A successful restaurant isn’t just about good food; it’s about good decisions. In a competitive culinary landscape, your point-of-sale (POS) system is more than a tool for processing payments. It’s a powerful engine generating a wealth of data, known as POS reports.
But raw data alone doesn’t guarantee success. The real magic happens when you transform that information into actionable strategies.
In other words, it’s how you use the data from your various POS reports to make informed decisions about your restaurant, coffee shop, or bakery.
Whether it’s to grow, add more locations, downsize, or offer food delivery, your POS reports can help you make those decisions and more.
In this article, we’ll uncover the 5 must-use POS reports that every restaurant and coffee shop owner should regularly review and track for profitability and long-term success.
What is a POS report?
Think of a POS report as your restaurant’s performance story, compiled directly from your POS software.
Since your restaurant POS automatically gathers vital business data, the reports organize this data into information.
It transforms raw transaction data into actionable insights, revealing best-selling items, and even potential areas for operational improvement. Other data you get from your POS include profit margins, taxes, and employee performance data.
POS reports for restaurants and coffee shops
POS technology has come a long way in recent years. Especially for retail and food-and-beverage businesses like restaurants, coffee shops, and food trucks.
To ensure you’re making the most of your POS system, we’ll cover 5 point-of-sale reports and their benefits. They are:
- The sales summary report
- The product-mix report
- The employee performance report
- The inventory vs sales report
- The customer insights, or loyalty, report
For each report, we’ll explain what it is, what it tracks, why it matters, and what to do with it.
POS report 1: Sales Summary Report
This is your most important POS report you need to regularly review. As its name suggests, it provides you with a sales summary, highlighting total sales, revenue trends, and even peak hours.
Business owners and managers can use the sales summary report to understand their dining concept’s daily, weekly, and even monthly performance. They can also customize the report to compare days, weeks, and months.
For example, if your coffee shop has been operational for 2 or more years, you can compare March 2025 to March 2024. Alternatively, you can compare March 2025 to February 2025 and review your sales performance.
You can also use the sales summary POS report to set realistic sales targets and spot low days where you may consider an in-house offer.
In Foodics, the sales report encompasses several reports and data, including: average orders, total orders, cost of sales, customer counts, discount amounts (if applicable), net sales, profits, among others.
POS report 2: Product Mix Report
The Product Mix Report mainly focuses on your top-selling and underperforming menu items. It provides you with an overview of your products’ net sales and net quantity based on the selected business date(s).
This report can be a major help in your menu engineering and inventory management efforts. By highlighting your top sellers, it can help you decide how to manage a menu redesign.
You can also use the report to determine which menu items to upgrade or offer more options of, and which new items to offer.
POS report 3: Employee Performance Report
Labor makes up a sizable portion, almost 30%, of a restaurant’s operational costs. Accordingly, it’s worth investing in your employees’ POS system training and tracking their performance.
An important POS report is the employee performance report, which shows you your top-performing employees. It can provide data such as the number of sales per employee, shift punctuality, their upselling success,…etc.
While you need to train restaurant staff on upselling techniques, they should also master the skill of not being salesy or pushy.
The employee performance report can help you improve staff training and offer incentive programs for them to increase restaurant sales. It can also help you uncover underperforming employees so you can provide the relevant support and training for them.
Further reading: Top 8 Strategies for Providing Excellent Customer Service in Your Restaurant
POS report 4: Inventory vs. Sales Report
Inventory management reports from your POS can provide you with real-time stock levels, preventing customer disappointment from unavailable items.
This particular POS report, the inventory versus sales report, measures ingredient usage against sales volume. It helps you manage and improve restaurant inventory levels by detecting waste, shrinkage, and even theft.
This report also helps you control food costs, streamline stock purchases, reduce food waste, and save time on manual checks.
Further reading: 6 Benefits of Inventory Management Software for Restaurants
POS report 5: Customer Insights / Loyalty Report
Last but not least, the customer insights report is a powerful tool that provides a deeper understanding of your guests’ behavior. It tracks repeat visits, customer profiles, loyalty point activity, and spending habits.
If your restaurant runs a loyalty program, this report helps you evaluate key metrics such as average spend per visit, points earned and redeemed, and frequency of visits. These insights are essential for measuring the effectiveness of your loyalty initiatives.
One major advantage of integrating loyalty programs with your POS system is the ability to generate richer, data-driven reports. With this report, you can assess retention performance, identify your most loyal guests, and optimize your marketing efforts accordingly.
By analyzing this data, you can launch personalized campaigns, create targeted offers, and build stronger customer relationships—ultimately increasing lifetime value and driving repeat business.
To conclude
In the fast-paced restaurant industry, leveraging data is no longer optional—it’s essential. The five POS reports we’ve explored—Sales Summary, Product Mix, Employee Performance, Inventory vs.Sales, and Customer Insights/Loyalty—serve as vital tools to inform your decisions.
By regularly analyzing these reports, you can identify trends, optimize operations, and enhance customer satisfaction. Embracing these insights not only streamlines your daily processes but also positions your restaurant for sustained success in a competitive market.
Let your POS system be the compass guiding your establishment toward excellence.
Explore how Foodics POS can help improve your restaurant with detailed reporting, powerful POS capabilities, inventory management, and more. Book a personalized demo now!
