How to increase restaurant sales: 15 ways, and the number each one moves
Updated October 20, 2026
To increase restaurant sales, work on four numbers: how many guests you serve, how often they come back, how much each check is worth, and how much of each sale you keep after delivery-app fees. Sales are the number of checks times the average check, so a 5% rise in both lifts sales by 10.25%. Start with the cheapest levers: price the menu to today's costs, put your best dishes where people choose, suggest a side or drink at the right moment, and send repeat customers to your own ordering link instead of a 25% commission.
In short
- The formula: sales = checks × average check. Checks come from new guests and repeat visits.
- Fastest wins: menu prices (US restaurant prices rose 3.5% in the year to September 2026), menu engineering, suggested add-ons, a working Google profile.
- Repeat visits: loyalty points, a reason to come back, pre-orders and catering for regulars.
- Keep more of each sale: a delivery order on your own link costs about 3.9% in card fees instead of 25% commission.
- Measure it: checks and average check by week and by channel, before and after each change.
What drives restaurant sales?
Every sale breaks down into the same few numbers:
| Number | What moves it | How to measure it |
|---|---|---|
| New guests | Google, reviews, delivery apps, events, signage | First-time orders or new names in your customer list |
| Repeat visits | Food and service, loyalty, reminders, convenience | Orders per customer per month |
| Average check | Menu prices, menu layout, add-ons, bundles, party size | Sales ÷ checks |
| Money kept per sale | Channel fees, card fees, discounts, waste | Sales minus commission and fees |
Most tactics move one of these, and a few move two. Pick the number that is weakest for you and work on that first.
Worked example: a restaurant doing $72,000 a month
A neighborhood restaurant serves 3,000 checks a month at an average of $24: $72,000 in sales. These are illustrative numbers; plug in your own.
| Change | Checks | Average check | Monthly sales | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Today | 3,000 | $24.00 | $72,000 | — |
| Average check +5% (a $1.20 add-on per check, on average) | 3,000 | $25.20 | $75,600 | +$3,600 |
| Checks +5% (150 more visits) | 3,150 | $24.00 | $75,600 | +$3,600 |
| Both | 3,150 | $25.20 | $79,380 | +$7,380 (+10.25%) |
| Prices +3.5% only, same guests | 3,000 | $24.84 | $74,520 | +$2,520 |
Two lessons: small changes to two numbers compound, and a price rise in line with costs is worth almost as much as 150 extra visits, without the work of finding them. Sales are not profit: an extra $3,600 of add-ons at a 30% food cost leaves about $2,520 before labor.
How to increase the average check
- Reprice the menu to today's costs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' food away from home index rose 3.5% in the 12 months to September 2026, while food at home rose 1.8%. If your prices haven't moved in a year, your costs probably have. Re-cost dishes and reprice with the menu price calculator and the guide to pricing menu items.
- Engineer the menu. Sort dishes into Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles and Dogs by popularity and margin, then give the high-margin dishes the best spots and descriptions. The free menu engineering matrix does the arithmetic; the menu engineering guide explains each move.
- Suggest the obvious add-on. A drink with a main, fries with a burger, a dessert after pasta. Train staff to offer one specific item ("the garlic knots are fresh out of the oven") and set the same suggestion on your online menu.
- Bundle for groups. A family meal or a "two mains, two sides" deal raises the check for groups and is easier to choose than three separate dishes. Cost the bundle so it still earns your margin.
- Write descriptions that sell. Name the ingredient that makes the dish ("slow-smoked brisket"), not "delicious". Our guide to making a restaurant menu covers layout and wording.
How to get more guests
- Fix your Google Business Profile. Right category, dine-in hours, a full menu and your own ordering link as the preferred option. See the Google Business Profile guide.
- Ask every guest for a review. More recent reviews help people choose you. Use Google's review link on receipts, tables and bags, and never ask only happy guests (how to get more Google reviews).
- Be easy to order from online. An ordering link on Google, Instagram, your website and a QR code at the counter. Our online ordering pillar compares the options and costs.
- Add a daypart or a channel. Lunch boxes for offices, a weekend brunch, catering trays. Price catering by the guest with the catering pricing guide.
- Get found in search. A website with your menu as text, local pages and consistent details. Read the restaurant SEO guide and restaurant marketing ideas.
How to get guests to come back more often
- Run a loyalty program. Points back on every order, a stamp card or a free item after a number of visits. See restaurant loyalty program ideas for 14 ideas and what each costs.
- Give a reason to return. A weekly special, a seasonal menu, a regulars' night. Tell guests about it on the receipt, the table card and your Google posts.
- Take pre-orders. Customers who can order Friday's lunch on Thursday, or a party tray for Saturday, buy more than those who have to call. Set the notice you need.
