Restaurant analytics software for independent restaurants

Restaurant analytics software turns orders into numbers you can act on. Every sale through your till, website, phone line and delivery apps becomes a line in a report: net sales, orders, average order value, sales by channel and hour, best-selling items and repeat customers. Good software does the adding up. The owner’s job is to read a handful of numbers at the right time and change something when they move.

Most independent restaurants already have reports, just too many of them. The POS prints an end of day report. Each delivery app has its own dashboard. Stripe and the card terminal send statements. The accountant produces a profit and loss account weeks after the month ends. None of those agree with each other, and none of them answers the questions an owner asks on a Monday morning: which channel made money, which regulars stopped ordering, and whether last week’s offer paid for itself.

Start with the KPI table, then work through the worked examples with your own figures. For watching the restaurant live from your phone during service, see the restaurant management app guide. For tactics that raise the value of each order, see the average order value guide.

Restaurant analytics software features

Analytics software earns its place by answering specific questions quickly. The table maps the questions owners ask to the report that answers them and the data the report needs.

The data comes from five places: the POS for in-store and phone orders, your own online ordering, the marketplaces, the payment providers, and customer records. Food and labour costs come from a sixth: supplier invoices, stock counts, the rota and payroll.

Where restaurant reports come from

A spreadsheet that combines the first three sources every Monday works, and plenty of owners run one. It takes about an hour a week and breaks the first time someone forgets a day. Software that holds all your own channels in one place removes most of that hour.

Restaurant KPIs

These are the KPIs worth tracking for a restaurant or takeaway with one to five sites. The formulas use net sales excluding VAT unless stated.

The last three come from invoices, stock counts, the rota and payroll. Many POS and ordering systems do not hold that data, so those three are often calculated in a spreadsheet or by the accountant.

Gross sales, net sales and VAT

Reports mean different things by “sales”. Before comparing weeks, systems or your figures with someone else’s, check which definition each report uses.

• Gross sales: the menu value of everything sold, before discounts and refunds.
• Discounts and comps: money taken off, whether by a code, a meal deal price or a staff decision.
• Refunds: money returned after payment.
• Voids: items removed before payment. They do not reduce sales, but a high void count is worth a look.
• Net sales including VAT: gross sales minus discounts and refunds. This is what customers paid for food and drink.
• VAT: the tax inside that figure, which belongs to Revenue or HMRC.
• Net sales excluding VAT: the figure to use for averages, margins and comparisons.
• Service charges and tips: keep them out of net sales, so they do not flatter order value.

Systems label these differently. As one example, Square’s UK help centre defines net sales in its restaurant daily summary as product sales minus returns minus discounts and comps, with a separate total that adds VAT, tips and gift card sales. Other systems include service charges in sales. Read the definitions page for your own reports once, and write them down.

VAT rates on restaurant sales in Ireland

Revenue’s Tax and Duty Manual on restaurant and catering services (last reviewed June 2026) moved restaurant, catering and hot takeaway food from the reduced rate to the second reduced rate on 1 July 2026. Revenue’s current VAT rates page sets the standard rate at 23%, the reduced rate at 13.5% and the second reduced rate at 9%.

Three points from the manual matter for reports. Fruit juice supplied as part of a restaurant service is not on the standard-rate list, but fruit juice with takeaway food is. Delivery services are standard-rated and generally not treated as part of the food supply. For meal deals that combine hot food and a soft drink at one price, the discount should be apportioned between the items at their own VAT rates. Your POS needs each item tagged with the right rate for the sales-by-VAT-rate report to be right, and any report covering June and July 2026 needs the rate change applied on the right date.

VAT rates on restaurant sales in the UK

HMRC’s VAT Notice 709/1 on catering and takeaway food (updated 8 June 2026) sets the UK rules:

HMRC’s tests for hot takeaway food are that it is heated for the purpose of being eaten hot, heated to order, kept hot after heating, supplied in packaging that retains heat, or advertised as hot. The June 2026 update to the notice covered a temporary reduced rate for children’s meals from 25 June to 1 September 2026. Check that any sales in that window were tagged correctly before you compare summer 2026 with other periods.

Worked example: taking VAT out of sales

Example only. The sales figures are illustrative.

