The Latest Hybrid Ordering Performance Benchmarks

Every hospitality operator is looking for ways to increase revenue without adding complexity. The good news is that many GoTab customers are already doing exactly that.

We recently analyzed ordering and payment behavior across breweries, food halls, restaurants, and entertainment venues using anonymized data from real GoTab operators. While every venue is different, one trend appeared consistently across nearly every category:

Operators that combine traditional service with guest-driven ordering are generating larger tabs and capturing more tips than operators relying on a single ordering method alone.

The results vary by venue type, but the overall takeaway is clear. The most successful GoTab operators are not choosing between staff service and mobile ordering. They're giving guests the flexibility to use both.

A Few Definitions Before the Analysis

What is Hybrid Ordering? Hybrid ordering is a service model that combines traditional staff service with guest-driven ordering, allowing guests to order through servers, bartenders, kiosks, or their own mobile devices during the same visit. By giving guests multiple ways to order and reorder, hybrid ordering reduces friction, increases convenience, and often leads to higher guest spend and greater operational efficiency.

What is Easy Tab®? Easy Tab is GoTab's shared tab technology that allows guests to start a tab with a staff member and continue ordering from their own mobile device throughout their visit. Guests can view, manage, and close their tab at any time, creating a seamless hybrid ordering experience that increases convenience, encourages reorders, and improves tip capture.

Hybrid Ordering Consistently Produces Larger Tabs

Hybrid ordering allows guests to interact with staff while also maintaining the ability to order on their own throughout their visit. A guest may start a tab with a bartender, order food from their table, reorder another round from their phone, and close out whenever they're ready.

That flexibility appears to have a meaningful impact on spending.

Across all venues analyzed, hybrid ordering produced larger average tabs than either POS-only or mobile-only ordering.

The magnitude of the lift varied by business model.

Breweries and Taprooms See Some of the Largest Gains

Breweries showed some of the strongest hybrid ordering performance in the study.

On average:

• Hybrid tabs were 98% larger than POS-only tabs
• Hybrid tabs were 46% larger than mobile-only tabs

In several brewery examples, hybrid ordering more than doubled average guest spend.

This makes sense when you consider how brewery guests behave. They often stay longer, move throughout the venue, gather in groups, and order multiple rounds over the course of a visit. Hybrid ordering removes the friction of waiting in line or tracking down staff for every reorder.

Instead of replacing hospitality, it extends it.

Food Halls Benefit From Guest Mobility

Food halls delivered some of the most dramatic results in the dataset.

On average:

• Hybrid tabs were 98% larger than POS-only tabs
• Hybrid tabs were 63% larger than mobile-only tabs

Food hall guests naturally move between vendors, bars, and seating areas. When guests can continue adding items to a shared tab throughout their visit, ordering becomes easier and spending often increases.

The data suggests that guest mobility and convenience play a significant role in driving larger checks.

Restaurants See More Modest but Meaningful Growth

Restaurants showed a different pattern.

Restaurant operators already tend to have larger average checks because of full-service dining, so the relative gains from hybrid ordering were smaller.

Even so:

• Hybrid tabs were 24% larger than POS-only tabs
• Hybrid tabs were more than twice the size of mobile-only tabs

For restaurant operators, hybrid ordering is less about replacing traditional service and more about creating additional opportunities for guests to engage.

Guests can order another drink, add dessert, or continue their tab without interrupting the dining experience.

Entertainment Venues Create More Spending Opportunities

Entertainment venues produced mixed results because many transactions include reservations, group events, game play, or activity fees that can significantly influence average check size.

However, one trend remained consistent:

Hybrid ordering generated larger tabs than mobile-only ordering and helped guests continue spending throughout their visit.

Whether guests are playing pickleball, bowling, watching a movie, or participating in another activity, removing friction from the ordering process makes it easier to purchase additional food and beverages without leaving the experience.

The Tipping Story May Be Even More Compelling

While larger tabs are exciting, the tipping data revealed another important opportunity.

Operators using guest-initiated tab closure consistently achieved higher tip attachment rates than traditional payment workflows.

In many cases, the difference was substantial.

Across breweries, food halls, restaurants, and entertainment venues:

• Easy Tab users achieved tip attachment rates approaching 100%
• Self-close workflows consistently outperformed traditional POS payment
• Entertainment venues saw some of the largest improvements, with tip attachment rates increasing by nearly 20 percentage points

Why does this happen?

When guests close their own tab from their phone, tipping becomes a natural part of the checkout experience. There is no terminal handoff, no line at a counter, and no awkward payment interaction.

The result is a smoother guest experience and stronger tip performance for staff.

Different Venue Types, Different Opportunities

One of the most important lessons from this analysis is that there is no single benchmark for success.

A food hall operates differently than a brewery. A restaurant behaves differently than an entertainment venue.

The operators seeing the strongest results are not necessarily those with the highest percentage of mobile ordering. Instead, they are the operators who align ordering options with the way their guests naturally behave.

For breweries, that often means enabling quick reorders and guest mobility.

For food halls, it means supporting multi-vendor ordering and shared tabs.

For restaurants, it may mean creating convenient opportunities for incremental purchases.

For entertainment venues, it means allowing guests to stay engaged in the activity while continuing to order throughout their visit.

A Good Time to Evaluate Your Setup

If your venue already uses GoTab, this data provides a useful opportunity to review how guests are ordering and paying today.

Questions worth asking include:

• Are guests able to reorder easily throughout their visit?
• Are staff members promoting Easy Tab where appropriate?
• Is guest-initiated tab closure enabled and visible?
• Are mobile ordering and traditional service working together?
• Are guests able to move throughout the venue without losing access to their tab?

The operators generating the strongest results are creating experiences that remove friction while preserving hospitality.

The goal is not to replace staff. It's to give guests more ways to engage, order, and return.

And based on the data, those small moments of convenience can have a meaningful impact on both revenue and profitability.

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