Restaurants are still going through hurdles caused by the pandemic. The spread of the omicron variant earlier this year, labor shortages, raising costs, and inflation have all affected sales in this post pandemic period.
Restaurant gift card sales is down compared to the first half of 2021. Holidays like Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as well as graduation season provided the biggest lift for gift card sales for the first half of 2022 but still lag pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
Usually sales of gift cards in November and December make up almost half of gift card sales annually, with May and June providing the second-biggest spike, but gift card sales in January, March, May and June of this year were down compared to the same months last year.
As we analyze the effects of the pandemic, inflation and rising costs in the restaurant industry, we see that in-store restaurant sales have slumped from their January 2020 peak, but digital ordering has increased during that time.
Making sure all your online listings are up-to-date, investing in your social media, digitizing your restaurant business and finding ways to lower your operating costs are a couple of ways to navigate the current economic waters.
Eliminating credit card processing fees and using the money saved to navigate through times of uncertainty or investing back into your restaurant business seems like a great step to your success.
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