Data in the Dark: The haunting cost of misused metrics

             October has a way of making us notice shadows.  In food service, things that can scare away our optimal performance are not found lurking in hallways but rather hiding in spreadsheets.  Spooky metrics are numbers that disguise themselves as insight but mask the real story.  These haunted corners of your metrics can offer more tricks than treats.

• Cursed Correlations – Remember the childhood warning, “step on a crack, break your mother’s back?” We knew it wasn’t true, but we hoped over the cracks anyway. Today, leaders can fall for the same trap with metrics by mistaking coincidence for causation. “Just because two factors move together doesn’t mean one causes the other—an unseen third factor could influence both.” (1)  Imagine, if you will, that a menu item sells out during a promotion. It feels like a win, but a closer look reveals that a viral post gave your dish a temporary spotlight. When the buzz fades, so do the sales. It’s the business equivalent of superstition: tempting to trust, but dangerous to act on.

• Illusion of Insight – Just like a rigged two-way mirror can trick you into seeing spooks, some Key Point Indicators (KPI) can create the illusion of insight.  Take average check size: ten customers spending $10 looks identical to 100 customers spending $1, yet the realities are worlds apart. In the same way, online star ratings can bury the truth of waning engagement and costly churn. Metrics without context are little more than smoke and mirrors that distort reality and mislead decisions.

• Feedback Fiction – Customer satisfaction surveys are undeniably useful, but if mishandled can become feedback echo chambers. Asking the wrong questions, waiting too long between the dining experience and the survey (2), substituting surveys for real customer conversations (3), and failing to act on survey results are common ways that surveys can be misused.  The challenge isn’t whether to survey, but how to do it in a way that echoes back truth, not expectation.

When spooky metrics strike, who you gonna call?  It’s us. You’re going to call us.  Or you can just click below. After all, we ain’t afraid of no KPIs.

1.      Kotuthenne, S. (2025, March 25). The costly mistake of confusing correlation with causation in decision-making. LinkedIn.

 2.   Godovykh, M., & Tasci, A. D. A. (2020). Satisfaction vs Experienced Utility: Current issues and opportunities. Current Issues in Tourism, 23(18), 2273–2282.

3. Kenny, G. (2019, January 17). Customer surveys are no substitute for actually talking to customers. Harvard Business Review.