Average check is also known as average spend or average ticket and is a key performance indicator in the hospitality industry. It's the amount a customer spends on a single visit to your business. You calculate it by dividing your total sales by the number of customers you served over a period of time. For example, if you made £1000 in sales and served 50 customers in a day, your average check would be £20.
This is useful for hospitality professionals because it helps you understand your customers' spending habits and your pricing strategy. By tracking your average check, you can identify opportunities to increase revenue such as upselling or menu engineering. It also helps you compare performance over different time periods or between different locations of your business.
Let's say you run a cocktail bar. Your average check is £15, but you want to get it to £20. You train your staff on suggestive selling for premium spirits and create a new menu of signature cocktails priced slightly higher than your standard drinks. You monitor your average check closely and over the next month it rises to £18, then £19 and finally hits your target of £20. This increase in average check has boosted your revenue without you needing to get more customers. It shows the power of this metric to drive business growth.'