25 questions to ask your restaurant's sales data

The best questions to ask your restaurant's sales data are short, name a period and point at a decision: how much you sold, when you are busy, what sells, who sells it, how guests pay and what the weather did. Below are 25 of them in seven groups, each with what the answer shows in Othra and the decision it helps you make.

Othra is a read-only assistant from Ordero that connects to a restaurant's Clover point of sale and answers questions about its sales in plain English or Turkish. Othra works out every figure from your own orders; the AI explains them and says so when the data is not there. Every answer shows the dates, number of days and number of orders it covers. New to the product? Read what Othra is.

What Clover data does each group of questions need?

Most questions need only orders and items; staff and payment questions need two extra permissions on your Clover API token.

Sales and trends: is business up or down?

Sales and trend questions tell you whether the business is growing, flat or slipping.

1. "How much did we sell last week?"

Shows: Othra returns figure cards for sales, orders and average ticket, compared with the week before. Helps you decide: whether last week was normal, and what your weekly baseline is.

2. "How did this month compare with last month?"

Shows: figure cards for both months, a chart of sales by day and suggestions; for periods under six weeks, Othra adds the previous period automatically. Helps you decide: whether a change is worth acting on.

3. "What is our average ticket this month?"

Shows: the Othra average ticket card (average spend per order), next to the previous month. Helps you decide: whether combos, add-ons or a price review deserve attention.

4. "Show me weekly sales for the last three months."

Shows: a chart of sales by week across roughly 90 days, the longest stretch one Othra question covers. Helps you decide: how to plan stock and staffing around your own seasonal pattern.

5. "How are we doing today compared with last week?"

Shows: every new Othra chat opens with today's sales and orders so far, compared with the same time last week. Helps you decide: mid-shift calls, such as bringing in help or sending someone home.

6. "What share of our sales is dine in, take out and delivery?"

Shows: the share of each Clover order type for the period, as figures and a chart. Helps you decide: where to put effort: dining room, pickup counter or delivery.

Days and hours: when are you actually busy?

Day and hour questions turn a feeling of "busy" into a pattern you can schedule against.

7. "What were our best and slowest days last month?"

Shows: Othra cards naming the best and slowest day with dates and sales, plus a chart of sales by day. Helps you decide: whether the best day can be repeated and the slowest one fixed.

8. "Which day of the week is our busiest?"

Shows: a chart of sales by weekday, Monday through Sunday side by side. Helps you decide: which days need your strongest crew and which could carry a special.

9. "What are our busiest and slowest hours?"

Shows: a chart of sales by hour in your time zone, with the busiest hour called out. Helps you decide: shift times, when prep must be done, and whether opening hours still match demand.

10. "What were our busiest hours last weekend?"

Shows: the sales-by-hour chart for just those two days. Helps you decide: weekend staffing and how much to prep before the first rush.

Menu and items: what earns its place?

Menu questions show which items and categories carry your sales.

11. "What were our top 10 best sellers this month by sales?"

Shows: an Othra ranked list of items by dollar sales. Helps you decide: which dishes to protect, feature and never run out of.

12. "Which items sell the most by quantity?"

Shows: best sellers ranked by units sold, which can differ from the ranking by sales. Helps you decide: prep quantities and ingredient orders.

13. "Which menu categories bring in the most sales?"

Shows: sales by the categories set up in Clover, as figures and a chart. Helps you decide: menu layout and where a new item would fit.

14. "Which items have the best margin?"

Shows: margins by item, only when item costs are entered in Clover; otherwise Othra says the data is not there. Helps you decide: which items to recommend and which prices to review.

Staff: who sells, and who refunds?

Staff questions need the Employees permission, and Othra answers them with ranked bars: rank on the left, name inside the bar, amount and order or refund count on the right. More in our New Jersey guide to staff, tips and refunds.

15. "Who sold the most last week?"

Shows: ranked bars of sales by employee, with order counts. Helps you decide: who to schedule on peak shifts and who to pair with newer staff.

16. "Which employee has the highest average ticket?"

Shows: Othra ranked bars of average ticket by employee. Helps you decide: whose selling habits to share with the team.

17. "Who issued the most refunds this month?"

