Boston University School of Hospitality Administration Launches RevPASH Calculator

Boston University School of Hospitality Administration (SHA) has announced the launch of RevPASH: A web application (app) that calculates a restaurant´s revenue per available seat hour. This free app is now available to industry professionals, educators and hospitality students.

Developed by Dr. Peter Szende, Associate Professor of the Practice in SHA, Dr. Kristin V. Rohlfs, an independent consultant and researcher, and Roy Madhok, SHA graduate and Director of Revenue Management for Highgate Hotels, the app is an innovative tool which provides a food and beverage operator with a quick and easy way to input key revenue numbers and calculate RevPASH.

Similar to the lodging industry which calculates returns based on RevPAR (revenue per available room), the restaurant industry uses RevPASH (revenue per available seat hour) as a critical figure to help restaurant operators understand how efficiently and effectively each seat in a restaurant generates revenue. According to Dr. Szende, "RevPASH is the core measure of a restaurant revenue management program. Once a food and beverage operator calculates the information, he or she can use it to identify opportunities to run top-line revenue."

The app, in the form of a calculator, compares RevPASH over the course of hours, days, weeks, and months. "The versatility of the app enables operators to use data to help make educated decisions in many areas such as when to expedite service delivery, change price and apply marketing strategies," explains Dr. Arun Upneja, Dean of SHA. "This new web-based tool demonstrates that Boston University School of Hospitality is committed to contributing to the hospitality environment with education and innovation."

Additional features of the app include:

• The ability to edit the variables used in calculating RevPASH while seeing the resulting change;
• The ability to use a live calculation method. Anytime a variable is edited, other variables are updated instantaneously;
• The use of tooltips above each variable, which show the effects of editing a particular variable;
• The addition of charts and graphs, showing RevPASH as a function of time.

SHA is bringing the tool into its classroom instruction as a novel way to teach the principles of restaurant revenue management.

"This provides an easy way for students to visualize how effectively each seat in a restaurant generates revenue," adds Dr. Szende. "In the future, we are hoping other schools will also use this application to teach future hospitality leaders the importance of revenue management in food and beverage."

For more information about Boston University's new RevPASH app, please contact [email protected]. The app is available for free at http://www.bu.edu/revpash/

About Boston University School of Hospitality Administration

Established in 1981 and now celebrating 40 years of Innovating the Business of Hospitality, Boston University's School of Hospitality Administration (SHA) offers students a combination of rigorous academics, liberal arts curriculum, and international experiences for the pursuit of success in lodging, restaurants, food service, and other avenues of the hospitality industry. SHA has a unique relationship with the city of Boston, where the area's hotels and restaurants provide students with numerous opportunities for internships to satisfy work experience requirements for their degrees. Information on graduate and undergraduate degrees at BU School of Hospitality Administration: www.bu.edu/hospitality/academics

About Boston University

Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 33,000 students, it is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 17 schools and colleges, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University's research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada.