This week's article, "To Survive in Tough Times, Restaurants Turn to Data-Mining" is exactly what it sounds like. The article is all about how data mining has transformed the restaurant industry and how restaurants are using big data to improve their businesses. Data mining is generally examining large databases to generate new information. It's a process that helps discover patterns in large data sets. Data mining establishes relationships to solve problems through data analysis; it allows enterprises to predict future trends. In addition, each industry has found something valuable about data mining in enhancing both the big picture and the smaller details. So, it should be no surprise that the food industry has made significant progress in …show more content…
Both start-ups and established companies want to deliver up-to-the-minute data on sales, customers, staff performance or competitors by merging the information that restaurants already have with all sorts of data from outside sources. For example, like social media, tracking apps, reservation systems and review sites. The article further discusses how in the past, restaurants used ledgers to track sales and took notes about their customers' preferences. Then came the point-of-sale software and reservation services that provided more sophisticated records and analysis. However, newer companies now aspire to eliminate the need for translation, to create an analytics program that integrates all aspects of a restaurant's operations into one system, with one password, in real time with mobile access. The goal of many restaurants is to leverage the technology to do what owners would do if they had one small restaurant and were there all day. Moreover, the article mentioned a combination of three systems that work together to satisfy customers. First being the point-of-sale system, which is strong enough to handle the volume and simple enough to be able to