What information serves as a baseline for sales forecasts?

Using past sales as a baseline for sales forecasts is a fundamental practice in hospitality and restaurant management. This approach relies on historical data to identify patterns, seasonality, and trends within the business's sales performance. By analyzing previous sales figures, managers can make informed predictions about future sales, accounting for factors such as peak seasons, special events, and overall economic conditions.

Past sales records provide a clear reference point, allowing you to gauge how various factors—such as promotional activities or changes in service offerings—have impacted revenue in the past. This provides a more realistic and grounded foundation for making future sales estimates compared to other methods, which may be more speculative.

Other options, while valuable in their own right, serve different purposes. Customer surveys can offer insights into preferences and satisfaction but may not directly correlate with sales figures. Market trends are essential for understanding the broader economic environment but don’t specifically inform past performance. Competitor analysis can provide context on market positioning, but it is often more focused on external factors rather than internal sales history, making past sales the most reliable starting point for forecasting.