MONTREAL, Dec. 13, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lightspeed Commerce Inc. (NYSE | TSX: LSPD) released its latest report on the buying behavior of restaurant customers during New Year’s Eve, offering a window into the potential sales opportunities available to American bars and restaurants this holiday season. With Advanced Insights built directly into the Lightspeed Restaurant platform, the company transforms data into useful strategies that help restaurants accelerate growth, provide the best customer experiences and become a go-to destination in their space.


The data*, which is based on a sample of thousands of restaurants and bars powered by Lightspeed across the U.S., highlights the key menu items that perform well with New Year's Eve customers and which ones underwhelm.


It comes as no surprise that restaurant goers are looking to indulge during New Year’s Eve, with premium ingredients topping the list of demands. Caviar, lobster and steak see their demand skyrocket, with requests increasing 66%, 31%, and 13% respectively.  Likewise, certain health-conscious options see a decline in demands, with salad sales falling by 23% overall.


Drinkers are also in a festive mood, looking to break out the bubbles to ring in the new year. Sales of sparkling wine —including champagne, prosecco and cava—saw a 111% increase in sales. Liquor, and cocktails, also remain a popular choice, with vodka (+14%), tequila (+11%) and whiskey (+4%) seeing the most significant increases. 


On the flip side, more habitual choices like beer and wine are passed over for their more premium counterparts. Wine sales decrease by 5% and beer sales drop by 23% compared to average Saturdays in December 2022.


All this celebration ultimately leads to patrons spending more on average. The median check size reached $53 on New Year's Eve in 2022, a 4% increase over the average median check size on Saturdays throughout December 2022 and a 10% increase over New Year's Eve in 2021. 


Any uptick in revenue is certainly welcome this time of year. As Peter Dougherty, General Manager of Hospitality at Lightspeed Commerce, points out, “New Year’s Eve doesn’t just mark the end of the year—it’s also the beginning of a slower period for restaurants and bars. That’s why turning more tables and getting more customers through the door is so important.“


While New Year’s Eve marks the end of the holiday season, and the start of a traditionally slow period for the hospitality industry, Lightspeed data shows there are some trends that can help restaurant and bar owners mitigate the change in the season. Data suggests that restaurant and bar owners can leverage New Year’s resolutions to drive sales:

• While fewer people go out to eat in January, the ones who do turn to greens: despite a 1.4% decrease in total salad sales in January 2023 compared to December 2022, salad sales as a percentage of total sales for restaurants that offer salads increased by 20% in January 2023 compared to December 2022. This suggests that consumers eat healthier in the early weeks of the new year. 
• Similarly, alcohol sales drop in the early months of the year. In January 2023, total sales for alcoholic beverages fell by 12% compared to December 2022. Despite the downturn, restaurant and bar owners can continue to leverage consistent sales of classic cocktails like the Margarita, Old Fashioned or Martini, which remain the top three best sellers throughout the year.  

Restaurant and bar owners looking to leverage this data to maximize revenue on New Year's Eve and in early 2024 will find actionable insights in Lightspeed’s latest article. 

Lightspeed powers the world’s best bars and restaurants, including: Boulud (New York), Alinea (Chicago), Recess (Chicago), Death & Co (Los Angeles), Mace (New York), Service Bar (Washington, DC), Collective Arts (Toronto), Joe Beef (Montreal), Cloakroom (Montreal), David Rocco Bar Aperitivo (Toronto), Cubitt House (London), Maybe Sammy (Sydney), Sunshine Brewery (Gisborne) and In den Ouden Vogelstruys (Maastricht).


Dive into Lightspeed Restaurant’s transformative features.


*Methodology
Lightspeed analyzed transactions from thousands of hospitality businesses across the United States powered by Lightspeed Restaurant. The analysis included diverse business categories such as bars, casual dining, upscale, fine dining venues and fast-casual businesses. The analysis compared various sales trends and menu items’ popularity between Saturday December 31, 2022 and the average of three Saturdays in December 2022 (excluding December 24, 2022) as well as comparing January 2023 against December 2022. 


About Lightspeed


Powering the businesses that are the backbone of the global economy, Lightspeed’s one-stop commerce platform helps merchants innovate to simplify, scale and provide exceptional customer experiences. Our cloud commerce solution transforms and unifies online and physical operations, multichannel sales, expansion to new locations, global payments, financial solutions and connection to supplier networks.


Founded in Montréal, Canada in 2005, Lightspeed is dual-listed on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange (NYSE | TSX: LSPD). With teams across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, the company serves retail, hospitality and golf businesses in over 100 countries.


For more information, see lightspeedhq.com.


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Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may include forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions and are identified by words such as "will", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates" or similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Such statements are based on current expectations of Lightspeed's management and inherently involve numerous risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, including economic factors. A number of risks, uncertainties and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release, including, among other factors, those risk factors identified in our most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, under "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Information Form, and in our other filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which are available under our profiles on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned to consider these and other factors carefully when making decisions with respect to Lightspeed's subordinate voting shares and not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and, while forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions that Lightspeed considers reasonable, actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made by Lightspeed. Except as may be expressly required by applicable law, Lightspeed does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


For further information: Media Contacts: Canada: Victoria Baker, NKPR - victoriab@nkpr.net; USA: Jennifer Fugel, Newsmaker Group- jfugel@newsmakergroup.com; Lightspeed Media Relations - media@lightspeedhq.com; Investor Relations: Gus Papageorgiou, Lightspeed Investor Relations - investorrelations@lightspeedhq.com

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• Caviar, lobster and steak see their demand skyrocket