Ireland, one week after 1 July 2026:

The maths: €3,270 ÷ 1.09 = €3,000. €615 ÷ 1.23 = €500. Dividing the whole €3,885 by 1.09 instead gives €3,564.22, which overstates net sales by €64.22. A till still set to the old 13.5% rate would take food to €3,270 ÷ 1.135 = €2,881.06, understating food net sales by €118.94 and over-declaring VAT.

UK, one week:

The maths: £3,600 ÷ 1.2 = £3,000. Zero-rated sales have no VAT to remove. Dividing the whole £4,000 by 1.2 gives £3,333.33, which understates net sales by £66.67.

Averages and margins built on the wrong net figure are wrong every week, which is why software should report sales by VAT rate, not a single VAT line.

End of day report

The end of day report closes the day’s trading. Many POS systems call it the Z report, because running it resets the day’s totals; an X report is a reading taken mid-shift without resetting. Whatever the name, it is the first check on whether the day’s money is all there.

End of day report lines

Example only, for an Irish restaurant with dine-in, collection and delivery.

The maths: €2,480.00 − €96.00 − €31.50 = €2,352.50. Drinks of €246.00 including VAT are €246.00 ÷ 1.23 = €200.00, so €46.00 VAT. Food is €2,352.50 − €246.00 = €2,106.50 including VAT, which is €2,106.50 ÷ 1.09 = €1,932.57, so €173.93 VAT. Net sales excluding VAT: €1,932.57 + €200.00 = €2,132.57. Payments: €412.00 + €988.50 + €952.00 = €2,352.50, which matches net sales. Average order value: €2,132.57 ÷ 88 = €24.23.

End of day cash-up steps

1. Close every open bill and complete or cancel every open order.
2. Run the end of day report on the POS.
3. Count the cash drawer, then take out the float.
4. Compare counted cash with expected cash. Record the variance and the reason.
5. Match card sales against the card terminal’s end of day batch total.
6. Match online sales against the online payments report, including refunds issued during the day.
7. Review discounts, refunds and voids by staff member. Ask about anything unusual the next day, not in front of customers.
8. Save the report with the date, in the same place every night.
9. Check for orders taken offline. If the internet dropped during service, confirm that offline orders have synced before trusting the report. Outage planning is covered in the offline POS system guide.

Record keeping in Ireland and the UK

End of day reports, payment statements and sales records are business records. Revenue’s page on how long to keep VAT records says relevant records should be stored for six years, or until any matter at issue is finalised. HMRC’s VAT Notice 700/21 on keeping VAT records says at section 2.4 that you must generally keep business records for VAT purposes for at least six years, and at section 7.12 that businesses accounting for VAT through a retail scheme must keep a digital record of their daily gross takings. Cloud reports help, but keep your own export too, in case you change systems. What a POS should record and export is covered in the restaurant POS guide.

Restaurant sales report by channel

A restaurant sales report by channel shows where orders come from and what each channel leaves after fees. Channels for a typical independent: in-store and phone, your own online ordering for pickup and delivery, and each marketplace.

Worked example: one week by channel

Example only. The order counts, sales and the marketplace commission rate are illustrative. The 25% commission is a placeholder for the maths, not a quoted rate. Real rates depend on your contract and are set out in the Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats commission guide.

An Irish takeaway, one week, all food at 9% VAT:

The maths:

• VAT: €4,360 ÷ 1.09 = €4,000. €2,616 ÷ 1.09 = €2,400. €3,924 ÷ 1.09 = €3,600.
• Own website fees: Stripe’s Irish pricing for standard EEA cards is 1.5% + €0.25 (checked September 2026). 1.5% × €2,616 = €39.24. 96 orders × €0.25 = €24.00. Total €63.24.
• Marketplace fees: 25% placeholder × €3,924 = €981.00. Contracts calculate commission in different ways, including whether VAT is in the base, so check your statement.
• Per order after fees: €2,336.76 ÷ 96 = €24.34. €2,619.00 ÷ 150 = €17.46.
• Direct order share by orders: 96 ÷ (96 + 150) = 39.0%. By sales: €2,616 ÷ (€2,616 + €3,924) = 40.0%.
• Value of moving 20 orders a week: €24.34 − €17.46 = €6.88 more per order. 20 × €6.88 = €137.60 a week, or €7,155.20 over 52 weeks, assuming the moved orders keep the same average value.

