For restaurateurs of all ilk today, the word “data” is both a four-letter word and a dream partner, capable of providing astonishing insights in a flash. But as participants at the most recent FastCasual Executive Summit in Nashville learned, diving into data generated by your brand can either leave you splashed with refreshing new insights, or drowning in a sea of numbers without any real idea how to make sense of it all.

An hour-long session around this very conundrum with three successful fast casual concepts provided some great takeaways about how to use data innovatively, effectively and profitably, regardless of your restaurant sector or brand. Below are some of the more profound pull-outs and lessons learned from that session’s participants, who answered questions from Fishbowl Professional Services Vice President Paula Carren. The three restaurant leaders on the panel, included: Corner Bakery Café CEO Donna Josephson; Newk’s Eatery CMO Stewart Slocum; Saladworks CEO Steve McMahon. These very different but successful brands each said they had approached their collection sources for data differently to meet individual chain goals. For instance, Saladworks CEO McMahon said his company commissioned research to identify and target attitudinal segments and customer groups. Corner Bakery’s Josephson, on the other hand, said the team combined data from its loyalty club with POS and customer data to both ultimately boost loyalty participation and identify other “success factors” for the brand. And finally, Newk’s Slocum said the chain took a more in-depth look at digital marketing data and the returns on their email loyalty club members because in Slocum’s words, “It’s the little data that matters.” Carren also asked the group how data was important to brand success. McMahon said that demographics aren’t exactly where it’s at. “Demographics explain only 1 to 2 percent of sales,” he said. “What explains it is their behavior in that (demographic) sector.” Josephson said that Corner Bakery monitors the long-term and day-to-day data and asks two questions: “How do I retain customers?” and “How do I do even better?” Since everyone in any organization is a marketer for the brand, Slocum said, it’s important not to just toss out seemingly off-the-wall ideas (from the rank and file), but to consider, instead, how you can take ideas that essentially “push the boulder up the hill” and convert them to ideas that “push that boulder down the hill.” – Source: FirstCasual.