What is the appropriate machine learning algorithm for a restaurant's sales prediction? : <p>I want to estimate the sales of a restaurant three days in advance, so that the staff can order fresh ingredients in time. I started off using linear regression, but noticed the following:
For the restaurant it is worse, if a customer won't get the food he ordered, compared to the case that food that is eventually thrown away. 
I figured I might just need a skewed cost function, but I am not sure. Maybe there is something already implemented. </p>

<p>Another question: Some days, there are some reservations (pre-orders) for the restaurant, so I know they will need at least a certain amount. How to include that?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>
