How to correctly collect Data in F&B

In this new high tech world we live in today, we are constantly exposed to many forms of data that consistently surround us as we go on through our normal daily routine.

In the food and beverage industry, like others, data is very important and critical. It is also very important to know how to use this collected data in the right way, time, place and strategy.

The data analysis process has several steps, beginning with collecting the data, sorting it, arranging it, understanding and analyzing it and lastly taking the right decisions depending on the results we acquired from this process.

One of the most important steps in this process is the first step. Collecting data, more precisely, collecting data in the correct way is very critical, since doing it the wrong way can drift us away from our desired outcome.

So how to collect data?

Let us suppose you are thinking about opening a new restaurant in some specific area but you haven’t yet decided what type of cuisine you want to serve. So you thought about gathering data from a sample of 50 persons of the population that surrounds your restaurant’s location. And you went on by creating a small questionnaire form, asking them about their favorite cuisine, while providing them with only three choices of a. Burgers, b. Italian, c. Sushi. Your results came as the following: 20 persons (40%) answered Burgers, 15 persons (30%) answered Italian and 15 persons (30%) answered Sushi. Obviously, with the result you obtained, you will decide to open a burgers restaurant in this area, thinking that the majority of the population prefers it.

This is where you went wrong!

Asking a multiple choice question in your survey and narrowing the choices to only three, is where you went wrong. You completely eliminated any other cuisine type that your surrounding population might even prefer and select in a much higher percentage.

How to correctly do it

Instead of providing the population you are surveying with limited multiple choices, ask them what is their favorite cuisine and let them answer whatever is theirs freely. You also might want to add another question asking how frequently would they consume their favorite cuisine. These questions will give you better results, that will help you to take your decisions.

Aside from the example we discussed, creating or designing the right tools to collect our data is very important. Asking the right questions, in the right time, for the right people is just the first step in our data analysis process.