How to increase your restaurant’s average spend without pushy selling

How do you increase a restaurant’s average spend?

Average spend is what one customer spends with you on average. If you serve 80 covers at lunch, adding 1.50 per cover means 120 more per service, without a single extra customer. It is often easier than attracting new customers, and the two go together: see also how to get more restaurant customers.

Beware of the trap: raising average spend does not mean pushing people to consume or putting prices up. A customer who feels pressured does not come back, and says so in their reviews. The aim is to offer what they will enjoy, at the right moment. This guide is part of our guide to growing a restaurant.

How do you calculate average spend per cover?

The formula is simple:

Average spend = takings for the period ÷ number of covers for the period

Made-up example: one Friday evening you take 3,450 including tax for 115 covers. Your Friday dinner average spend is 3,450 ÷ 115 = 30.00.

Rules for a useful number

• Choose with or without tax and stick to it. The figure including tax speaks to your team (it is what the customer pays); the figure without tax is for your accounts. In France, food served on site is taxed at 10% and alcoholic drinks at 20%, so a meal with a lot of wine does not have the same ratio as one without.
• Keep lunch and dinner separate. Their average spends are very different: mixing them hides trends.
• Count covers, not tables. A table of 4 paying 100 gives an average spend of 25.
• Keep takeaway separate: it has its own basket logic.

Most till systems give you this figure every day. Write it down weekly in a table, with the number of covers, to see the trend.

There is no "good" average spend that applies to everyone: it depends on your cuisine, your area and your prices. Compare yourself with yourself, month after month.

Drinks, desserts, coffee: what are the easiest levers?

These are the moments when the customer decides on something "extra" beyond the main course. They are easy to offer and often make the difference.

Made-up example: out of 80 lunch covers, if one customer in five adds a 7 dessert, that is 112 more per service, or 1.40 more per cover. Average spend goes from 23.00 to 24.40. Over 22 services in a month, that is 2,464 more including tax.

The details that matter

• A dessert menu placed on the table when clearing plates, without waiting to be asked.
• Wine by the glass (not just by the bottle): it is easier to say yes to.
• A home-made soft drink (lemonade, iced tea) for those who do not drink alcohol.
• A dessert display or board visible from the dining room.

Set menus: how do you build them to raise spend?

A well-designed set menu makes people want an extra course because it looks like good value. It must be good value for the customer and stay profitable for you.

• Two levels: "main + starter or dessert" and "starter + main + dessert". The second, a few euros more, attracts some customers who would have taken the first.
• Clear pricing: an obvious gap between the set menu and ordering à la carte. Made-up example: starter 7, main 15, dessert 7, so 29 à la carte; a three-course set menu at 25 is understood at a glance.
• Add-on: a glass of wine or a coffee included for a few euros, rather than offered separately.
• Tasting or chef's menu in the evening, for customers who want to treat themselves.

Before launching a set menu, work out the food cost of each plate and the margin of the full menu. The guide on food cost and menu pricing shows the calculation step by step. A set menu that raises spend but lowers margin is not a good deal.

How can the menu help raise spend?

Customers read the menu quickly. What they see first, and how it is described, guides their choice. A few simple rules:

• A short menu: fewer choices, quicker decisions, less wasted stock.
• Your best-margin dishes at the top of each section, or boxed: that is where the eye lands.
• Descriptions that make people hungry: the origin, the cooking, a key ingredient. "Free-range roast chicken, thyme jus, home-made mash" rather than "Chicken and mash".
• Prices without currency symbols in a column, placed after the description, so customers read the dish before the price.
• Pairing suggestions under some dishes ("with this dish: our red of the week").
• Photos on your online menu, so customers arrive already knowing what they want.

In France, displayed prices must include tax and service, and the menu must also be visible from outside during service: see mandatory restaurant signs in France. To build the menu itself, read restaurant menu design.

How do you train front-of-house staff to suggest without pushing?

Suggesting is a skill, not a gift. It can be learned in a few briefings.

• Taste the dishes: a server who has tried the dessert of the day talks about it with enthusiasm.
• A specific item, not a yes/no question: "The lemon tart was made this morning" works better than "Would you like dessert?".
• The right moment: aperitif when seating, wine when ordering, dessert when clearing.
• Accept no: offer once, do not insist.
• A 5-minute briefing before each service: dish of the day, dessert to highlight, wine of the week.

Service briefing (5 minutes)

Dish of the day: [dish], with [side]. Allergens: [list].

Wine to suggest with it: [wine], by the glass at [price].

Dessert to highlight: [dessert], [number] left.

Tonight's bookings: [number] covers, including [special occasions].

Some restaurants add a small team goal (for example a number of desserts sold in the week) and share the result. Keep it collective and friendly: the aim is to please customers, not push them.

How do you check that higher spend really pays off?

Rising average spend is only good news if your margin rises too. Three checks every month:

• Average spend per service, compared with the previous month and the same month last year.
• The share of drinks, desserts and coffee in your takings: that is what your actions should move.
• Total food cost as a share of takings: if it rises, the items you promote may earn less than you thought.

If your average spend falls for no clear reason, look at your recent reviews (a dish seen as too expensive?) and your menu (a signature dish removed?). The management ratios to track are explained in restaurant profitability. And if you also sell takeaway, track its average basket separately: starting takeaway.

The restaurant owner’s guide

Open, run, grow: each stage has its full guide and detailed guides, with their reading time.

This guide for your trade

• Restaurants
• Bars
• Restaurant website

Go further

• How to grow a restaurant: the complete guide
• Get more restaurant customers
• Restaurant menu design
• Food cost and menu pricing
• The Voxtya menu QR code
• Restaurant QR menu: the guide