Think You Know Your Restaurant Sales? Read This and Think Again.

From the Desk of Jonathan Lim, Founder & CEO of Oddle

Your POS tells you what you earned.

It doesn’t tell you why.

Most restaurants track revenue.

Very few know what it’s trying to tell them.

So when a restaurant owner asks,

“How can I grow my sales?”

I don’t give them a hack. I ask a better question:

“Do you know your revenue signals?”

Because growth doesn’t start with effort.

It starts with clarity.

The Two Types of Signals That Matter

Every restaurant has two types of signals flowing through it:

1. The signals your customers see, even before they step in.
2. The signals you should be watching, that shape how you operate.

Let’s start with the first.

1. What Customers See (Before They Even Taste Your Food)

You don’t get to make a first impression when someone walks in.

That decision was made long before—on maps, online listings, or someone’s Instagram story.

These are the signals that drive attention, trust, and curiosity—long before a plate hits the table.

💬 Google Maps ≠ Just Directions

Before a customer sees your food, they’ve already seen your star rating.

And whether you like it or not, they’re comparing you—by the numbers.

This is your Visibility Test.

The higher you rank, the more likely you are to get picked.

No one scrolls to page two. They just pick what looks good—and popular.

And here’s the harsh truth:

Customers don’t care if you’re new.

You don’t get extra time to build credibility. You’re already being compared.

🧭 What to do:

Step 1: Know where you stand.

• Search for your cuisine nearby and citywide.
• Who’s leading in your area (within 2km)?
• Who owns the category nationally?

Step 2: Aim for the magic number—1000 reviews.

That’s when customers start perceiving you as “established.”

It creates instant trust—even if they’ve never heard of you.

If you’re starting from scratch:

• A restaurant doing 6,000–10,000 covers/month can realistically get 10 reviews/day.
• That’s 300/month, hitting 1,000 reviews in just 3–4 months.

Step 3: Sprint now. System later.

• Use QR prompts, table toppers, and team scripts.
• Incentivize internally (e.g. mention staff in reviews = reward).
• Long-term target: 50–100 new reviews/month to maintain visibility.

You’re not just competing for food.

You’re competing for attention.

And attention flows to the most visible.

📸 Social Proof Isn’t Luck—It’s Designed

Most restaurants treat Instagram tags and buzz like random blessings.

But the truth is—social media signals are built, not wished for.

If you want consistent eyeballs, you need two things:

A big fire to start the hype, and steady fuel to keep it burning.

🔥 1. The Big Fire — Launch Like You Mean It

Whether it’s a new location, new menu, or seasonal dish—you only get one shot to make people care.

Think of it like building a campfire.

If you don’t stack the wood right, it won’t catch—even if you pour gasoline on it.

👉 Set up your launch right:

• Signature Offering — What’s the dish people have to post?
• Defined Audience — Who are you trying to reach? Foodies? Office crowd? Families?
• Launch Hook — Why now? What promo or story makes this timely?

Then, strike the match:

• Host a preview session for media, influencers, and food reviewers.
• Work with a professional PR team. It’s often worth every dollar.

You don’t get many second chances with a new launch.

Do it once. Do it well. Then let others carry the story forward.

🔥 2. The Slow Burn — Stay on Their Mind

Once the launch buzz fades, that’s when the real work begins.

Eyeballs are earned, not owed.

Not every restaurant has the luxury of organic virality. Most have to create their own momentum.

👉 Keep the fire going:

• Shortlist 10–20 micro food influencers who fit your brand.
• Invite 1–2 each week. No big event—just a personal, intentional touchpoint.
• Show appreciation: repost, engage, and spotlight the people who spotlight you.

It’s not about going viral.

It’s about showing up—again and again—in the feed.

Being “active on Instagram” isn’t about what you post.

It’s about how many others are posting about you.

Set the fire. Keep feeding it.

Visibility isn’t luck. It’s system design.

2. The Signals You Should Be Watching (But Probably Aren’t)

Once a customer walks in, these are the signals you need to be watching—and acting on.

Most restaurants read revenue like a scoreboard.

