[For Restaurants Aiming to Move Beyond Reservation Sites] The #1 Challenge They Want to Solve by Introducing an App is 'Building a Stable Revenue Base by Improving Repeat Rates'!

AllToday, Inc. (Headquarters: Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture) has conducted and published the results of a survey on the "operational hurdles in introducing store apps in the restaurant industry," targeting managers and operations supervisors of repeat-visit businesses (restaurants).

Survey Overview Survey Title: Survey on "Operational Hurdles in Introducing Store Apps in the Restaurant Industry" [Survey Period] March 13, 2026 (Fri) – March 17, 2026 (Tue) [Survey Method] Internet survey via PRIZMA (https://www.prizma-link.com/press) [Number of Respondents] 251 people [Target Audience] Monitors who identified themselves as managers or operations supervisors of repeat-visit businesses (restaurants) at the time of the survey [Survey Conducted By] AllToday, Inc. (https://www.alltoday.jp/) [Monitor Provider] Sacrisa

*When citing these survey results, please use the URL for "AllToday, Inc." (https://www.alltoday.jp/).

Survey Results Summary When asked, "If you could introduce an original official app for your store, which of your current management challenges would you be happy to see solved?", the most common response was "Building a stable revenue base by improving repeat rates (46.2%)," followed by "Reducing operational burdens such as phone reservations and inquiry handling (41.4%)" and "Effective marketing through the accumulation of customer data (37.1%)."

"Building a stable revenue base by improving repeat rates" being the top answer highlights the current market reality where acquiring new customers is becoming increasingly difficult.

Since "reducing operational burdens" was the next most selected option, it is clear that restaurants are struggling with how to lower on-site operational loads while simultaneously securing revenue.

Furthermore, "accumulation of customer data" also ranked high, suggesting that what managers are seeking in an app is not just a new customer acquisition tool, but a system that can automate relationship-building with customers and efficiently cultivate repeaters with limited staff.

So, what specific functions are actually required in store operations to solve these management challenges?

When asked about "official app functions that you think would be convenient to have," the most common response was "Individual messages and coupons that arrive automatically, such as for birthdays (39.4%)," followed by "A page to check visit history and past purchase history (39.0%)" and "Digital point cards with a rank-up function (35.9%)."

The reason "automatically arriving individual messages/coupons" and "pages to check visit/purchase history" topped the list is likely tied to the "improving repeat rates" challenge identified in the previous question.

This reveals the intention of the staff to automate and systematize personalized approaches for each customer without manual intervention.

Additionally, functions like "digital point cards" and "24/7 reservation availability" also garnered support, indicating a demand for tools that can simultaneously improve the customer experience and increase staff operational efficiency.

Conclusion This survey clarified the challenges faced by restaurant managers and operations supervisors, as well as their expectations for apps to solve them.

While many cited "building a stable revenue base by improving repeat rates" as a challenge, there is also a demand for "reducing operational burdens" such as handling reservations and inquiries.

To address these challenges, "automatic individual messages/coupons" and "checking visit and purchase history" were selected as the top desired app functions.

From these results, it can be said that what restaurants are looking for is not just a customer acquisition tool, but a mechanism that can "automate" continuous relationship-building with customers and cultivate repeaters without increasing the burden on staff.

Rather than relying on external reservation sites, accumulating customer data through an original company app and balancing efficient store operations with improved brand power will likely be a key factor in future restaurant management.