How to keep more of each sale
- Move repeat customers to your own ordering link. A $30 delivery order on a 25% marketplace tier costs you $7.50. On your own page with Stripe (2.9% + 30¢) it costs $1.17. A card or bag insert with a QR code to your link turns marketplace regulars into direct customers; check what your app agreement allows, and see the delivery app loss calculator.
- Cut waste and comps you don't need. Check what the kitchen throws away and why, and track discounts by reason. The food cost percentage guide and profit margin guide show where the money goes.
What moving 200 orders a month is worth. 200 delivery orders of $30 = $6,000. At 25% commission they cost $1,500; on your own link, 2.9% × $6,000 + 200 × $0.30 = $234. You keep $1,266 more a month from the same customers, before you pay for delivery yourself (a courier or your own driver).
Which tactic should you try first?
| Tactic | Number it moves | Cash cost | Effort | Time to see it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reprice to current costs | Average check | $0 | Low | Next month |
| Menu engineering | Average check, margin | $0 | Medium | 1–2 months |
| Suggested add-ons | Average check | $0 | Low | Weeks |
| Group bundles | Average check | $0 | Low | Weeks |
| Google profile clean-up | New guests | $0 | Low | Weeks |
| Review routine | New guests | Print costs | Low | 1–3 months |
| Own ordering link everywhere | New guests, money kept | From $0 a month + card fees | Low | Weeks |
| New daypart or catering | New guests, checks | Food and labor | High | 2–3 months |
| Loyalty program | Repeat visits | The rewards you give | Medium | 2–3 months |
| Pre-orders | Checks, average check | $0 | Low | Weeks |
| Move regulars direct | Money kept | Inserts and QR cards | Low | 1–2 months |
| Waste and comp review | Money kept | $0 | Medium | 1 month |
A 30/60/90-day plan
| Days | Do this |
|---|---|
| 1–30 | Re-cost and reprice; run the menu engineering matrix; set one add-on per main; fix the Google profile; put your ordering link and review QR code on every table, receipt and bag |
| 31–60 | Move the Stars on the menu; add one group bundle; start pre-orders; launch a loyalty reward |
| 61–90 | Test a new daypart or catering menu; compare checks and average check by channel with day 1; keep what worked, drop what didn't |
How Menuthere helps
Menuthere is an ordering platform with 0% commission, and several of its features map straight onto these levers:
- Suggested dishes (every plan): when a customer adds a dish to the cart, your ordering page suggests the dishes you picked, such as a drink with a main, both ways between the two dishes.
- Top dishes (every plan): mark a dish as a top dish to highlight it on the menu.
- Table QR ordering (every plan): guests order and add more from the table without waiting for a server.
- Discounts and coupons (Lite, $17 a month): item offers, codes and discounts that apply themselves, with limits, days and validity.
- Pre-orders (Lite): customers choose a date and time at checkout, with the notice you set.
- Loyalty points (Pro, $39 a month): customers earn a percentage of each completed order as points and spend them on later orders.
- Analytics (every plan): every dish sold with its quantity and amount for any period, for menu engineering.
Put your menu, add-ons and ordering link in one place, with 0% commission.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fastest way to increase restaurant sales?
Usually the menu itself: reprice dishes to current costs, put high-margin dishes in the best spots, and suggest one add-on with every main. These cost nothing and show up in the next month's average check, while finding new guests takes longer.
How do you increase the average check in a restaurant?
Price to today's costs, engineer the menu so high-margin dishes are easy to choose, suggest a specific side, drink or dessert, and offer group bundles. Online, set the same suggestions when a customer adds a dish to the cart. Track sales divided by checks each week.
How can a restaurant increase sales without advertising?
Work on what you already have: your Google Business Profile, a review routine with every guest, an ordering link on Google and social profiles, a loyalty reward for regulars, pre-orders and a better menu. None of these needs an ad budget, and several cost nothing.
How much can a small change increase sales?
In our example, a restaurant with 3,000 checks a month at $24 gains $3,600 a month from a 5 percent rise in the average check, and $7,380 if checks also rise 5 percent. Sales are not profit, so check the margin on what you add.
Do higher prices lose customers?
They can if the rise is large or out of line with what guests see elsewhere. US restaurant prices, measured by the food away from home index, rose 3.5 percent in the year to September 2026. Re-cost first, raise prices on dishes that sell well, and watch checks for a month.
How do online orders increase restaurant sales?
They add guests who would not call or visit, and they make reordering easy. On your own ordering page you also keep more of each sale: a $30 order costs about $1.17 in card fees with Stripe instead of $7.50 at a 25 percent delivery-app commission.
Sources (2)
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Consumer Price Index — September 2026" news release, 14 October 2026: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm (read 20 Oct 2026): "The food away from home index rose 3.5 percent over the last year"; "The food at home index rose 1.8 percent over the 12 months ending in September."
- Stripe US 2.9% + 30¢: Stripe support/pricing pages (stripe.com geo-redirects to India from this machine; as settled in Wave 1; live guide
how-much-does-stripe-charge-in-the-us).