Every venue owner wants to increase sales, and it can be a struggle to get more people in the door. If you don’t measure the right things, you can’t identify some of the ‘low-hanging fruit’ that can increase every customer’s spending and future sales. Average Customer Spending (ACS) in real life is usually less than people think it is, if they even guess.
Think about when you were at a cafe and wanted a second coffee, but there were no staff to take your order – so you spent $4 instead of $8. Or you wanted to finish a meal with dessert, but it wasn’t suggested and you ran out of time. Were the business owners even aware of the sales they missed out on?
What can happen when you increase Average Customer Spend
We’ve seen people increase their ACS by at least 20% when they understand how it works, use it to identify weaknesses and work on improvements. You can do that too – minimum!
That’s like going from $20K per week to $24K per week with exactly the same number of customers – nice!
You’ve probably got the numbers you need to work out ACS, but haven’t been using them in the right way.
Even people who ‘don’t like numbers’ can find this exciting – who doesn’t want extra cash?!
How to work out Average Customer Spend
1. Understand what ACS consists of:
It’s one of the 5 key numbers we emphasise at Foodie Coaches (Sales, ACS, Cost of Goods, Labour Costs and Overheads).
If you have the same menu and the same type of customers, ACS won’t vary much week by week, even if you have fewer or more customers than usual – it’s an average.
It includes everyone you serve – the woman who has one coffee, and the man who has 2 coffees, lunch and a juice. Don’t leave out anyone.
By tracking it every week, you can pick up sales problems or improvements immediately and take action (or congratulate yourself on the improvement).
2. Count the number of customers, not just transactions
Unless you’re a busy takeaway, it’s easy to record actual customer numbers when orders are placed.
Make this a compulsory declaration for each POS order, or on your ordering App.
If you just count transactions i.e. number of bills issued, the average will vary widely eg consider two transactions: a table of one person and a table of 4 people – the should be counted as 5 customers, not 2!
Check if your POS reports show an average using transactions or customers – many do it the wrong way!
If you have a busy takeaway, try and do a head count on one or two typical hours, and use that to get a good estimate of ACS.
3. Split up your ACS to discover more opportunities
Let’s say your ACS at a BYO Italian restaurant is $60 per head
When you divide up total sales into separate totals for beverage, food and desserts, you discover that the per-head spend for desserts is only $2, even though all your desserts cost $16!
That means you’re only selling desserts to one in 8 people – how come?? Problem leads to solution because now you know the truth.
It’s a bit like Strike Rates, which we talked about in an earlier blog article
4. Use ACS to identify sales and menu weakness
Stay with the example of the under-performing dessert sales – why is it happening?
Either it’s menu weakness, or a problem with how staff are selling.
The menu might need to be redesigned, or a better selection of desserts offered for the type of customers you have. Easy to improve!
If there’s a problem with staff selling, that calls for coaching, better scripts, possible bonuses, and how it’s handled in the sequence of service. This too can be fixed!
With the same number of customers, you can significantly increase sales once you identify and address ACS weaknesses. These are numbers that staff understand and can be cause for celebration or some extra coaching. You’ll also be calmer about sales variations week by week when you see that the ACS is staying strong—it’s just the number of customers that are down—and that’s a separate project!
It’s time to take action on ACS!
The numbers you need to measure ACS are in your POS, waiting to be accessed. If you’re not sure where to find them, grab your POS manual, or talk to people in one of our Facebook forums. Once you’ve identified strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to move quickly!
We’ve seen people increase their Average Customer Spend by a minimum of 20% when they understand how it works, use it to identify weaknesses and work on improvements. You’ve got the numbers you need to work out ACS, but have you been using it the right way? Let’s do this!
Want to get some 1 on 1 help? Talk to one of our coaches
Want the Action Sheet ? Click Here
Every venue owner wants to increase sales, and it can be a struggle to get more people in the door. If you don’t measure the right things, you can’t identify some of the ‘low-hanging fruit’ that can increase every customer’s spending and future sales. Average Customer Spending (ACS) in real life is usually less than people think it is, if they even guess.
