Glossary /
Customer retention rate
Written by Peko Research Team.Last updated: 09/15/2026.
Customer retention rate is the percentage of customers you keep over a defined period — the inverse of churn — measuring how well your venue holds onto guests.
Published: 05/01/2026
Updated September 2026 — Customer retention rate is the percentage of customers you keep over a defined period — the inverse of churn — measuring how well your venue holds onto guests. Retention rate = ((Customers at end − New customers acquired) / Customers at start) × 100.
Quick facts
- Definition
- Customer retention rate is the percentage of customers you keep over a defined period — the inverse of churn — measuring how well your venue holds onto guests.
- Why it matters
- Retention rate = ((Customers at end − New customers acquired) / Customers at start) × 100. It strips out new acquisition so you measure the health of your existing base, not the noise of marketing pushes.
- Worked example
- Start Q1 with 1,000 active customers. Acquire 200 new in Q1. End Q1 with 950. Retention = ((950 − 200) / 1,000) × 100 = 75%.
- Related terms
- Customer churn, Repeat customer rate, Win-back campaign
Retention rate = ((Customers at end − New customers acquired) / Customers at start) × 100. It strips out new acquisition so you measure the health of your existing base, not the noise of marketing pushes.
F&B benchmarks for 90-day retention: independent cafés 55–70%, full-service restaurants 50–65%, QSR 60–75%. Operators using AI-triggered win-back consistently sit 8–15 percentage points above benchmark.
Retention rate is the single most leveraged metric in F&B. A 5-point lift typically delivers 25–50% more profit because the marginal cost of a returning guest is near zero.
Worked example
Start Q1 with 1,000 active customers. Acquire 200 new in Q1. End Q1 with 950. Retention = ((950 − 200) / 1,000) × 100 = 75%.
Numbers on this page: named sources are listed below; figures without a named source are PEKO merchant data, Vietnam, Jan 2024 – Jun 2026, or PEKO estimates where modelled. See the datasets behind these numbers.
FAQ
What's the difference between retention rate and repeat rate?
Retention rate measures the percentage of an existing cohort that stays active. Repeat rate measures whether a customer came back at least once. Retention is stricter and a better long-horizon health metric.
What is a good retention rate for a restaurant?
Over 90 days, anything above 65% is strong for full-service and above 70% is strong for cafés and QSR. Top-quartile operators with AI win-back land at 75–85%.
Sources
The definitions and figures on this page reference the sources below:
Related terms
People also read
Term
First-time visitor conversion
First-time visitor conversion is the percentage of brand-new guests who return at least once within a defined window (typically 30 days).
Term
Customer churn
Customer churn is the percentage of customers who stop visiting your restaurant or buying from your café over a defined period (typically 30, 60, or 90 days).
Term
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is the total revenue a customer generates for your business across their entire relationship with you, before they churn.