Shows: ranked bars of refunds by employee, with amount and number of refunds. Helps you decide: whether refunds follow a pattern, such as one shift or a training gap.

Payments, tips and tax: where does the money go?

Payment questions need the Payments permission; Othra uses only amounts, tips, tax and payment type, never card numbers.

18. "How much did we collect in tips last month?"

Shows: a tips card next to sales, with the previous period for comparison. Helps you decide: how tips moved with sales, and what to tell staff when they ask.

19. "What share of sales was cash, credit and debit?"

Shows: Othra figures and a chart of cash, credit and debit shares. Helps you decide: how much cash to keep on hand and how much volume runs through cards.

20. "How much sales tax did we collect over the last three months?"

Shows: the sales tax collected in Clover for up to about three months. Helps you decide: how much to set aside, with a figure to check against your accountant's.

21. "How much did refunds and discounts cost us this month?"

Shows: Othra cards for refunds and discounts, compared with the month before. Helps you decide: whether a promotion was worth it, and whether refunds need a look by staff (question 17).

Weather: does it change your sales?

Weather questions compare your own sales on sunny, cloudy, rainy and snowy days. Othra looks up the daily weather at your ZIP code (Open-Meteo) for the last three months; a day with at least 0.04 inches of rain counts as rainy. See our New York post on rain and rush hours and Austin post on heat and festivals.

22. "Do we sell more on rainy days?"

Shows: sunny, cloudy, rainy and snowy days side by side, with the number of days, average sales a day, share of sales and the difference from an average day for each. Helps you decide: whether to lean on delivery, change prep or trim a shift when rain is coming.

23. "How did cloudy days compare with sunny days over the last three months?"

Shows: the weather comparison across three months, with a chart; the app header also shows the weather now and, on hover, the next 24 hours and 5 days. Helps you decide: how to match staffing and prep to the forecast.

Reports and sharing: how do you pass an answer on?

Report questions turn a conversation into something you can send to a partner, manager or accountant.

24. "Summarize last month in five lines with three suggestions."

Shows: a short summary with suggestions, built only from figures Othra calculated from your orders. Helps you decide: what to raise at the next team meeting.

25. "Make this a PDF report."

Shows: a PDF report on the subject of the conversation (not a copy of the chat): Othra logo on the left, your business name on the right, a summary, figures, charts and recommendations, all from the saved answers. Helps you decide: what to share without retyping a number.

How do you ask a good question?

A good question names the period, sticks to one topic and gets a follow-up.

• Name the period. "Last week" or "the last 90 days". One question covers up to about three months.
• One topic per question. Ask about staff, then about tips. Two clean answers beat one tangled one.
• Follow up. "Why was Tuesday slow?" or "Now show that by hour" builds on the last answer. Chats are saved and searchable.
• Ask for a PDF at the end. Type "make this a PDF report" or press Report.

For a quick look without asking, the Statistics page shows cards and charts for Today, 7, 30 or 90 days, computed from every order with no AI.

What can't Othra answer?

Othra answers only from your Clover data, so some questions are out of reach by design:

• Profit without item costs. Margins need item costs entered in Clover; without them, Othra says the data is not there.
• Anything not in Clover. Rent, bills or numbers you keep outside Clover are not visible to it.
• More than about three months in one question. Split a longer stretch into separate questions, one quarter at a time.
• Changes to Clover. It is read only and never creates, changes or deletes anything in Clover: no prices, items, orders or settings.

For how Ordero's products work with Clover in general, see Ordero and Clover. Clover is a trademark of its owner; Ordero is not affiliated with or endorsed by Clover.

How can you try these questions for free?

You can try every question in this guide free on sample data before connecting your own Clover. The sample is a made-up pizzeria with three months of orders: open Othra, sign in with an Ordero account (or create one) and start asking.

To use your own data, create an API token in the Clover web dashboard with Read on Orders, Inventory and Merchant, plus Payments and Employees, and paste it with your Merchant ID. The first read of a month or more takes longest; after that, answers come back in seconds. Othra costs $19.99 a month per restaurant (see pricing), and you can cancel any time. More detail is on the Othra product page.

Ordero also makes the Voice Agent, which answers your restaurant's phone and takes orders from your real menu, with no commission on any order.