UK version of the website line: 90 orders totalling £2,400 including VAT on a standard UK card at Stripe’s UK rate of 1.5% + 20p cost 1.5% × £2,400 = £36.00 plus 90 × £0.20 = £18.00, so £54.00 in fees.

In-store card fees depend on your terminal provider’s rate. Add them from your monthly statement to complete the picture.

What a channel report should show

• Orders, sales including and excluding VAT, and average order value per channel.
• Fees per channel: card fees, commission, marketplace adjustments and refunds.
• Net revenue per order after fees.
• Direct order share, by orders and by sales, as a weekly trend.
• Pickup and delivery split for your own channel.
• New and returning customers for channels where you hold customer records.

Marketplaces are for discovery. The channel report is not a case for leaving them. It shows what each channel costs, so you can put your marketing effort into turning app customers into direct regulars. The step-by-step approach is in the direct orders playbook.

Average order value

Average order value is net sales divided by orders for the same period and channels. It is the fastest way to see whether menu changes, deals and add-ons are working.

From the channel example above:

Channel mix and averages

A total average can fall while every channel’s average rises. Example only:

In week B both channel averages rose by €1.00, but more orders came through the lower-value channel, so the total average fell from €22.50 to €22.36. The maths: 60 × €26 = €1,560 and 160 × €21 = €3,360, so €4,920 ÷ 220 = €22.36. Always read the average by channel before reacting to the total.

Mean and median

One large order can pull the average up. Example only, nine orders in an evening: €12, €14, €15, €18, €19, €22, €24, €26 and a €150 office order. The mean is €300 ÷ 9 = €33.33. The median, the middle order, is €19. If your software shows only the mean, check the largest orders before celebrating a jump.

Items per order

Items per order is items sold divided by orders. It shows whether customers add sides, drinks and desserts. If average order value rises but items per order stays flat, the rise came from prices, not from customers adding more. Tactics for raising both are in the average order value guide.

Repeat customer rate and customer reports

Customer reports show whether people come back. They need orders linked to a customer, usually by phone number, email or account. Cash walk-ins who leave no details cannot be counted, and neither can orders where you do not hold the customer’s contact details, so measure these reports on your own direct channels.

Period length changes the rate. A 30-day repeat rate is always lower than a 90-day rate for the same restaurant. Pick one period and keep it.

Worked example: customer reports

Example only. Figures are illustrative for an Irish takeaway’s direct orders over 90 days.

• Repeat customer rate: 434 of 1,240 identified customers ordered twice or more. 434 ÷ 1,240 = 35.0%.
• Returning within 60 days: 78 of 260 first-time customers in May ordered again within 60 days. 78 ÷ 260 = 30.0%.
• Order frequency: 2,108 orders ÷ 1,240 customers = 1.7 orders per customer per 90 days, or about 6.8 a year.
• Contribution per order: average order €25.00 excluding VAT, which is €27.25 including 9% VAT. Stripe fee 1.5% × €27.25 = €0.41, plus €0.25 = €0.66. Food and packaging at 30% = €7.50. €25.00 − €7.50 − €0.66 = €16.84.
• Customer value per year: €16.84 × 6.8 = €114.51 contribution.

UK version: average order £22.00 excluding VAT, £26.40 including 20% VAT. Stripe fee 1.5% × £26.40 = £0.40, plus 20p = £0.60. Food and packaging at 30% = £6.60. £22.00 − £6.60 − £0.60 = £14.80 per order. × 6.8 orders = £100.64 a year.

That annual figure sets a ceiling. Spending €20 in discounts to win back a regular worth €114.51 a year can make sense. Spending €20 on every customer every month does not.

Customer data problems

• Duplicates: the same person with two phone numbers or a typo in an email.
• Shared numbers: a household or office ordering under one number.
• Changed numbers: a regular who switches phone appears as a new customer.
• Missing phone orders: phone orders typed into the till without the caller’s number.

Caller ID on the POS and a quick “same address as last time” check fix most of these. What to collect and how to keep it lawful is in the restaurant CRM guide. Turning the lapsed customer list into win-back messages is covered in the restaurant marketing software guide, and reward schemes for regulars in the restaurant loyalty programme guide.