Think about when you were at a cafe and wanted a second coffee, but there were no staff to take your order – so you spent $4 instead of $8. Or you wanted to finish a meal with dessert, but it wasn’t suggested and you ran out of time. Were the business owners even aware of the sales they missed out on?
What can happen when you increase Average Customer Spend
We’ve seen people increase their ACS by at least 20% when they understand how it works, use it to identify weaknesses and work on improvements. You can do that too – minimum!
That’s like going from $20K per week to $24K per week with exactly the same number of customers – nice!
You’ve probably got the numbers you need to work out ACS, but haven’t been using them in the right way.
Even people who ‘don’t like numbers’ can find this exciting – who doesn’t want extra cash?!
How to work out Average Customer Spend
1. Understand what ACS consists of:
It’s one of the 5 key numbers we emphasise at Foodie Coaches (Sales, ACS, Cost of Goods, Labour Costs and Overheads).
If you have the same menu and the same type of customers, ACS won’t vary much week by week, even if you have fewer or more customers than usual – it’s an average.
It includes everyone you serve – the woman who has one coffee, and the man who has 2 coffees, lunch and a juice. Don’t leave out anyone.
By tracking it every week, you can pick up sales problems or improvements immediately and take action (or congratulate yourself on the improvement).
2. Count the number of customers, not just transactions
Unless you’re a busy takeaway, it’s easy to record actual customer numbers when orders are placed.
Make this a compulsory declaration for each POS order, or on your ordering App.
If you just count transactions i.e. number of bills issued, the average will vary widely eg consider two transactions: a table of one person and a table of 4 people – the should be counted as 5 customers, not 2!
Check if your POS reports show an average using transactions or customers – many do it the wrong way!
If you have a busy takeaway, try and do a head count on one or two typical hours, and use that to get a good estimate of ACS.
3. Split up your ACS to discover more opportunities
Let’s say your ACS at a BYO Italian restaurant is $60 per head
When you divide up total sales into separate totals for beverage, food and desserts, you discover that the per-head spend for desserts is only $2, even though all your desserts cost $16!
That means you’re only selling desserts to one in 8 people – how come?? Problem leads to solution because now you know the truth.
It’s a bit like Strike Rates, which we talked about in an earlier blog article
4. Use ACS to identify sales and menu weakness
Stay with the example of the under-performing dessert sales – why is it happening?
Either it’s menu weakness, or a problem with how staff are selling.
The menu might need to be redesigned, or a better selection of desserts offered for the type of customers you have. Easy to improve!
If there’s a problem with staff selling, that calls for coaching, better scripts, possible bonuses, and how it’s handled in the sequence of service. This too can be fixed!
See also: 40 Ways to Increase Average Customer Spend
With the same number of customers, you can significantly increase sales once you identify and address ACS weaknesses. These are numbers that staff understand and can be cause for celebration or some extra coaching. You’ll also be calmer about sales variations week by week when you see that the ACS is staying strong—it’s just the number of customers that are down—and that’s a separate project!
It’s time to take action on ACS!
The numbers you need to measure ACS are in your POS, waiting to be accessed. If you’re not sure where to find them, grab your POS manual, or talk to people in one of our Facebook forums. Once you’ve identified strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to move quickly!
We’ve seen people increase their Average Customer Spend by a minimum of 20% when they understand how it works, use it to identify weaknesses and work on improvements. You’ve got the numbers you need to work out ACS, but have you been using it the right way? Let’s do this!
Want to get some 1 on 1 help? Talk to one of our coaches
Work out your typical Average Customer Spend for a week:
One Week Sales = $______ – divide by no. of customer _____ = $______ ACS
Check the other useful blog posts on the Foodie Coaches website…