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THE PRINCIPLES OF RESTAURANT SITE SELECTION

Excerpted from Melaniphy's book - - The Restaurant Location Guidebook, a comprehensive guide to picking restaurant and quick service food locations (2007).

Over the years of reviewing and selecting restaurant locations, it has became obvious that the industry needed a set of guidelines regarding location selection. Formulated over the last 25 years, these guidelines are included in my book entitled, The Restaurant Location Guidebook; To select good locations, one needs to be aware of the following:

TO MARKET, TO MARKET

Originally published in Pizza Today, August 1988

Getting necessary marketing information and data entails the the use of four primary elements. The first is knowing what to get, the second knowing where to get it, the third getting it, and the fourth knowing what to do with it once you've got it.

Collecting and evaluating data needs to be done within the context of the previous Site Selection articles found in Pizza Today. These include: Understanding the Importance of Location, Recognizing the Principles of Location Selection, Knowing Your Customer Profile, Understanding Your Trading Area, Recognizing Different Types of Locations, and Understanding the Need for Accurate Demographic Data.

What to Get

Most food operators recognize the factors that affect the sales potential of a location including population, income, employment, competition, accessibility, and other factors. Where to get the information can be perplexing. The Reference Table included presents a list of the items, usually available, that can help in evaluating market opportunities. Often, it is not necessary to obtain and study all of the items listed. Instead, they represent sources for different types of data, which can be helpful in deciding what is beneficial to you in your own situation. Let's look at the key elements.

THE PRINCIPLES OF SPECIALTY STORE LOCATION SELECTION

Over the years of reviewing and selecting retail locations, it has became obvious that the industry needed a set of guidelines regarding location selection. Formulated over the last 25 years, these guidelines are intended to assist specialty type retailers to prepare, evaluate and select locations To select good locations, one needs to be aware of the following:

KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER 

Who is your customer?  Do you know?  Most retailers think that they do, but often they are wrong.  It is extremely important to understand, not only who is the customer, but more importantly, who is the most frequent customer? Knowing who that frequent customer is will help to identify other areas that my have demographics with similar characteristics.

DETERMINE A TRADING AREA

Trading areas come in all shapes and sizes.  They are not actually round, square, or rectangular.  Instead, they usually reflect an irregular-shaped pattern, corresponding to the road or street pattern, altered by competition, physical and psychological barriers, and the demographics of the residents and employees of the area. What is a realistic area from which your proposed store can attract customers? 

ANALYZE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

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