Glossary /
Customer retention rate
Written by PEKO Team.Last updated: 2026. 05. 21..
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: 2026. 05. 01.
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 10–15 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%.
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:
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