IF YOU ARE OPENING A RESTAURANT, REMEMBER “LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION”
When it comes to restaurants, the old adage “location, location, location” clearly applies. As restaurant real estate brokers and consultants, the first thing we do is work with our client to get an in-depth understanding of “Who their Customer is “ for their restaurant concept.
For example…. If the concept is fast casual food such as a franchise or burger restaurant, your customer is spontaneous and casual. In this case, you need to be visible and accessible.
If you are planning a cultural or fine dining restaurant, then you are more likely to be a destination and you want to focus on where your customer lives or works and how convenient they are to your location. As a destination, you want to plan on a solid social media and marketing program.
Either way, a market analysis is a must, since it can help to clarify where your customer base is coming from, how much they spend on dining away from home and if your concept fits into their budget and inclination.
We, at Vanillaboxes.com provide this market analysis to our clients as part of our services and by doing so have helped many clients to make the right location decision or walkaway from a site that would be a struggle to make successful.
Once you have decided your trade area based on the market analysis, we can then help to determine what size and configuration will work and start the site selection process.
The following outlines some of the criteria that needs to review in order to make the best informed decision.
FINDING YOUR CUSTOMER:
Through VANILLABOX.COM’S market analysis technology, we are able to evaluate availability of customers in your trade area, as well as their “dining out” habits to determine how often “YOUR CUSTOMER” eats out , what they spend on restaurant dining and whether your concept will be compelling to them.
UNDERSTANDING THE COMPETITION
As part of VANILLABOX.COM’S priority software, we run a competition map plus a gap analysis to take an in depth look at who you would be competing with. This will help to make an “informed decision” as to whether or not your concept can work with the existing restaurants in your market. This also provides the tools to help you can evaluate if your concept is more compelling than the competition. Knowing if the market is over saturated or under supplied is critical in helping you make a decision
VISIBILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY
Most fast, casual restaurants find that a large amount of their traffic comes from either “foot” traffic or high visibility to a heavily traveled road. These customers are “impulse eaters” and will make a instant decision based on what appeals at the moment which is why you want to make sure to have an visible locale. Another important factor is accessibility. Easy access and ample parking for customers that are driving will make that “impulse” decision more compelling. These customers need to be able to see your restaurant and park if need be without battling traffic with a minimum of effort.
As a fine dining or destination concept, visibility is not as important although convenience is always a benefit. Once again without visibility, traffic needs to be created so plan on an adequate marketing and social media budget to help your customer find you.
The location of your restaurant is critical. We at VANILLABOX.COM’S will team up with you to insure that your location can draw enough business and that you understand and can compete with your competition to have a successful restaurant.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT VANILLABOXES.COM’s SITE SELECTION, RESTAURANT CONSULTING OR MARKET ANALYSIS SERVICES, PLEASE GO TO OUR WEBSITE OR CALL CHARLOTTE GOLDBLATT AT 203-982-5002 OR LESLIE GOLDBLATT 917-721-8566