Lightspeed Commerce Inc. (NYSE | TSX: LSPD) released its latest
report on the buying behavior of restaurant customers during New
Year’s Eve, offering a window into the potential sales
opportunities available to American bars and restaurants this
holiday season. With Advanced Insights built directly into the
Lightspeed Restaurant platform, the company transforms data into
useful strategies that help restaurants accelerate growth, provide
the best customer experiences and become a go-to destination in
their space.
The data*, which is based on a sample of thousands of
restaurants and bars powered by Lightspeed across the U.S.,
highlights the key menu items that perform well with New Year's Eve
customers and which ones underwhelm.
It comes as no surprise that restaurant goers are looking to
indulge during New Year’s Eve, with premium ingredients topping the
list of demands. Caviar, lobster and steak see their demand
skyrocket, with requests increasing 66%, 31%, and 13% respectively.
Likewise, certain health-conscious options see a decline in
demands, with salad sales falling by 23% overall.
Drinkers are also in a festive mood, looking to break out the
bubbles to ring in the new year. Sales of sparkling wine —including
champagne, prosecco and cava—saw a 111% increase in sales. Liquor,
and cocktails, also remain a popular choice, with vodka (+14%),
tequila (+11%) and whiskey (+4%) seeing the most significant
increases.
On the flip side, more habitual choices like beer and wine are
passed over for their more premium counterparts. Wine sales
decrease by 5% and beer sales drop by 23% compared to average
Saturdays in December 2022.
All this celebration ultimately leads to patrons spending more
on average. The median check size reached $53 on New Year's Eve in
2022, a 4% increase over the average median check size on Saturdays
throughout December 2022 and a 10% increase over New Year's Eve in
2021.
Any uptick in revenue is certainly welcome this time of year. As
Peter Dougherty, General Manager of Hospitality at Lightspeed
Commerce, points out, “New Year’s Eve doesn’t just mark the end of
the year—it’s also the beginning of a slower period for restaurants
and bars. That’s why turning more tables and getting more customers
through the door is so important.“
While New Year’s Eve marks the end of the holiday season, and
the start of a traditionally slow period for the hospitality
industry, Lightspeed data shows there are some trends that can help
restaurant and bar owners mitigate the change in the season. Data
suggests that restaurant and bar owners can leverage New Year’s
resolutions to drive sales:
- While fewer people go out to eat in January, the ones who do
turn to greens: despite a 1.4% decrease in total salad sales in
January 2023 compared to December 2022, salad sales as a percentage
of total sales for restaurants that offer salads increased by 20%
in January 2023 compared to December 2022. This suggests that
consumers eat healthier in the early weeks of the new year.
- Similarly, alcohol sales drop in the early months of the year.
In January 2023, total sales for alcoholic beverages fell by 12%
compared to December 2022. Despite the downturn, restaurant and bar
owners can continue to leverage consistent sales of classic
cocktails like the Margarita, Old Fashioned or Martini, which
remain the top three best sellers throughout the year.
Restaurant and bar owners looking to leverage this data to
maximize revenue on New Year's Eve and in early 2024 will find
actionable insights in Lightspeed’s latest article.
Lightspeed powers the world’s best bars and restaurants,
including: Boulud (New York), Alinea (Chicago), Recess (Chicago),
Death & Co (Los Angeles), Mace (New York), Service Bar
(Washington, DC), Collective Arts (Toronto), Joe Beef (Montreal),
Cloakroom (Montreal), David Rocco Bar Aperitivo (Toronto), Cubitt
House (London), Maybe Sammy (Sydney), Sunshine Brewery (Gisborne)
and In den Ouden Vogelstruys (Maastricht).
Dive into Lightspeed Restaurant’s transformative features.
*MethodologyLightspeed analyzed transactions from thousands of
hospitality businesses across the United States powered by
Lightspeed Restaurant. The analysis included diverse business
categories such as bars, casual dining, upscale, fine dining venues
and fast-casual businesses. The analysis compared various sales
trends and menu items’ popularity between Saturday December 31,
2022 and the average of three Saturdays in December 2022 (excluding
December 24, 2022) as well as comparing January 2023 against
December 2022.
About Lightspeed
Powering the businesses that are the backbone of the global
economy, Lightspeed’s one-stop commerce platform helps merchants
innovate to simplify, scale and provide exceptional customer
experiences. Our cloud commerce solution transforms and unifies
online and physical operations, multichannel sales, expansion to
new locations, global payments, financial solutions and connection
to supplier networks.
Founded in Montréal, Canada in 2005, Lightspeed is dual-listed
on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (NYSE |
TSX: LSPD). With teams across North America, Europe and Asia
Pacific, the company serves retail, hospitality and golf businesses
in over 100 countries.
For more information, see lightspeedhq.com.
Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram,
YouTube and Twitter
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may include forward-looking information and
forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable
securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking
statements are statements that are predictive in nature, depend
upon or refer to future events or conditions and are identified by
words such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans",
"believes", "estimates" or similar expressions concerning matters
that are not historical facts. Such statements are based on current
expectations of Lightspeed's management and inherently involve
numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, including
economic factors. A number of risks, uncertainties and other
factors may cause actual results to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements contained in this news release,
including, among other factors, those risk factors identified in
our most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations, under "Risk Factors" in our
most recent Annual Information Form, and in our other filings with
the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available
under our profiles on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca and on EDGAR at
www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other
factors carefully when making decisions with respect to
Lightspeed's subordinate voting shares and not to place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
contained in this news release are not guarantees of future
performance and, while forward-looking statements are based on
certain assumptions that Lightspeed considers reasonable, actual
events and results could differ materially from those expressed or
implied by forward-looking statements made by Lightspeed. Except as
may be expressly required by applicable law, Lightspeed does not
undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
For further information: Media Contacts: Canada: Victoria Baker,
NKPR - victoriab@nkpr.net; USA: Jennifer Fugel, Newsmaker Group-
jfugel@newsmakergroup.com; Lightspeed Media Relations -
media@lightspeedhq.com; Investor Relations: Gus Papageorgiou,
Lightspeed Investor Relations -
investorrelations@lightspeedhq.com
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