Location, Location, Location

Location, Location, Location

            That’s the answer to the classic question of what it takes to be successful in the restaurant business.  Of course that’s over simplified as industry veterans know and understand that while a good location is helpful, especially for high volume – low margin operations, it isn’t the “cure all” for restaurant success.  Many other elements affect an operator’s bottom line; however, as advertised we will ruminate oh how local geography contributes to the bottom line.

            I have three recent contacts with whom I have opened discussions regarding our hospitality consulting services.  I regret not beginning our conversation earlier as all now suffer from challenges of a location that doesn’t fit their original business model.  For the record the first is a casual dining operation that offers New England style seafood and southern, slow smoked barbeque.  The second is a Cuban family that operates a deli, bakery, meat and three concept.  The third and final is another Latin family with a more global approach offering Asian, Latin and American comfort food menu options.

            I know the food prepared at all three operations is good, fairly priced and served in a style that compliments their establishments.  Okay so no problem with the food or service so the “sore thumb” is again their respective locations. 

            Concept one, opened in an area that is predominantly residential and many people would believe that a good opportunity.  The issue here was there is NO lunch day-part business and they built their business model on a mix of lunch and dinner sales.  In the end they had to cut staff, opening only for dinner five nights a week and only offering lunch on the weekend.

            Concept two, opened in a high traffic area with many businesses and several industrial parks within a two-mile radius.  The original idea was to offer breakfast to those commuting to work, a quick lunch with their meat and three concept and capture carry out meals for dinner.  At issue here was their lack of a drive-through window to capture the breakfast and carry out dinner business and local workers didn’t have adequate time to travel for a lunch away from the office or factory.

            Concept three is also located on a busy road among local businesses, some residential and their town hall across the street.  Again at issue was the lack of ingress and egress to their property for drivers and being located on a divided highway for foot traffic.  Combine that with a “global gastro pub” style menu that didn’t match the demographics of the area that has stifled dine-in sales although their catering business is very strong.

            So what’s my point, why share all of this, where is all of this going?  Chances are if these operators aren’t adequately capitalized they may be going nowhere.  The one thing they all had in common in choosing their footprint was that the property was available.  Stop and think for a moment, when you see an empty commercial property and wonder why it’s not occupied the first thing that should come to mind should be, is the business a good fit for that location?  This is a primary function of any business success, not just restaurants.

            The good news is concept one has adjusted and is okay, concept two is struggling with a lease that needs to be renegotiated and concept three has realized they need to seek another location that best fits their business model.  If you find yourself in a similar situation consider contacting us for a complimentary initial consultation at www.themenuspring.com.