See how word-of-mouth grows your restaurant.
In the long run, the success of your restaurant largely depends on word-of-mouth growth. Three things affect it — how many customers share your business, how many people do they share it with, and how often. Let's model what word-of-mouth growth looks like, with or without Menulogic.
Tell us about your restaurant
Estimates are fine. Each number below has a real-world example to guide you.
400 orders per period
How many orders you take in a typical period — a period is whatever window you think in. Estimates are fine.
$14,000 in revenue per period today
What a typical order is worth before tips. Most independent restaurants land between $25 and $55 for online orders.
How many of your customers tell a friend about you? Without a reward, 5–10% do. With a referral reward, 20–35% do.
When one customer shares your restaurant, how many friends actually place an order? A group chat or story usually brings 1–3 orders.
0.75
25% of customers share × each brings 3.0 new orders
Each new wave of customers is smaller than the last. Referrals still add orders, but growth settles down over time.
Your average order value turns these orders into dollars in Step 3 — it does not change the multiplier itself.
Your referral multiplier = how many customers share × how many friends each customer brings in as orders. Referred friends count as orders, not just website visits.
Stretch it over time
Referrals do not happen overnight. A customer orders, gets their reward, and then shares with friends — that is one referral loop. Set how many periods to model and how many loops fit inside a period.
The time horizon, in the same periods your order volume is measured in. 6 periods × 1 loop = 6 referral loops.
One loop = a customer orders, gets their reward, and tells friends. Two loops a period means word-of-mouth travels twice as fast.
What a referral program changes
25%40% of customers share
Every customer gets their own code and a one-tap share link, plus reminders after they order — so far more of them actually pass it on.
3.04.0 orders per sharer
The friend's discount is applied automatically from the link, and tiered rewards keep your best sharers going past the first friend.
12 loops per period
Rewards land instantly, links apply themselves and reminders go out right after the order — so the wait between one order and their friends' orders gets shorter, and more loops fit in the same period.
Referral multiplier
0.751.60
Word-of-mouth is spreading fast
Each customer brings more than one new customer, so the growth keeps building. Real life limits this eventually, but the momentum is real.
How MenuLogic does it
Unique referral codes, auto-applied referral links, post-order reminders and tiered rewards are what move both numbers — and abuse checks keep the rewards honest.
See how the referral program worksWhat referrals could be worth
Total revenue
$46,033
1,315 orders
Revenue from referrals
$32,033
915 orders
Revenue you started with
$14,000
400 orders
Compared to no referrals
3.3×
Over 6 periods × 1 loop = 6 referral loops, your starting batch of $14,000 in revenue could turn into $46,033 — 3.3× more than without any referrals.
Total revenue today
$46,033
Total revenue with MenuLogic
$6.5M
Extra revenue unlocked
+$6.5M
+185,668 orders
Growth multiple
142.2×
At these settings a MenuLogic referral program pushes your multiplier past 1.0 — word-of-mouth becomes self-sustaining instead of fading out after a few loops.
Revenue over time
One batch of orders happens in loop 1, and the friends those customers refer become the next loop of orders. Each loop is smaller than the last. Showing your current numbers.
Loop by loop
| Loop | Revenue this loop | Revenue from friends they refer | Total revenue | Total orders | With MenuLogic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $14,000 | $10,500 | $14,000 | 400 | $36,400 |
| 2 | $10,500 | $7,875 | $24,500 | 700 | $129,584 |
| 3 | $7,875 | $5,906 | $32,375 | 925 | $368,135 |
| 4 | $5,906 | $4,430 | $38,281 | 1,094 | $978,826 |
| 5 | $4,430 | $3,322 | $42,711 | 1,220 | $2.5M |
| 6 | $3,322 | $2,492 | $46,033 | 1,315 | $6.5M |
These numbers are estimates based on what you enter and what we see across independent restaurants. They are not a guarantee of performance.