The smart ones read it like a playbook.

Let’s talk about the data behind the decisions.

🕐 Signal: Demand Timing, Not Just Volume

“We’re busy” is not the same as “We’re optimized.”

One restaurant we worked with swore they were “slammed” for lunch.

But when we broke down the data, 70% of orders landed between 12:30–1:00pm.

That’s not demand. That’s congestion.

We ran a “Free Drink Before 12pm” promo—targeted to early bookers.

The result? 20% more covers, without increasing staff.

🧭 What to do:

Spread the demand, don’t just survive it.

• Chart your order volume in 15-minute blocks.
• Identify the spike—and run “beat the crowd” rewards to shift traffic earlier.
• Target existing early-bird bookers. These customers are creatures of habit—and they’ll bring others.

Then—work on lifting the peak.

• Send your menu ahead to those with reservations.
• Let customers pre-order if they’re in line.
• Help them decide faster, so your kitchen can turn faster.

The idea of sitting down, browsing, and ordering?

Great if your ASP is $80.

If not—speed is revenue.

You’re not here to handle the rush.

You’re here to shape it.

🔁 Signal: First-Time vs Repeat Ratio

90% of diners don’t come back.

Not because the food was bad.

But because no one gave them a reason to return.

So if you only have one shot—make it count.

🧭 What to do:

Step 1: Make the first visit unforgettable.

• Identify your hero dish—the one that turns a casual diner into a fan.
• Recommend it. Design your menu around it.
• You’re not trying to impress with variety—you’re trying to create a memory.

Step 2: Trigger the return journey immediately.

• Issue a return voucher before they leave—printed on the receipt or sent digitally via Oddle Loyalty.
• Most restaurants wait until after the visit. By then, it’s too late.
• Front-load the message:

Step 3: Follow up at the 7-day mark.

Our data shows that 7 days is the sweet spot—just as the memory fades, but before the habit breaks.

• Send a message:
• Make it feel personal, not automated.

You don’t need to hope for loyalty.

You need to design for it.

🧾 Signal: Menu Design Can Mislead You

Think your top-selling dish is your best dish?

Or did you just put it in the top-left corner?

Data reflects design.

And if your menu isn’t intentional, your signals will lie to you.

🧭 What to do:

Step 1: Accept that layout drives choice.

• Items placed in the top-left or center of your menu almost always sell more—purely because of where they’re located. It’s a design bias, not a reflection of customer preference.

Step 2: Push the right items.

• Choose 2–3 hero dishes.
• Use boxes, labels, icons—whatever catches the eye.
• Test rotating positions and track impact.

Step 3: Read in context.

• Don’t just trust your sales data.
• Compare it against what staff recommend, what customers review, and what feedback says.

Menus aren’t lists. They’re behavioral blueprints.

Design accordingly.

🤔 Signal: Gut Feel vs Ground Truth

Your gut says the beef rendang is a hit.

The data says your lunch set is outselling it 5 to 1.

Which one are you building your ops around?

🧭 What to do:

Step 1: Run a weekly gut check.

• Top 3 bestsellers
• Bottom 3 flops
• % of returning diners
• Google review growth (in volume and sentiment—what customers are actually saying)

Ask: Does this align with what I believe? Or is it telling me something new?

Step 2: Zoom in, zoom out.

• Macro trends = dashboards
• Micro truths = customer-level behavior

Step 3: Let data shape your gut.

Instinct matters.

But great operators know when to challenge it.

The job isn’t to prove you’re right.

It’s to build a business that keeps getting better.

Final Thought: Stats Report the Past. Signals Shape the Future.

Most restaurants obsess over revenue.

The best ones obsess over the behavior behind it.

So ask yourself:

• What’s my actual peak time—and can I stretch it?
• What % of my diners return—and how soon?
• Am I chasing numbers—or shaping them?

If you don’t know, that’s your first signal.

At Oddle, we help restaurants read these signals—and act on them.

Because once you know how to see the story in your sales,

you won’t just chase growth.

You’ll create it.

Because growth doesn’t start with effort.

It starts with clarity.