Glossary /
Average Order Value (AOV)
Written by PEKO Team.Last updated: 21/05/2026.
Average Order Value (AOV) is the average amount a customer spends per transaction at your restaurant or café over a defined period.
Published: 01/05/2026
AOV = Total Revenue / Number of Orders. It's the cleanest top-line metric to test the impact of menu engineering, upsells, combo bundles, and pricing changes.
Pairing AOV with visit frequency gives a much sharper picture than either alone. A 10% AOV lift compounds with retention — every retained customer is now worth 10% more for the rest of their lifecycle.
AI menu recommendations and personalised upsells (e.g. 'Add the matcha latte you tried last time?') routinely lift AOV 8–15% without reducing visit counts.
Worked example
A café does $24,000 in revenue from 3,000 orders this month. AOV = $24,000 / 3,000 = $8. Adding a $1.50 average upsell per order at 50% uptake lifts AOV to $8.75 — a 9.4% margin-positive lift.
FAQ
How do I increase AOV in my restaurant?
The three highest-leverage moves are (1) trained, scripted upsells at point of order, (2) bundled combos priced just below the sum of parts, and (3) personalised AI recommendations based on prior order history.
Does loyalty discounting hurt AOV?
Blanket discounts do — they train guests to wait for a deal. Targeted incentives that unlock add-ons (free side with $X spend) lift AOV instead of compressing it.
Sources
The definitions and figures on this page reference the sources below:
Related terms
People also read
Term
Loyalty program ROI
Loyalty program ROI measures the incremental profit (not revenue) generated by your program, after netting out reward costs and software fees.
Term
Win-back campaign
A win-back campaign is a targeted message — usually with an incentive — sent to customers who have stopped visiting, with the goal of triggering a return visit.
Term
Cohort analysis
Cohort analysis groups customers by a shared starting event (usually their first visit month) and tracks how each group's behaviour evolves over time.