Sales by hour and day

Hourly reports decide staffing, prep and driver shifts. Look at orders per 15-minute slot, not only sales per hour, because the kitchen and drivers are limited by orders, not euro.

Example only: a kitchen can send out 12 orders in a 15-minute slot at normal quality. On Friday, the 19:00 to 19:15 slot averages 16 orders over the last four Fridays. Four orders a slot wait for the next slot, those waits push into 19:15 to 19:30, and ticket times grow through the rush. The fixes are operational: prep more before 18:30, start the second driver earlier, or slow online order acceptance in that slot.

What to compare:

• Same weekday against same weekday, never Friday against Tuesday.
• The last four weeks’ average, so one wet Friday or a big match does not drive the rota.
• Paydays and bank holidays marked on the report.
• Quiet slots where a targeted offer could fill capacity without discounting the rush.

Staff rotas and labour cost are covered in the restaurant staff management guide.

Menu item reports

Item reports show what sells. They include units sold, net sales per item, share of total sales, and the modifiers and add-ons chosen with each item.

Example only: 1,120 orders in a month included a main course, and 392 of those also included a side. 392 ÷ 1,120 = 35.0% attach rate.

Item reports show popularity, not profit. Knowing which items make money needs a cost per portion, which comes from recipe costing in a spreadsheet or dedicated costing software. Combining popularity with portion cost is known as menu engineering. Keeping item names, prices and allergen details consistent across channels, so item reports line up, is covered in the restaurant menu management guide.

Costs outside the till

Three of the most important restaurant KPIs need data the till never sees: food cost, labour cost and prime cost. They come from supplier invoices, stock counts, the rota and payroll.

Worked example: food, labour and prime cost

Example only. Hours, stock and sales are illustrative. The wage rates are the statutory minimums, used to show the maths.

Ireland, one week:

• Food cost: opening stock €1,100 + purchases €2,900 − closing stock €1,050 = €2,950. Net sales excluding VAT €9,500. €2,950 ÷ €9,500 = 31.1%.
• Labour cost: 110 paid hours at the national minimum wage of €14.15 an hour, the rate for workers aged 20 and over since 1 January 2026 according to Citizens Information. 110 × €14.15 = €1,556.50. €1,556.50 ÷ €9,500 = 16.4%.
• Prime cost: (€2,950 + €1,556.50) ÷ €9,500 = €4,506.50 ÷ €9,500 = 47.4%.

UK, one week:

• Food cost: £900 + £2,450 − £850 = £2,500. Net sales excluding VAT £8,000. £2,500 ÷ £8,000 = 31.3%.
• Labour cost: 110 paid hours at the National Living Wage of £12.71 an hour, the rate for workers aged 21 and over from 1 April 2026 according to GOV.UK. 110 × £12.71 = £1,398.10. £1,398.10 ÷ £8,000 = 17.5%.
• Prime cost: (£2,500 + £1,398.10) ÷ £8,000 = £3,898.10 ÷ £8,000 = 48.7%.

These labour figures are wages only. Real labour cost adds employer PRSI or employer National Insurance, holiday pay, pension contributions and any rates above the minimum. Ask your accountant or payroll provider for the full cost per hour, and use that figure every time so the percentage is comparable week to week.

Weekly analytics routine

Twenty-five minutes on a Monday morning, before deliveries arrive.

1. Headline numbers (5 minutes). Last week’s net sales excluding VAT, orders and average order value, against the same week last month and, if you have it, last year.
2. Channels (4 minutes). Sales and orders by channel, net revenue per order after fees, and direct order share by orders.
3. Friday and Saturday by slot (3 minutes). Orders per 15-minute slot against kitchen and driver capacity.
4. Discounts, refunds and voids (3 minutes). Totals and rates, then the breakdown by staff member.
5. Items (3 minutes). Top ten items, any item with refunds, and attach rate on your main add-on.
6. Customers (4 minutes). New customers, returning customers, and the lapsed list. Check that win-back and review request automations ran.
7. Marketing (2 minutes). Extra orders and net gain from last week’s campaign against its comparison group.
8. One decision (1 minute). Write down one change and the number you will check next Monday to judge it.

