Guide
How many orders include a side?
You probably do not know, and it is one of the most profitable numbers in the business.
In short
Attachment rate is the percentage of orders containing at least one side or drink. Because sides and drinks carry your highest margins and no extra service cost, moving attachment by a few points flows almost entirely to gross profit. Measure it by channel, since online and counter typically differ substantially.
Updated 28 August 2026
Why it is such an efficient lever
A side added to an existing order costs you the ingredients and almost nothing else. The customer is already ordering, the delivery is already happening, the labour is already paid. So the incremental gross profit is unusually high. Compare that with acquiring a new customer to achieve the same revenue and the difference is stark.
Measure it by channel
Online attachment is usually higher than phone or counter, because the prompt is consistent and never embarrassed. If your online rate is far ahead of your counter rate, that is a staff prompting gap. If online is behind, your ordering flow is not asking at the right moment.
Move it at the point of adding
The prompt that works appears when an item goes into the basket, paired to that item. The prompt that does not work appears at checkout as a generic afterthought. Same feature, different placement, materially different result.
- Pair the suggestion to the item just added
- One or two options, not a list
- Price the side well below the main
Drinks are the most neglected
Drinks carry the best margin on most menus and are the most commonly forgotten on delivery orders, where there is no member of staff to ask. A single well-placed drink prompt is often the largest available improvement in attachment, and it costs nothing to add.
The honest limitation
There is a ceiling, and pushing past it produces irritation rather than orders. Some meals genuinely do not want a side. Track the rate, improve the mechanics, and stop when the curve flattens rather than adding more prompts.
Questions, answered straight.
Not covered here? Just ask us.
What is a good attachment rate?
It varies too much by format for a benchmark to be useful. Establish your own baseline, then improve it. The trend is the number that matters.
Should I discount sides to increase attachment?
Rarely necessary. Placement and relevance move attachment more than price does, and discounting your best-margin items is an expensive way to buy a small lift.
Does this apply to collection orders?
Yes, and collection attachment is often lower because the order is quicker. The same in-flow prompt applies.
How do I measure it?
Count orders containing at least one item from your sides and drinks categories, divided by total orders, by channel and by week.
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