Amidst a surge of the fast-spreading Delta variant, restaurants across the country have once again been challenged with determining how to manage day-to-day operations in accordance with local and federal mandates and recommendations.
Today, ParTech, Inc. (PAR), a global restaurant technology company and provider of a unified commerce cloud platform for enterprise restaurants, and its customer loyalty, offers and engagement solution, Punchh, announced the release of its 2021 Fall Trends Report, which identifies its clients’ performances nationally and locally in cities where “no vaccine, no service” policies are in place – New York City, New Orleans and San Francisco. Results were analyzed based on year-over-year and month-over-month transactions from locations across 200 of Punchh’s global brands.
Comparing July through August 2020, versus the same time period in 2021, Punchh’s clients’ total transactions nationally were up 108%, and loyalty-based transactions increased over 28%. Loyalty sales overall were up 35%, and specifically, online loyalty sales were up an average of 14%. Year-over-year, the average check size was down nearly 64%, but the average loyalty check size increased 6%. Looking at June 2018 through July 2019 versus July 2020 through Aug. 20, 2021, the national average check size saw a 9% drop–off, but loyalty check sizes remained the same. Total sales improved 24% nationally month-over-month, and total transactions were up 37% nationally over that same period.
At the local level, where the Delta variant spurred vaccine-related restrictions, compared to the previous 30-day period, Punchh analyzed 24.3 million restaurant transactions in New York and saw a 10% decrease in total sales and a 14% decrease in total transactions. However, online loyalty sales and online loyalty transactions held steady for New York diners. New Yorkers’ average check size was up 5.24%, and check size for loyalty sales saw a 55.12% increase month-over-month. Of the 3.3 million restaurant transactions studied in San Francisco, total sales, total transactions and check size all remained relatively steady month-over-month, while loyalty transactions jumped nearly 11% and loyalty sales were up over 8%. In New Orleans during the same time period, the 1.2 million restaurant transactions examined revealed that total sales, loyalty sales and transactions were all down, but the average check size did not decrease.
Punchh’s key statistics found that online sales year-over-year, month-over-month and across lockdown cities haven’t dropped, so despite uncontrollable, arduous factors, this revenue channel is continuing to hold steady. Additionally, both in-person and online loyalty transactions remained steady over the last 30 days compared to the previous 30-day period.
“With the pandemic resulting in many restaurants adding an online ordering component, guests are using loyalty programs more and more, as evident in the significant year-over-year jump in our clients’ loyalty sales,” says Shyam Rao, Punchh co-founder & CEO. “Loyalty solutions are connecting guests to the brands they love during a time that is unpredictable for both sides. These engagements are becoming a necessity when it comes to building lifetime value between fans and their favorite restaurants, ultimately bolstering the industry’s recovery.”
More than 200 global enterprise brands, including Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), Denny’s (NASDAQ: DENN), TGI Friday’s, and Casey’s (NASDAQ: CASY) rely on Punchh to grow revenue by building customer relationships.
