What our customer data taught us about the second order
We looked at six months of Buon Cibo’s online orders customer by customer. How many came back, how much of the money came from repeat orders, and how to run the same analysis on your business.
Journal
Notes from a working kitchen.
Practical writing for independent food-business owners on catering, preorders, events, ordering, and follow-up. From what we’ve built and tested.
We built a 1,500-person email list before our deli opened. Here’s how.
Before Buon Cibo sold a single sandwich, 1,500 neighbors had signed up to hear from us. The plan we followed, what it cost, and what I’d tell any owner getting ready to open.
Read the postRestaurant trends in 2026: what the data says for independent owners
Sales are growing on price, grocery stores are going after your dinner business, and labor keeps climbing. Nine trends from this year’s numbers, and what each one means if you run an independent restaurant, deli, market, or cafe.
DoorDash vs. your own online ordering: what restaurants actually keep in 2026
What the delivery apps charge now, what running your own ordering costs, what California law does and doesn’t protect, and when the apps are still worth it.
Customer lifetime value and repeat rate for restaurants: how to calculate them
A small share of guests drives a huge share of orders. How to measure your repeat rate and customer lifetime value with the tools you already have, and use them to decide what to spend on marketing.
How to tell if your restaurant’s marketing is working: measure orders, not likes
Apple changed how ads and email are measured. Which numbers still tell the truth, a setup a small restaurant can run, and a one-page monthly scorecard.
Menu engineering: how to use your sales data to decide what stays on the menu
The 1982 method for sorting every item into Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, and Dogs, with a worked example you can copy, what the research says about menu design, and where the classic method falls short.
What a 60% email open rate looks like for a restaurant, and how we keep it there
Week after week, more than 60% of Buon Cibo’s email list opens what we send. What we do differently, and why I don’t judge an email on opens alone.
Catering packages that are easy to buy and easy to price
How to turn one-off requests into three clear options with minimums and lead times.
Selling out a ticketed event before the night arrives
Capacity, pricing, ticketing, and the emails that fill seats.
Where online orders get lost, and how to fix it
The common points customers drop off between menu and checkout.
Pricing a family meal when food cost isn’t the whole cost
Labor, packaging, fees, and promotion all belong in the price.
Private event inquiries: what to ask before you quote
Qualifying questions that save time for you and the guest.
How to set up preorder dinners your kitchen can actually handle
Ordering deadlines, capacity limits, pickup windows, and the counts you need before you start cooking.
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