Restaurant operators have more data than ever.
Point-of-sale systems track sales. Scheduling platforms track labor. Reservation systems track guests. Accounting software tracks costs.
The challenge is turning all of that information into something restaurant managers can actually use.
“There’s a lot of data, so you need to make it simple for a manager,” said Nick Straten, Head of Data and Operations at 3WO Horeca Group in Amsterdam.
As the hospitality group has grown to roughly 40 restaurants across 30 concepts, making better use of that data has become increasingly important.
Making Restaurant Data Useful
That led 3WO Horeca Group to YourBI.
YourBI connects data from the company’s point-of-sale, scheduling, HR, accounting and reservation systems into one data warehouse, giving the group a clearer view across the business.
One of the biggest opportunities was labor.
Over the past three years, Straten said hourly wages in the Netherlands increased by 25%. Working with YourBI, the group created dashboards and a simple application that shows managers upcoming revenue forecasts and projected labor costs based on their current schedules.
Managers can make adjustments before those costs hit the P&L.
Despite the 25% wage increase, Straten said the company has maintained approximately the same labor-cost percentage it had three years ago.
“That’s a pretty big win for us,” Straten said. “Data helped us a lot with that.”
Getting Managers to Trust the Numbers
Technology only works if restaurant teams use it.
“They just want to cook, they want to serve,” Straten said. “They don’t want to be on their laptops or on their phones looking at data.”
That made simplicity an important part of how 3WO Horeca Group uses YourBI. Instead of overwhelming managers with percentages and dashboards, Straten has focused on giving them numbers they can act on.
The group now looks closely at labor productivity, or how much revenue a restaurant generates per person, per hour. If a location forecasts €10,000 in revenue and has a productivity target of €100, managers can quickly determine how many labor hours they have available.
His advice for operators getting started with business intelligence is simple.
“Start simple,” Straten said.
Pick one important target, improve it and build from there.
From Data to AI
Now 3WO Horeca Group is taking the next step with the data YourBI has helped bring together.
Straten said Claude has been connected to the company’s data in a private, secured environment, allowing the team to ask questions beyond what is already built into its dashboards.
The AI can analyze underlying data involving labor, cost of goods sold, energy expenses and restaurant performance.
“I was surprised that it can find the real answers,” Straten said.
For Straten, the goal remains the same regardless of how the technology evolves.
Restaurants do not need more data. They need information their teams can understand and use.
By bringing that information together and making it easier to act on, YourBI has become an important part of how 3WO Horeca Group manages its restaurants and prepares for continued growth.
