Ethel Cook Many factors come into play regarding a restaurant’s success: food, services, design, etc. But why would you even bother working on those if customers are struggling to get to the place? That is why the first thing to decide is where your establishment will be. And if you are struggling with this step, this guide is for you. Get ready to find five tips to help you to select the right location for your restaurants, so the customers’ flow will be ceaseless.
Know Your Target Customers
Like at the start of any successful business, you must define your prospects. How do you do that? Well, if you are planning to open a restaurant, defining your prospects may include the following:
- Inspecting your food menu. For example, if your establishment serves fast food, your audience will probably be busy people in a hurry. While something like Italian cuisine is more disposed for customers who enjoy taking their time drinking wine and enjoying flavors;
- Examining planned Interior and exterior. Specific designs attract particular groups of people. Thus, something presented in the modern style will catch the eyes of the youth, while baroque mosaic is for mature clients;
- Considering planned working hours. You need to know when your establishment will be working, so you know when it will get the most customers.
Knowing all these elements, the picture of your restaurant location will get much less vogue. Let’s say you want to open a fast-food restaurant with a modern interior and 7 – 22 working hours. Knowing that it serves food quickly, a good idea will be to locate it near the bus/train/metro station, so busy people will have access to fast and cheap food. Also, it perfectly matches a modern interior/exterior, as young people who enjoy those styles often travel via public transport. And don’t forget about time which captures the busiest hours of a day, being a great addition to the whole picture.
Acknowledge Your Competitors
An essential rule of a successful business is knowing everything about your potential competitors. And so you should do this before opening your restaurant. As we live in the internet era, researching competitors is made much easier.
Just go into the global net, and find every single restaurant with prospects similar to yours. Further, you can make a map where you will mark each of your competitors, so you can see where you will face the least rivals and which fits your target. But don’t think opening your restaurant near competitors is always bad. If your establishment’s quality is better (prices, food, services, etc.), you can easily pull customers to yourself, leaving your opponents in a tough spot.
Acknowledge Your Allies
Real business sharks who run successful projects know that not every other business is your competitor: they can also be your allies. By allies, we mean an establishment that is complementary to yours.
If we proceed taking fast food as an example, a good complementary establishment to it will be coworking. The quickly served and cheap food will become their favorite way to get lunch around. Or let’s say you have a place that serves food right in the cars. So make sure those cars have a place to stay, facilitating parking nearby.
Make Sure Your Restaurant is Easy-to-Access
People are lazy creatures; they never want to bother looking for something for more than 5 minutes (unless it is something very special). And so you should always keep that in mind when choosing a location for your restaurant.
A perfect place to put your restaurant’s doorway is where your prospects pass. Extending an example of a fast food restaurant, the best option to place it would be next to the metro entrance, etc.
Consider Shopping Malls
Even though shopping malls must be inspected using previous tips, they can be a very convenient option for your business. It is because malls always have crazy traffic of hungry people. Predominantly, these people want a quick lunch, but there can be some exceptions. For example, if there is a view of the beautiful lake opening through the panoramic windows, it is a good place for an exquisite-food establishment.
But on the other hand, you must be ready to face strong competition when planning to settle your restaurant in malls. Still, if you do your planning and research correctly, the business will work.
