Before you go out and plan your menu and long before you even pick the restaurant furniture at Adage Sydney, you need to do one very important thing. You have to find the perfect location for your restaurant. Location, location, location is not just a tired cliche. It is fundamental to the success of a restaurant.
There are quite a few factors that go into finding the ideal location. Not all locations are going to be perfect for every type of restaurant. It takes a lot of planning and knowing what you are looking for. In this article, we will go over what it takes to find the perfect location before you open your restaurant.
Know the demographics
You have an ideal market for your restaurant style, menu, and price point. The trick is to find out where that market actually is. It doesn’t matter how much parking a location has or how much foot traffic it gets if the people living and working in that area are not the type of people that will want to eat in your restaurant.
Do some market research into the areas where you have narrowed down a few choices. There are agencies that will give you the kind of data you need. They can tell you the median income and what they typically spend their money on for instance. You will know how often they eat out and what price point they usually spend when they do.
This information is vital to understand if the spot you have your eye on is going to play out in terms of paying customers. If it isn’t then the alternative is to change the type of restaurant to suit the area where you would like to open.
What types of businesses are nearby?
There should be some businesses in the area because they will have a lot of people coming and going. The types of businesses are important though. If it is an industrial park then a casual diner that mainly does lunch and breakfast quickly will do well since you will be catering to workers who have limited time and funds to eat. Dinners are not likely to be happening since everybody will be home and the area empty after dark.
An office park will also be busy for lunch, but a more upscale setting and the menu will be important since there will be business lunches being held there. If there is nothing else there except office buildings then expect slow dinner in that situation as well.
Easy access
Look for traffic around the area but have it still be easy to access. If you are on a corner on a busy boulevard, cars having trouble getting in and out of the parking lot is not going to encourage people to stop.
The same goes for foot traffic. There should be foot traffic but it shouldn’t be so crowded that people are going to feel hassled by trying to stop in.
