Forecast
Where Business intelligence tells you what to do about what already happened, Forecast looks the other way - it tells you what’s likely to happen next. It projects the weeks ahead across all your venues: predicted demand and projected revenue, upcoming no-show risk, and regulars at risk of lapsing. Every figure carries an 80% confidence range and the drivers behind it, and the whole thing is refreshed nightly.
Where to find it
Section titled “Where to find it”Forecast is the forward-looking part of the Business intelligence tab. In the client portal’s main menu, open Analytics, switch to the Business intelligence tab (or go straight to Analytics → Business intelligence ↗), and the Forecast section sits at the top of the page, above the daily insight cards.
The controls
Section titled “The controls”Two controls at the top of the Forecast section shape everything below them:
- Venue scope - forecast all your venues together, or pick a single venue.
- Horizon - how far ahead to project: Next 4 weeks (the default), Next 8 weeks, or Next 2 weeks.
Both settings flow through to every card and to the staffing & prep plan export below.
When predictions appear
Section titled “When predictions appear”Forecasts are built from your own booking history, so a venue needs enough of it before a prediction is worth showing. A brand-new venue, or one with only a few weeks of data, may show:
Not enough history yet to forecast - predictions appear as your venues gather more bookings.
As a venue builds up history, its forecast steadies and the confidence ranges tighten. While a venue is still early, predictions may lean on a blended baseline from across your account and carry a wider range - you’ll see a short note on the card when that’s the case. Everything is read-only: looking at a forecast never changes anything.
Once there’s enough history to check past forecasts against what actually happened, a small Recent forecast accuracy badge appears above the cards - a running accuracy percentage for demand and revenue (for example Recent forecast accuracy - Covers 83% · Revenue 76%). It gives you a quick sense of how much to lean on the numbers below, and only shows once the backtest has enough history to be meaningful.
What each card tells you
Section titled “What each card tells you”Predicted demand
Section titled “Predicted demand”Expected covers for each week in your horizon, each with its 80% range, plus headline tiles for covers next week and covers over the whole horizon. The forecast is aware of things that make a date unlike the plain weekday it would otherwise resemble - public holidays, school breaks and disruptive weather in the period all widen the range for the dates they affect, and the card calls them out so you know why.
When a venue has a reliably quiet service window, the card offers a one-click Schedule an offer action that opens a targeted campaign primed to help fill it.
Projected revenue
Section titled “Projected revenue”Projected revenue for each week ahead with its 80% range, a rolling next-28-days projection, and a pacing line that compares how the current week is tracking against what the forecast expected by this point - so you can see early whether you’re running ahead of or behind plan.
No-show risk
Section titled “No-show risk”The upcoming bookings most likely to no-show over the next 14 days, each with a risk percentage, a risk badge, and the drivers behind the score. Headline tiles summarise how many bookings are upcoming, the number of likely no-shows, and how many are high risk.
A built-in “what if you required a deposit?” tool lets you pick a deposit amount and see the projected effect - how many no-shows it would likely avert and the revenue that protects - across your undeposited upcoming bookings. When high risk clusters on slots with no deposit, a Set up a deposit policy action links straight to the venue’s payment policies.
Regulars at risk
Section titled “Regulars at risk”The regular guests most likely to lapse, each with a lapse probability, their value at risk, and the drivers behind it. Tiles summarise how many regulars are at risk or lapsing, the total value at risk, and how many have already lapsed. A Create a win-back campaign action helps you reach them before they drift away.
How you compare
Section titled “How you compare”Below the four cards, a How you compare card benchmarks your own operating metrics against similar venues across Sidedoor. For each metric it shows your value, a verdict badge, and a small range bar that places you against the peer group.
- The peer group is anonymous and size-matched. Your venues are compared to a cohort of similar-size venues on the platform - a smaller, mid-size or larger band, so you’re measured against venues of roughly your scale rather than the whole network. A comparison only shows once the cohort is big enough (a minimum group size, e.g. 5 venues per group). You only ever see aggregate figures for the group - nothing identifies another business.
- The range bar shows the middle 50% of the peer group (the 25th to 75th percentile) with the typical (median) venue marked, and your own value marked against it, so “you vs similar venues” is clear at a glance. Each row also spells it out in words (for example you £42 · typical similar venue ~£38).
- Verdict badges flag where you stand on each metric: Ahead, Typical, or Behind.
Opting out of benchmarking
Section titled “Opting out of benchmarking”Benchmarking is on by default. If you’d rather your venues not take part, use the Opt out of anonymous benchmarking control at the bottom of the card. Opting out excludes your venues from the peer cohort and hides the peer comparisons for you; the card then just shows that you’re opted out, with a Turn benchmarking back on control to re-enable it whenever you like.
Staffing & prep plan
Section titled “Staffing & prep plan”The Predicted demand card can turn its forecast into a ready-to-use staffing & prep plan - a roster you can print or hand to a manager. Under the demand card, use:
- Staffing plan · Print / PDF - opens a print-friendly roster you can print or save as a PDF.
- CSV - downloads the same roster as a spreadsheet.
Both honour the Forecast section’s current venue scope and horizon (up to 8 weeks). The roster has one row per venue, date and service, with these columns:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Venue | The venue the row is for. |
| Date / Day | The service date and its weekday. |
| Service | The service window (breakfast, lunch, afternoon, dinner or late). |
| Expected covers | The forecast’s expected (middle-of-the-range) covers. |
| Plan for | The covers to staff and prep to - the busy case (see below). |
| Front of house | Suggested front-of-house / server headcount. |
| Kitchen | Suggested kitchen headcount. |
Two things to know about the suggestions:
- They plan to the busy case. The Plan for figure - and the staffing that follows from it - is set to the upper end of the 80% range, not the middle. That’s deliberate: it’s safer to be ready for a high night than to under-prep one. The Expected covers column shows the middle-of-the-range figure alongside it for comparison.
- The headcounts are guide figures, tunable per venue. By default they use simple rules of thumb - roughly one front-of-house per 16 covers, one kitchen per 25, and at least one of each per open service. Each venue can change these ratios under Settings → Availability → Staffing, and the plan then sizes that venue to its own numbers. Treat the result as a draft to tune to your own venue, service style and team, not a fixed rota. When a plan spans venues with different ratios, its subtitle notes it’s built per each venue’s Staffing settings.
Who can see what
Section titled “Who can see what”Forecast respects each teammate’s analytics access, just like the rest of Analytics. Anyone with analytics access can see the Forecast section. Guest names on the No-show risk and Regulars at risk cards appear only if you also have Guest access - without it, those entries are still shown, just without the name (for example Party of 4 or Regular · 12 visits).
Account owners see everything; grant these levels for custom roles under Team, roles & permissions.
Related
Section titled “Related”- Business intelligence - the decision-support insight cards that sit below Forecast on the same tab.
- Analytics & reporting overview - how access levels and measures work.
- Deposits & holds - set the deposit policies the no-show card links to.