The Biggest Margin Opportunity Hiding in Plain Sight

Restaurant operators are not lacking focus right now. At the Restaurant Leadership Conference (RLC), the conversation centered on the same pressures everyone is feeling: tight margins, rising costs, and slower real growth. The National Restaurant Association is projecting 4.8 percent growth this year, but only 1.3 percent of that is real. Only 42 percent of restaurants were profitable last year.

Still, some brands are gaining ground by responding with sharper operations, smarter tech investments, and more disciplined expansion.

CAVA is on pace to reach 1,000 locations by 2032, scaling with a tightly controlled model. Marco’s Pizza improved order accuracy scores by eight points and gained two full percentage points in margin through operational changes. Church’s Texas Chicken has delivered three consecutive years of positive traffic growth while tripling its digital mix from 6 percent–18 percent.

But there is still a blind spot.

Most operators are focused on cutting costs or raising prices. Both have limits. Cost reductions eventually impact the guest experience. Price increases risk traffic, especially as consumers face rising everyday expenses. What is far less discussed is a third lever that sits inside every digital order: the transaction itself.

“By the time a customer reaches checkout, brands have their full attention and clear intent,” says Rob Murphy, senior vice president of quick-service restaurant strategic partnerships at Rokt. “That moment is one of the most valuable in the entire customer journey, but most brands are not treating it that way.”

Digital ordering now accounts for a meaningful share of sales—often 30 percent or more, and higher for digitally mature brands. Each transaction is a high-intent interaction that can either end at payment or extend with incremental revenue.

Today, most end at payment.

Leading brands see the opportunity in checkout. But, instead of crowding checkout with multiple offers, they deliver a single, relevant next action. That decision is driven by first-party data, including order history, preferences, and behavior.

First-party offers (such as loyalty enrollment, rewards redemption, or add-on items) can increase average check and frequency. Third-party offers, funded by brand partners, create incremental revenue without relying on discounting or impacting food costs. That could mean pairing a delivery order with a relevant “dinner and a movie” offer, such as a Disney+ streaming promotion, to extend value beyond the meal itself. “When you get it right, it feels helpful, not intrusive,” Murphy says. “It enhances the experience while also driving measurable value.”

The economics are straightforward. Revenue generated during checkout flows directly to the bottom line or reinvested into customer acquisition. There is no additional labor, no new menu complexity, and no operational disruption.

Leading operators already think this way. At RLC, the focus was on tightening the core, using technology to enhance—not replace—the guest experience, and driving more value from existing customers. The transaction moment sits at the center of that strategy.

Rokt helps brands activate it. Its platform works in real time to determine the most relevant next step during checkout, balancing revenue opportunity with customer experience. Sometimes that means showing a single targeted offer. Sometimes it means showing nothing at all to protect conversion.

The discipline is what makes it work. Growth does not have to come from more traffic or higher prices. It can come from maximizing the interactions already happening at scale—especially the ones where intent is highest.

“The opportunity is hiding in plain sight,” Murphy says. “If operators can improve the value of each transaction even slightly, it compounds quickly across the business.”