Israel and extend our heartfelt support and solidarity for our MarketMan team located in this region. Over the last two years, we have worked hard at integrating the MarketMan team into the Meal Ticket family, and during that time, we’ve become close with our teammates there. Many of us have been fortunate enough to visit in person and see firsthand what an incredible culture and beautiful country Israel is.

The terror attacks and continued violence over this past week have been nothing short of shocking, terrifying, and tragic. I am saddened to witness the impact of these atrocities to our friends and teammates and their families.

At Meal Ticket, we believe in standing by our team members during difficult times, and we are committed to supporting our colleagues in Israel as they face unprecedented challenges. As the conflict continues to impact the daily lives of our team members, their well-being and safety remain our top priority. We are actively working to ensure they have the support and resources they need during these trying times. Our team in Israel is not alone; as a company we are committed to providing support, both professionally and personally, to see them through this.

I am further encouraged and humbled by the resilience of our teammates there. Many of our friends have been called up to active military duty or have proactively volunteered to aid in the recovery and protection of their country and their people. Their actions and their bravery in the face of this tragedy are inspiring.

I also want to acknowledge and thank our private equity partner, PSG, for being supportive in our efforts, and for their generous large donation to the Magen David Adom to support life saving efforts on the ground.

Our team in Israel has always been a source of innovation and excellence, contributing to our mission of delivering exceptional products and services to our customers. Their dedication and hard work have been instrumental in our success, and we are immensely proud of the work they do.

During these times, we as a company continue to stress the strength of our global community and the resilience of our team. Together, we will navigate through these difficulties and emerge stronger than ever. We will continue to support our people there and condemn any further acts of terror that are brought upon them.

We firmly stand in unwavering support and solidarity with our team and our friends in Israel and all those affected by the situation.

Sincerely,
Wink Jones
CEO, Meal Ticket

10 days away!

MarketMan will be exhibiting at the National Restaurant Association Show, May 20-23 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

We will be featuring exclusive promotional offers, an interactive scavenger hunt with our various different partners, and more.

If you will be attending, please stop by Booth #6064 in the Tech Pavilion to get in on the action and see why MarketMan is the best at what we do: Helping restaurants save time, increase profits, and decrease waste.

See you soon!

So you want to open your own restaurant. What do you do first?🤔

There’s a lot involved in creating your own restaurant, from making a business plan and choosing the right equipment, to understanding your metrics and numbers.

👉 Check out these 9 steps before you open your doors: https://www.marketman.com/blog/7-things-you-need-before-opening-a-restaurant-business/
👉 Find out which tools your restaurant needs here: https://www.marketman.com/blog/food-service-equipment-what-you-need-in-your-kitchen/
👉 Learn how you can use metrics your way here: https://www.marketman.com/blog/10-restaurant-metrics/

Is your restaurant inventory taking too much time to manage?

Luckily, you can manage it in four simple steps!

Learn how with a FREE inventory tracking template.

Take control of your restaurant’s inventory today: https://www.marketman.com/blog/managing-inventory-restaurant-template/

The restaurant industry is changing every day.

Some of the year’s most popular restaurant trends include:
🚗 Delivery options
📒 Menu changes
📱 New tech

Learn how these trends are changing the game this year: https://www.marketman.com/blog/restaurant-trends/