Which report answers which question
What this is for
Restodesk has a lot of reports. Most people don't need most of them, and the way to use this section is to start from a question rather than from a list.
Start here
| Your question | Report |
|---|---|
| How much did we take? | Sales |
| Which dishes actually sell? | Items and categories |
| Which dishes make money? | Items and categories, plus Profit & Loss |
| Are we busier on Thursdays or Fridays? | Sales — sales by day |
| What time should I roster more staff? | Sales — sales by time |
| How much tax do I owe? | Tax |
| How much have we refunded, and why? | Refunds |
| Why are so many orders being cancelled? | Cancellations |
| Is someone removing items from bills? | Cancellations — removed KOT items |
| What are the delivery platforms costing us? | Delivery and COD |
| How much cash are drivers carrying? | Delivery and COD |
| Who owes us money? | Due payments |
| Where is the money going? | Expenses |
| What's my food cost? | Inventory reports |
| Did the drawer balance? | Cash register |
| Which till is busiest? | Terminal reports |
| How's today going, right now? | Your dashboard |
Things every report has in common
A date range. All of them. Nearly every wrong-looking report is the wrong date range.
Business days, not calendar days. Report periods follow your operating shifts. A service running from 6 pm to 2 am belongs to the day it started, so late-night trade doesn't get split across two days. This surprises people the first time — see Opening hours and shifts.
Branch scope. Reports show the branch you're working in. An empty report on a multi-site account is very often the wrong branch.
Permissions. Show Reports controls the section; Export Report controls downloading. See What each role can do.
A reading rhythm that works
Daily, five minutes — sales for the day, and anything odd: a refund, a cancelled order, a discount larger than usual.
Weekly, twenty minutes — sales by day and by time, top and bottom sellers, expenses so far, anyone who owes you money.
Monthly, an hour — sales against last month and the same month last year, expenses by category, food cost percentage, refund and cancellation patterns, and what you're going to change.
The monthly one is the only one that changes decisions. The other two are for catching things early.
Reading any report honestly
- Compare, don't admire. A number alone means nothing. Against last week, last month, or the same period last year, it means something.
- Look for the change, not the level. A refund rate of 1% is fine. A refund rate that was 0.3% last quarter is a question.
- One anomaly is noise. Patterns are signal.
- Check the period covers what you think. Especially around a month end, where your shift boundaries and the calendar disagree.