Once a month, add repeat customer rate, returning within 60 days, order frequency, food cost, labour cost and prime cost, and check sales by VAT rate before the VAT return.

Once a day, after close, look at four numbers only: net sales, orders, refunds and cash variance.

Analytics set-up checklist

• Every item has the right VAT rate for Ireland or the UK, with the 1 July 2026 Irish change applied.
• Every channel is set up as its own channel, including phone orders.
• Discount reasons are required on the POS, and discounts are tied to staff logins.
• Refund reasons are required.
• Phone orders capture the caller’s number.
• Marketplace statements are entered or imported weekly, with commission shown.
• Card terminal fees from the monthly statement are added to the channel report.
• Definitions of gross and net sales in your system are written down.
• End of day reports are saved every night, with a separate export kept for six years.
• Weekly routine is in the diary at a fixed time.

Restaurant analytics software comparison

Most restaurants choose analytics as part of a POS or ordering platform rather than as a separate product. Compare options against what an owner needs to see, not the number of charts.

A separate analytics tool can suit a group with several brands, a finance person, and systems that already connect. A single-site owner usually gets more from reports built into the system that takes the orders.

Questions to ask about restaurant analytics software

1. How does your report define gross sales and net sales, and does net sales include service charges or tips?
2. Can I see sales by VAT rate, and were Irish rates updated for 1 July 2026?
3. Are in-store, phone, website pickup, website delivery and each marketplace shown as separate channels?
4. Can reports show net revenue per order after card fees and commission?
5. How are customers identified, and how do you handle duplicates?
6. Which repeat customer and order frequency reports are included, and over what periods?
7. Do orders taken offline appear in reports once the connection returns?
8. Can I see discounts, refunds and voids by staff member?
9. Can I export raw order data, and in what format?
10. Can I see the key numbers on my phone?
11. What data do I keep if I leave, and for how long can I still access it?

Common reporting mistakes

• Comparing different definitions. One system’s net sales includes service charges and another’s does not.
• Averages including VAT. Mixed VAT rates distort every average.
• One VAT rate for everything. Food and drinks sit at different rates in both countries.
• Judging the total average only. Channel mix can hide a rise in every channel.
• Ignoring fees in channel reports. Sales look similar; money kept does not.
• Comparing Friday with Tuesday. Compare like with like.
• Reacting to one day. Weather, matches and paydays swing daily figures.
• Repeat rate on all orders. Orders without customer details cannot repeat in the data, so the rate looks lower than it is.
• No record of decisions. Without a note of what changed and when, next month’s numbers explain nothing.

Eclyde analytics and reports

Eclyde is the restaurant growth platform for independent restaurants in Ireland and the UK. POS, online ordering, delivery, customers, loyalty and marketing sit in one system, so their orders land in the same place.

• Sales dashboard and AI insights.
• End-of-day reports on the POS.
• Incoming-order and live-order screens, and driver assignment, on the POS.
• Caller ID on incoming phone calls, which helps link phone orders to customer records.
• Customer profiles with order history and insights: who your customers are, what they order, how often, and their favourite items. The restaurant owns this data.
• Offline-capable POS that keeps taking orders during an internet outage and syncs to the cloud when the connection returns.
• Mobile management, to monitor and control the restaurant from anywhere.
• Loyalty, referral rewards and discount codes, all in the same system as the orders.

Eclyde does not do stock or inventory control, recipe costing or food cost reports. Food cost, labour cost and prime cost still come from your supplier invoices, stock counts and payroll. A restaurant that needs those inside the same system should look at products built for them, using the questions above.

Pricing is €499 to launch, which covers menu build, website and ordering set-up, POS and printer configuration, customer import, staff onboarding, testing and go-live support. It is refunded in full within 30 days if Eclyde is not right for the restaurant. After that it is €99 a month for the whole platform, with no Eclyde commission on direct orders and no limits on orders or customers. See the pricing page.

Your restaurant’s numbers

Pull last week’s figures before you look at any software: net sales excluding VAT, orders, average order value by channel, direct order share and refunds. If finding them takes longer than 15 minutes, your reporting is the first thing to fix. Then run the free Eclyde restaurant audit for a view of where your restaurant stands online before you change any system. Bring your weekly numbers with you, and use the Monday routine above every week afterwards.