The annual Lightspeed State of the Hospitality Industry Report is one of the most useful pieces of research available to Australian venue owners.

This year's edition, covering data collected through 2025 and into 2026, paints a picture of an industry under sustained financial pressure. Here are the marketing-specific takeaways worth paying attention to.

Diners are watching their dollars (perhaps not surprisingly)

Australians are dining out around three times a month on average, drinking out twice, and ordering delivery twice. Those numbers haven't collapsed, but how people spend within each visit has changed.

• 44% of customers are choosing lower-priced items,
• 40% are ordering fewer or no drinks,
• 35% are skipping dessert.

For venue owners, this means foot traffic matters. You can't close the revenue gap through upsell alone when customers are actively pulling back on extras. You need marketing that drives visits, especially during slow periods, to drive a higher return than it did two years ago.

Where customers are finding you

While you're investing heavily in Instagram (48%), influencers (34%), or TikTok (28%) as promotional channels, customers are still finding venues primarily through word of mouth (60%) and Google search and reviews.

Facebook continues to show up for Millennials and Gen X, but its organic reach for operators has declined sharply, from 40% in 2024 to 27% in 2025.

The implication is that a polished Google Business Profile and a genuine reviews strategy are worth more than most operators are giving them credit for. And for Facebook and Instagram, paid reach is doing the work that organic used to.

A big gap between what diners want and what venues are prioritising

What customers want:

• health-conscious food (29%),
• sustainable sourcing (28%), and
• wellness options (24%).

What operators are planning:

• fusion food first (46%),
• bottomless drinks (37%), and
• alcohol-free beverages (36%),
• health-conscious food sitting last on the list at 8%.

This gap is a marketing opportunity. Venues focusing on what customers want already have a competitive edge.

Operators don't see tech as beneficial to building brand loyalty

In 2025, only 14% of operators cited customer loyalty as a key benefit of their technology, down from 32% in 2023.

Meanwhile, the cost of acquiring a new customer is significantly higher than retaining an existing one. This is a quiet warning sign. Technology is getting smarter, but if it's not being used (perhaps to its full potential) to build relationships and keep people coming back, there's a gap in how it's being applied.

Email marketing, loyalty touchpoints, and consistent social engagement are the tools that fill that gap. They're not glamorous, but they work.

The venues that will hold their ground are the ones investing in visibility, loyalty, and the slow periods.

The report's conclusion is essentially this: customers still want to go out, but they're being more deliberate about where and how. Venues that are easy to find, clearly communicate their value, stay connected with existing customers, and have a plan for filling quiet times are the ones that will navigate this environment well.

The data is there. The opportunity is in acting on it.