Attribute |
Share of Preference |
Probability * |
P-Value ** |
Distribution |
Least Important |
Most Important |
Times Displayed |
Counting Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Layered Bumpy Cake | 33.84% | 70.48% | 4.99% | 1 | 6 | 12 | 0.42 | |
| Oversized Chocolate Chip Cookie | 23.31% | 62.18% | 32.86% | 0 | 2 | 8 | 0.25 | |
| Oreo Cheesecake | 14.18% | 50.00% | 100.00% | 3 | 3 | 7 | 0 | |
| Cherry Pie | 11.06% | 43.83% | 48.35% | 5 | 3 | 16 | -0.13 | |
| Fudge Brownie + Ice Cream | 9.88% | 41.08% | 40.08% | 4 | 2 | 11 | -0.18 | |
| Banana Split Sunday | 7.74% | 35.31% | 19.10% | 3 | 0 | 10 | -0.3 |
An Interactive Guide
Restaurant Survey Template: Sample Questions + Tips
Definition: A restaurant survey template will help you collect valuable feedback from customers. A restaurant survey is commonly included on table menus and receipts using a QR code. In addition to feedback, you can also conduct product research to offer new menu items or services.
This template is short and straightforward. First, there is a Net Promoter Score question and an open-ended follow-up. Below are two research questions, MaxDiff and Gabor Granger, to help you get familiar with conducting research. The survey finishes with a request for a social media review.
Sample Questions
Here is a list of sample questions you can include in your survey. This list of questions will help you collect more granular data.
- How likely are you to recommend this company to a friend or colleague? (Net Promoter Score)
- What is your age range? (Demographics)
- What is your zip code? (Demographics)
- What do you like best about our menu (Open-Ended)
- How satisfied were you with the drink menu? (Rating)
- How would you rate the cleanliness? (Rating)
- Was the wait staff friendly? (Multiple Choice)
- Do you prefer paper menus or QR codes? (Multiple Choice)
- What would bring you back for another visit? (Open-Ended)
- Would you like to leave a social media review? (Multiple Choice)
- Which of the following menu additions would be LEAST and MOST important? (MaxDiff)
- How would you evaluate the following price points if we offered unlimited appetizers for a flat price on Friday from 4 pm to 7 pm? (Gabor Granger)
Best Practices
Creating a Restaurant Survey: Best Practices
We recommend always using a Net Promoter Score question and a follow-up question asking why they scored it a certain way. This helps to keep the survey short—the follow-up to the promoter score questions uses machine learning to categorize the response. For example, if your restaurant has issues with wait staff friendliness, many open-ended answers will be tagged with "cleaned"; thus, you can identify problems without asking too many questions.
When creating your survey, only use a few of the above sample questions. These questions should only be used when you want to accomplish a specific goal or measure certain things. If you're looking to run social media ads, then asking demographics will fine-tune your advertising. If you feel your restaurant has an issue with cleanliness, then adding a specific question type for cleanliness will help quantify that issue (and can be tracked across multiple locations).
The last question on your survey should be a request to leave a social media review, like on Google reviews. This option means you can still ecolelct feedback from people without a social media account while also giving customers the opportunity to leave a public review.
One thing that many restaurant owners don't realize is that they can conduct product research themselves with a questionnaire. If you're looking to expand your menu or offer new services, then MaxDiff and Gabor granger can be used to conduct that research. These question types are based on statistical models and will give actionable data on what patrons value the most.
Add an incentive, such as 5% off their next order to boost response rates and encourage a return visit! (Redirect them to a page on your website, or ask them to capture a screenshot at the completion of the survey to receive the discount.)
Tips for franchises: Don't include a question asking for the restaurant location. This information should be automatically added using a query string. Asking this question only increases the survey length, decreasing response rates. If you need help setting this up, please get in touch with support.
Collecting Responses
The most efficient way to collect responses for a restaurant survey is using QR codes. You can place the QR codes on menus, table tents, receipts, or even stickers on the tables. QR codes give flexibility for customers to leave feedback at their convenience.
We recommend that wait staff tells customers about leaving feedback as some customers might not notice the QR code.
If your restaurant uses an online ordering system to collect the customer's email, then you can send email surveys to the customers. Wait at least a few hours after delivery to send the survey as you want to ensure the responses reflect the whole process; ordering and receiving the food.
Analyzing Results
The most important metric to measure when conducting a restaurant survey is tracking the Net Promoter Score. The score can be benchmarked. Internal goals can be set to improve the number. Remember, the closer the number is to 100, the better your restaurant serves customers.
When you include additional questions like demographics or restaurant location in a query string, you can use this data to segment your results. Segmentation is a key concept when analyzing survey data as it helps show the differences in opinions between certain groups.
Below is an example of the Net Promoter Score segmented by gender. You can see that males tend to have a higher perception of the restaurant than females.
For research questions like MaxDiff the results will show the list of attributes with the probability of an item being selected as most important. This might look a little intimidating if this is your first time conducting a restaurant survey. But once you become familiar with this type of data, you can start to collect actionable feedback to improve your establishment.
MaxDiff forces respondents to pick what is least and most important from a list of multiple attributes. Because of this, you can build statistical models from the responses. Below is an example of the MaxDiff output.
The Benefits of Restaurant Survey
Customer Retention
According to Jon Taffer: "Fewer than 50 percent return, because it's still outside their habit cycle. Yet, if they do come back, there is a 50 percent chance they'll return after a second visit and a 70 percent chance after a third".
Capturing enough guest feedback will help improve your establishment, increasing the chances a customer will come back for another visit. In addition, offering an incentive to take the survey, such as a discount on the following order, will increase the likelihood that a person will come back for a second visit and will help you give critical insights from a survey response.
Indentify Strengths + Problems
The Net Promoter Score question follow-up will automatically tag responses with a category. You can then analyze these categories to identify what your restaurant does well and needs improvement. Of course, even without machine learning, the Net Promoter Score and additional question types you add, such as cleanliness or wait staff friendliness, can give you hard quantifiable data.
New Offerings
Wetherer it's an unlimited appetizer option, a game night, or new dessert options, research questions can help identify new offerings. When priced correctly, these new offerings can increase your restaurant's bottom line. For large franchises, product research might uncover that certain regions value different offerings. This data can help local franchises by offering tailored things to those customers.