Читать книгу Start & Run a Restaurant Business - Brian Cooper - Страница 23

Analysis of the retail and industrial strength of the community will help to determine if your proposed site is viable. “Location, location, location,” more than anything else, is why an operation succeeds or fails. A location-related error is a permanent one, and every effort to analyze and understand site selection is critical. See Chapter 6, “Choosing Your Restaurant’s Location,” for more information on location.

The economic profile should look at the growth or potential for growth within your target area. Determining the economic profile for the community can help you gauge the appropriateness of your type of restaurant for the area. This information can be gathered from economic development officers and city planners. A description of the mix of commercial, industrial, and retail businesses in the target area should be included in this part of the study. This information, along with the competition analysis, will help determine the positioning of your type of operation within the community.

Here is a story from co-author Gina McNeill — a story that demonstrates that not doing your demographics homework is a BIG mistake!

Murphy’s White Horse Café was located in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, on the major route leading to Atlantic City from Philadelphia. The restaurant had been a local “gin mill,” selling beer by the glass for less than 50 cents, and had no atmosphere to speak of — except for a beautiful, 3-feet-deep by 15-feet-long, solid-wood shuffleboard game. The Murphys purchased the tavern with hopes and dreams of turning it into a New York City–style operation. They were not counting on the locals to support the “new and improved” bar and restaurant, but instead were relying on the droves of people driving down the highway to the gambling dens in Atlantic City to stop in. Wrong! The cars headed directly to the blackjack tables at the casinos, and on the return trip their occupants were too broke to stop or had enjoyed the freebies at the casinos. The wooden shuffleboard was made into beautiful bar tables, much to the dismay of the locals, who, despite everything, came to be the backbone of the bar crowd!