On-trade data: the new gold of foodservice

In foodservice, everyone talks about customer experience, product quality, or online visibility. But one lever remains largely underestimated: on-trade data.

Yet this data — coming from real CHR sales, directly from POS systems — is what allows you to understand what customers consume, at what price, under which conditions, and how to optimize your business accordingly.

For a long time, this data was hard to obtain: fragmented, incomplete, slow. With more than 182,000 establishments in France alone and thousands of formats, segments, and operating models, it was impossible to have a clear market vision or compare one’s performance with others.

But that was before.

Today, on-trade data has become a major competitive advantage for both restaurateurs and manufacturers. Let’s explore why — and how to use it effectively.

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What exactly is on-trade data?

On-trade data refers to information coming from sales made in HoReCa establishments (restaurants, bars, cafés, hotels…).

Unlike traditional panels (often slow and based on declarative reporting), on-trade data is:

• collected directly at POS level, making it reliable and granular;

• updated daily, instead of with a 6-week delay like historical solutions;

• analyzed through powerful tools, enabling you to go beyond the “what” to understand the “why”.

Put simply: it’s the most accurate snapshot of real customer behavior in establishments.

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Why on-trade data is becoming essential in foodservice

1. The market is fragmented: without data, you’re flying blind

A single country like France has over 180,000 establishments across FSR, QSR, bars, cafés, specialty concepts, premium brands, etc.

Understanding the dynamics of a segment is impossible without a large, representative sample.

With on-trade data, you can finally:

• spot trends by region,

• compare one type of outlet with another,

• detect rising segments (e.g., cocktails, poké, premiumization).

2. Consumers evolve fast — data must keep up

New habits, rising costs, seasonality, local events… Without up-to-date data, even a good restaurateur can fight the wrong battle.

Manufacturers, too, need to know:

• which categories are growing or declining,

• which innovations perform well,

• where to activate their brands to maximize ROI.

With on-trade data enriched by AI and LLMs, these insights become accessible in real time.

3. Pressure on profitability requires sharper decision-making

A €0.50 price adjustment can boost margin without hurting customer experience.

A “star” product can become “dead weight” in 3 months.

A poor attach rate can cost up to 10% of revenue.

On-trade data quickly reveals:

• which products can deliver more margin,

• which items to remove or refine,

• how to reposition the menu to gain +10 to +15% profitability (as seen with Fyre users).

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How to use on-trade data to optimize a restaurant

1. Adjust prices intelligently

A neighborhood restaurateur in Lyon discovered that:

• his best-selling burger had a significantly lower margin ratio than average,

• his vegetarian dish, though ordered less often, was one of the most profitable,

• some prices were no longer aligned with local benchmarks.

Using on-trade data:

• he adjusted his prices (+€0.30 on average),

• repositioned three high-margin items,

• reworked portions and combos.

In three weeks: +15% profitability (a typical case observed via Fyre Dashboard).

2. Optimize the menu with granularity

On-trade data allows you to analyze:

• average ticket size,

• product incidence,

• attach rates (e.g., “Coke vs pizza”, “Coke vs burger”),

• consumption by day, hour, segment,

• a BCG Matrix (Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks, Dogs) integrated directly into the Fyre dashboard.

At a glance, you know:

✔️ what to push

✔️ what to refine

✔️ what to remove

Data becomes your compass.

3. Anticipate trends and adapt before others

Representative panels like Fyre’s MarketPulse allow you to track:

• category evolution (softs, cocktails, snacking, coffee…),

• premiumization,

• new consumption moments,

• trends by outlet type or geographic zone.

For a restaurateur, this means adapting the menu before the trend hits their street.

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On-trade data for manufacturers: a strategic game changer

For beverage or foodservice brands, on-trade data answers essential questions:

Where should I activate my products to maximize ROI?

With tools like FyreMatch and Activation Monitor:

• brands can identify the most relevant establishments,

• launch activations directly at POS,

• monitor the impact in real time,

• compare performance across clusters or concepts.

The Coca-Cola example at the 2024 Olympic Games is telling:

• 7,000 establishments matched and segmented

• 700 priority hotspots

• 25 geographic clusters

• daily performance monitoring

• real-world A/B testing

With immediate impact on execution quality and activation effectiveness.

Which products perform… and why?

Data helps:

• understand associations (e.g., cocktails + tapas, burger + soft drink),

• measure the impact of a price change,

• identify consumption peaks (day, hour),

• benchmark performance by region or segment.

For the first time, manufacturers can analyze the market with this level of precision.

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How Fyre turns on-trade data into actionable decisions

The provided documents clearly explain what makes Fyre unique in the on-trade data landscape:

1. Massive connectivity (+120,000 establishments)

Thanks to large-scale plug-and-play POS integrations.

2. Data enriched by AI & LLMs

Tickets are cleaned, categorized, enriched, and comparable — a revolution in a historically chaotic sector.

3. A market-representative panel

A sample designed to mirror the real structure of Europe’s 1.4M establishments, with extremely low margins of error (±€0.04 on average price).

4. Ready-to-use tools:

• Data Dashboard: sales, margins, menu, matrices, benchmarks.

• MarketPulse: market trends.

• Venue Activation: in-POS activation and real-time tracking.

On-trade data never stays theoretical: it becomes immediate, measurable actions.

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Conclusion: On-trade data is no longer a “nice-to-have”. It’s a decisive business advantage.

In a market as dynamic and competitive as foodservice, performance is no longer driven by intuition alone.

It depends on the ability to:

• understand your market in depth,

• analyze your sales and margins,

• adjust your prices and menu quickly,

• activate your products or campaigns effectively,

• measure what works… as early as the next day.

On-trade data finally brings this level of precision and agility.

And platforms like Fyre make this data simple, actionable, and directly tied to real-world operations, for restaurateurs and manufacturers alike.

👉 If you want to turn your data into concrete decisions, on-trade data is now your best ally.