How to Find a Neighborhood Restaurant Location
People are the driving force of any business but especially for the restaurant industry where they very survival of the business depends on people coming again and again and enjoying themselves. We all have likely heard that one of the biggest factors in a company’s success is location, location, location. But what does this mean for the restaurant industry? Finding the right location for your restaurant is key to its survival and when you think about it, all of the most successful local neighborhood restaurants are located in places that boost their business. Here are three tips to help:
Get to Know Your Intended Customers
The foundation for choosing where to set up your restaurant is to know what your customers want and where your customers are and where they go. Are you catering to a certain crowd or demographic of the area? Are you offering a certain cuisine some would find more appealing than others? Answer these questions and know your target customers and then do research to see where these people live and work, where they shop, and where they’re likely to go in search of good food. You most likely would not want to open an Indian style restaurant in the heart of the business center where most of the people are blue-collar businessmen. Likewise, a restaurant catering to the younger population would not do good near a retirement community.
Figure Travel Area
There is a certain level of guesswork involved here but you need to try and get some idea of the distance customers are willing to travel to come enjoy your food. A safe bet generally is to assume people would be willing to travel 3-5 miles at least to get good food so look at the areas that are within a 5-mile radius of where you are thinking of setting up your restaurant. Pay attention to things like competitors that are within that area, business and residential areas nearby, and other issues that could help or hurt your traffic flow. finding the right location for your restaurant takes a lot of planning but it is worth it in the end to find the right spot!
There is a lot that goes into finding the right location for your restaurant, but if you take a hint from the successful local neighborhood restaurants in your area you can see what works and by looking at the ones that have come and gone you can see what things you need to avoid doing.