Horeca Data: How to Turn Data into a Profitability Lever for Foodservice Professionals

Claire Brunaud
2 days ago
3 min read

For a long time, data seemed to be reserved for large chains or highly structured groups.

In the Horeca world (hotels, restaurants, cafés), the reality was quite different: disparate POS systems, isolated Excel files, and decisions made “by gut feeling.”

Today, Horeca data is changing the game. It finally enables restaurateurs as well as foodservice manufacturers to manage their business with precision, responsiveness, and above all… profitability.

But what do we really mean when we talk about Horeca data? And more importantly, how can it be used in practice to make better business decisions?

What Is Horeca Data?

Horeca data encompasses all the data generated by the activity of foodservice establishments (hotels, restaurants, cafés), including:

sales by product and by category
pricing strategies and changes in average ticket size
volumes sold by day, time of day, or season
performance by type of establishment (bar, brasserie, fast casual, etc.)
actual customer consumption behaviors

Unlike declarative studies or traditional panels, modern Horeca data is based on real point-of-sale data, collected daily and analyzed at scale.

This provides an on-the-ground, factual, and highly actionable view of the market.

Why Horeca Data Has Become Essential

The current foodservice landscape is highly demanding: rising raw material costs, pressure on margins, labor shortages, and rapidly changing consumer habits.

In this context, managing a business without data is like driving blind.

Horeca data helps answer very concrete questions:

Which dishes actually generate margin?
Which products sell well… but hurt profitability?
When should prices be adjusted without losing volume?
Which trends are truly emerging in the market?

These are the answers that turn data into a real decision-making tool, rather than just a reporting exercise.

Horeca Data from the Restaurateur’s Perspective: Taking Back Control of Day-to-Day Operations

Let’s take a simple example.

A restaurateur reviews their sales and notices that their signature dish is very popular. Intuitively, that sounds like good news.

But Horeca data goes further: it cross-references sales with costs, pricing, and margins.

They then discover that:

the dish accounts for 18% of sales
but only 8% of total margin

With this insight, they slightly adjust the price, rework the side dish, and give more visibility to a more profitable item. Within a few weeks, overall profitability improves—without impacting customer satisfaction.

That is the true power of Horeca data: moving from intuition to informed decision-making.

In practical terms, restaurateurs can:

optimize their menu using profitability matrices
adjust prices based on the market, not just the neighboring restaurant
monitor average ticket size and product mix in real time
save time by centralizing all their data

In some cases, these adjustments can lead to up to a +15% increase in profitability within a few weeks—simply by making better decisions.

Horeca Data from the Manufacturer’s Perspective: Understanding the Market as It Really Is

For foodservice brands and manufacturers, the challenge is different—but just as critical.

The Horeca market is fragmented, heterogeneous, and difficult to read.

Data is often:

aggregated too late
poorly comparable
too far removed from on-the-ground reality

Horeca data provides a clear answer: a precise and representative view of the market, based on actual sales.

It makes it possible, for example, to:

measure the market share of a product by type of establishment
track the adoption of a new product week by week
identify segments where a brand outperforms (premium bars, fast casual, brasseries, etc.)
analyze the real impact of an activation or promotion

Instead of wondering “did it work?”, Horeca data makes it possible to answer “where, when, why, and under what conditions.”

From Data to Action: The Real Challenge of Horeca Data

Collecting numbers is not enough.

The real value lies in the ability to turn data into concrete decisions.

That is precisely the approach championed by Fyre.

The platform relies on large-scale connections to point-of-sale systems across establishments to structure complex data and make it clear, useful, and actionable.

Three key use cases illustrate this approach:

Market insight: understanding consumption trends through clear, representative dashboards.
Performance management: tracking sales, margins, and pricing at the establishment or portfolio level.
Field activation: launching targeted actions directly at the point of sale and measuring their impact in real time.

Horeca data no longer stays locked in a monthly report—it becomes a day-to-day operational tool.

Horeca Data as a Sustainable Competitive Advantage

In a market under pressure, those who make better decisions faster gain the upper hand.

Horeca data makes it possible to:

anticipate rather than react
optimize rather than compensate
prove effectiveness rather than assume it

Whether you are an independent restaurateur or an international manufacturer, the principle remains the same: better understand on-the-ground reality to manage your business more effectively.

Data is no longer a luxury. It is becoming a reflex.

And in the Horeca sector, that reflex often makes the difference between a business that merely survives… and one that grows sustainably.