You’ve heard it before and we’ll say it again: location, location, location. The decision to proceed with the planning and construction of a restaurant can easily turn into a mentally and emotionally exhausting experience. Your ultimate goal is to get your business concept from computer-assisted design modeling to a successful opening day. The time between planning and designing your restaurant and the beginning of construction is, arguably, the most important part of the overall building process. Possibly the most imperative factor to decide is, as the old adage says, location.
How To Choose Your Restaurant’s Location
LOCATION: A KEY TO RESTAURANT SUCCESS
The location of any business can make or break its overall chances of success. The atmosphere, products or services, and prices will be harder for customers to notice if your proposed business is in a poor stretch of an area or simply hidden from the view of potential buyers. Think about the restaurants that you have eaten at in the past. Do you remember how your overall experiences were, the taste of your chosen dish, or the noise level? Is there one restaurant that stands out from the rest?
If so, write down what you liked best about that particular eatery to the very last detail that you can remember. Now, what do you remember, good and bad, about the placement of the restaurant? Was there enough parking? What about the parking lot lighting? These exercises will allow you to determine what is important to your future customers and will provide you with a guideline for appropriate action so that you can provide your customers with the best eating experience in your chosen area.
TO BUILD OR NOT TO BUILD
If starting completely from scratch is the only way to give you everything that you are looking for in your restaurant planning and construction, then it must be done. By going with this option, you can expect to incur mortgage and ownership expenses, but you will be fortunate to bypass renting expenses and any potential altercations with an established building’s landlord.
There are other options that may be important planning considerations and may require you to look elsewhere for a building or space to rent. The most important location considerations involve determining how much foot and car traffic already come through the area in question, what the overall accessibility of the building or space is, whether your restaurant will have enough space for tables, chairs and a nice kitchen area, and how much parking is available for use by restaurant-goers. You may have to experience the frustration of renting from a landlord, but having an already established business area around your restaurant will almost guarantee your success in the long run.