How To Choose Your New Restaurant Location?

Last Updated on February 1, 2022 by My Rasoi

For a restaurant to succeed, its location is crucial. As a new restaurant owner, you’re excited to get your business open and start making money. You’ve spent countless hours planning your menu, selecting the best equipment, and collecting recipes from your favorite restaurants. You’ve even worked out all the paperwork, from your health department permits to your equipment leases. But opening the doors to your restaurant isn’t enough.

One of the most important decisions you’ll make when opening your restaurant is where to locate it. You have a lot of factors to consider when choosing a restaurant location. This includes your budget, the type of customers you want to serve. Also, the community’s demographics, to name a few. The location you choose will impact your restaurant’s success. But don’t get overwhelmed!

You’ve worked hard to get your restaurant off the ground. You’ve spent long days and nights adding menu items, designing logos and branding, and searching for the perfect location. Finally, you have a restaurant that is unique and authentic to your vision. Now the real work begins.

What Things to Consider?

When opening a new restaurant, you’ve got a lot on your plate. You have to find a space, build the interior, and hire staff. But the biggest decision you’ll have to make is where to open your restaurant. Many people start a business in their hometown. But, that doesn’t mean you can’t find a sound location elsewhere.

Here are some factors that are important from the business point of view.

1. Restaurant Location Selection with Market Analysis

When deciding where to open your restaurant, there are a lot of factors to take into account. The most important decision is deciding where to open your restaurant. Deciding where to open your restaurant will help you determine the type of location you need.

Things like how much space do you need, and what kind of neighborhood do you want to be in also matter. Knowing where to open your restaurant will also help you decide the best equipment for your restaurant. Also, how to decorate your restaurant to fit your style and brand.

2. Know Your Competition

To identify and understand the possible customer base, and how they eat, you should conduct a demographic survey. An expensive dining restaurant in a student-heavy area will do inept, for example.

Additionally, it would be wise to identify your local competition. An established customer base in the area means a competitor is doing well there. Now you would have to figure out how to funnel your competitors’ customers to your restaurant.

3. Restaurant Location at Front Does Wonders

A front location will help you build brand recognition. It attracts customers and keeps your business open. But not all locations created are equal. Some locations are profitable because their rent or other operating costs are low. While others can be profitable because of the type of customers they attract.

The front location is one of the most important rooms in your restaurant. It’s the first thing people see when they come into your restaurant. The front location should reflect your restaurant’s logo and design. It should be a great introduction to your restaurant and its offerings. Depending upon the type of food you serve, and your target market, a front location may be more important.

You’ve finally found the perfect spot to open your restaurant. You even have a great location that’s close to your customers. The location is perfect and will make your restaurant a success, but it’s also expensive.

4. Hassle-Free Vehicle Parking at Restaurant Location

Many restaurants don’t have a designated parking lot. Instead, customers park their vehicles wherever they can find a space. This means that many restaurants may be losing potential customers.

Thus, besides the location, parking is essential. Parking would be a problem for your restaurant if it did not have a designated space. Customers would go to another restaurant with parking.

5. Know Your Target Customers

When you’re starting a new restaurant, one of the other things you have to think about is your target customers. You have to know who’s going to be interested in your idea, and who’s going to be willing to try something new. That’s one of the ways you’re going to find out if your idea is going to work.

You have to make decisions about the location that will pay off for years to come, not just today.
You should also consider the market size and the demographics of the area. A high density of young, urban professionals may be attracted to an area that has many bars and restaurants. So, if you’re hoping to get a large number of older, rural residents, you may want to consider a different area.

6. A Visible Line of Sight

Your restaurant location analysis should include a test of your customers’ view of your restaurant. Your customers should be able to see your location from the street. A customer should be able to easily see your restaurant as well as reach it.  Your marketing efforts should be focused on making your restaurant a destination if it’s located indoors, such as a food court.

7. Go for Complementary Business Locally

The presence of direct competition is not good, but some nearby businesses can help drive customers to your restaurant. When a smoothie shop is located next to a gym, sales are likely to be high. An addition of a coffee shop next to universities also fetches a lot of customers.

Indian Restaurant Industry is Soaring High

The Indian restaurant industry is one of the fastest-growing restaurant industries. It is growing faster in some areas than in others. The Indian restaurant industry has independent restaurants, many of which are small chains. In 2018, the Indian restaurant industry is awaited to generate around $50 billion in revenue, up from $23 billion in 2017.

According to a report from the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), the Indian food service industry will reach Rs 5.99 lakh crore by 2022-23. It is growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 9 percent. In 2018-19, the market size was estimated to be Rs 4.23 lakh crore.

Winding Up

These were some important factors to consider while choosing your restaurant location. Your restaurant will observe a significant footfall of customers if you can make their dining experience convenient. It will be easier to attract the clients you want when you register your restaurant with search engines based on the type of food you serve and your price point. You can market your restaurant through social media platforms as well.

To make your restaurant business more successful, you can also try digital menus. A digital menu is a list of your menu items displayed on a screen instead of printed on paper. The digital menu is a great way to increase customer engagement. It also saves costs and increases profits.