What we learned about local restaurant sales in Maine

Maine is the 30th-ranked state for average restaurant revenues in the United States, pulling in 15% less in daily revenue than the national average on a given day.

How much do restaurants in Maine make on an average day?

On a given day, restaurants in Maine brought in $1,083 in revenue. The average restaurant also processed about 38 transactions each day while seeing customers spend an average of $28.56 per ticket.

Sales Revenue	Transactions	Ticket Size
$1,083	38	$28.56
National Rank: 30	National Rank: 35	National Rank: 21

 

How much do local restaurants in Maine make each week?

Weekends are big for restaurants across the country, and things were no different in the Pine Tree State, with 56% of all revenue coming in between Friday and Sunday.

Saturday was the biggest day of the week, accounting for 21% of all local restaurant revenue. Monday was the lowest performing day of the week, accounting for 9% of all revenue.

 

Saturday was also the busiest day of the week in terms of foot traffic, with Maine restaurants processing an average of 47 transactions per day.

Mainers open their pocketbooks the most on Saturdays as well, spending $32.29 per ticket on average. Which is 13% more than the average ticket throughout the week.

 

 

How much does the average restaurant in Maine make in a year?

Restaurants in Maine experience their biggest months during the summer, as opposed to most restaurants across the country where revenue stays mostly consistent throughout the year.

 

Top 5 days for Maine restaurants

Summertime was big for restaurants in Maine with each of their top five days all coming in weekends in July and August.

#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
8/4/18	8/11/18	8/18/18	7/21/18	8/17/18
Saturday	Saturday	Saturday	Saturday	Friday

 

Maine restaurants on prominent days

Restaurants look to events and holidays to generate big sales for their business. Here’s how prominent days rank compared to the average day.

	Day rank based on total sales			How much did restaurants that were open make?
Day	Day Rank	Total rev vs avg	% of restaurants open	Avg rev	Rev vs avg	Avg txns	Txns vs avg	Avg ticket	Ticket vs avg
New Year's Day	360	-63%	38%	$854	-21%	29	-22%	$28.98	1%
Super Bowl Sunday	283	-34%	67%	$860	-21%	32	-16%	$27.10	-5%
Valentine's Day	133	12%	84%	$1,166	8%	37	-3%	$31.56	11%
President's Day	305	-42%	64%	$799	-26%	32	-16%	$25.19	-12%
St. Patrick's Day	22	70%	86%	$1,731	60%	59	56%	$29.31	3%
Saturday before Easter	48	50%	88%	$1,494	38%	46	22%	$32.25	13%
Easter Sunday	241	-22%	59%	$1,172	8%	34	-11%	$34.83	22%
Cinco de Mayo	44	51%	89%	$1,496	38%	50	32%	$29.92	5%
Day before Mother's Day	28	65%	92%	$1,565	44%	47	24%	$33.37	17%
Mother's Day	29	64%	78%	$1,854	71%	49	28%	$38.07	33%
Memorial Day	224	-17%	64%	$1,134	5%	38	1%	$29.73	4%
Day before Father's Day	31	63%	93%	$1,538	42%	47	25%	$32.48	14%
Father's Day	70	39%	77%	$1,588	47%	46	21%	$34.73	22%
4th of July	169	-3%	61%	$1,402	29%	40	6%	$34.84	22%
Labor Day	157	2%	63%	$1,433	32%	42	11%	$33.93	19%
Halloween	234	-20%	78%	$903	-17%	39	2%	$23.26	-19%
Veteran's Day	200	-12%	70%	$1,097	1%	41	7%	$26.97	-6%
Thanksgiving	346	-56%	29%	$1,339	24%	35	-8%	$38.33	34%
Black Friday	153	4%	78%	$1,172	8%	36	-5%	$32.40	13%
Saturday before Christmas	96	29%	80%	$1,409	30%	43	13%	$32.78	15%
Christmas Eve	192	-10%	53%	$1,494	38%	39	2%	$38.79	36%
Christmas Day	362	-65%	18%	$1,675	55%	41	9%	$40.40	41%
New Year's Eve	89	30%	63%	$1,823	68%	51	35%	$35.55	24%

Tips and ideas from the Maine Restaurant Association

Steve Hewins, President and CEO of HospitalityMaine gives the following advice to Maine restaurant owners:

"Maine is a state that is has a long history in hospitality and especially with smaller, locally owned operations. Its eating establishments are well known for their service quality and focus on locally sourced food from both land and sea. While Portland's restaurants, often chef-owned, are widely recognized as some of the best of any small city in the country, similar food scenes are spreading to cities and towns across the state. Maine's hospitality industry is also highly seasonal with the peak period crammed into July through October. However, the other periods of the year are growing, especially in parts of the state that cater to the exceptional outdoor sports opportunities and the quiet solitude of the off season."

"These factors, and the intense competition that it creates, requires successful restaurant operators to pay closer attention to their businesses than ever before. Having relevant market data is critical in guiding the right decisions that will keep their business growing and thriving. Often smaller, independent restaurants, that are not members of a national chain or franchise, are unable to access the metrics and research available to those businesses that are part of a larger network."

"The restaurant industry has become incredibly complex from handling food safely, to sourcing and retaining employees, to marketing and sales. Local and state legislation that seek to put more controls and regulations on restaurants add even more challenges. Independent restaurants need to pay close attention to all this and more to be successful. Those not adapting in such a competitive and dynamic environment will not likely make it for the long term."

Methodology

Womply analyzed daily revenue for 42,223 restaurants in all 50 states, including Maine, as well as the District of Columbia for all 365 days of the 2018 calendar year. Restaurants were only qualified for the analysis if they qualified as small businesses, Womply had a full year of transaction history, and the business recorded multiple transactions per day, on average.