Most operators understand revenue growth in theory and are tapping the old playbooks - increase venue traffic, invest in PR, tap paid social and keep tipping money into marketplaces. 

What they are missing is the infrastructure to break free of the playbook and fuel growth - too many are treading water.

Here's the hard truth: transactions don't grow without loyal guests. And in today's landscape, you need data to prove loyalty exists - because the guest journey is more fragile and valuable than it's ever been.

Three realities every operator should understand:

First-time guest retention is invisible to most venues.

Industry-wide, over 70% of new guests never return - only 30% convert to a second visit. Think about that: you're spending hundreds or thousands on ads monthly or marketplace marketing costs and then watching that investment disappear after one meal. A 5% lift in retention can increase profitability by up to 95%, yet most brands spend 5-7x more acquiring new customers than retaining existing ones.

Your regulars power the entire flywheel.

Between 60% and 80% of restaurant revenue comes from repeat guests - not the constant churn of one-time visitors. The top 20% of your guests drive roughly 60% of all transactions, yet half of these high-value regulars aren't enrolled in your loyalty program or captured in traditional CRM. That's untapped value sitting right in front of you.

Marketplace customers don't belong to you.

When an aggregator controls the transaction, it owns the relationship and the data. Those guests are strangers at best. At worst, you're funding someone else's loyalty engine. The second you stop paying for visibility, they redirect your guests to competitors.

How do you change the equation?

If you want to identify which menu items convert first-timers into regulars, tools like Liven Insights and Liven Engage reveal guest intelligence your POS alone can't capture - SKU-level retention impact and behaviors that drive action. 

If you want to treat your top 20% like VIPs instead of just loyalty program members, Liven Loyalty helps you identify, segment, and nurture valuable regulars based on their complete behavior - not just signup willingness. Liven Engage then delivers timely, personalized campaigns that actually impact retention and spend.

If you want more profitable, data-rich transactions, Liven's unified stack (Order, Delivery, Catering, Pay, and more) helps you reclaim the guest relationship, enrich your data, and build what actually matters: emotional connection and repeat business.

Stop chasing foot traffic. Start investing in integrated platforms like Liven One that make every guest feel recognized and motivated to return. Track what genuinely drives repeat visits - and it's not just rewards, offers, or worse, discounts.

Ready to shift from counting orders to compounding loyalty? Start with guest intelligence. Nurture your core 20%. Own the complete data loop on every order.

Chat with an expert from our team who can guide you through the process. The alternative? Treading water while someone else profits from your guests.