LOCATION, LOCATION

Before you create a business plan, write a menu, or dash off to the bank to apply for a loan, you must first decide where exactly your restaurant is going to be located. A restaurant's location is as crucial to its success as great food and service. It will influence many parts of your restaurant, including the menu.

First you need to look at the local Population. Is there enough people in the area to support your business, is the restaurant location in a shopping district, or along a busy street. There needs to be enough people who live in the area, or pass through the area on a regular basis to keep you busy. What you want is foot fall, people passing by. But also look at the surrounding businesses, if it is all run down that might not be the area to open a high end restaurant. Look at property prices, cars in the car parks. You must determine the population base of a particular area, sit outside the venue and just see who walks by. Ask people, have a look on the internet use all the tools at your disposal. Get to know the marketing terms for population and look around your location decide what it is.

A= upper middle class, higher managerial, administrative or professional

B= middle class, intermediate managerial, administrative or professional

C1= lower middle class, supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional

C2= skilled working class, skilled manual workers

D= working class, semi and unskilled manual workers

E=those at lowest level of subsistence, casual or lowest grade workers

Then there is parking. Will there be enough parking to accommodate all the seats in your new restaurant. Do you have your own parking area?  Can you park on the street, will it be safe on the street, If not is there public parking near the restaurant location.

Accessibility, can your customers get to you. If they have to park a mile away catch a bus then walk down an ally to your front door they might think twice before coming. You need to be accessible for customers and easy to find.

To help with this you need visibility. You need to let people know that there is a restaurant there. Good frontage and kerb appeal is very important. If you are visibility that can bring in a great deal of walk-in business.

Then look at the competition. If there are lots of restaurants not such a bad thing it means people are coming to the area to eat. If they are all takeaways and you want to open an old English tea room, ask why, have they opened and failed or have you seen a gap in the market. Look at their menus see what they are charging, count heads through windows.

Look for nearby Institutions offices industrial areas and attractions.  Are there any big businesses or attractions that will bring lots of people into the area. For example, a sports stadium, cinema or theatre or other attractions.