Choosing a Great
Business Location 2

Analyze Factual Demographic Data
When looking at locations, the leasing agent or real estate broker usually throws around population numbers. You may also be given computer-generated data listing the population, households, age, and income levels within a given area. How accurate is it? Most are fairly accurate. However, just because the data came from a computer does not make it flawless.

As a supplement, drive the neighborhoods, look at the value of the houses and cars, check the kids at lunch time, talk to the mailman, talk to the retailers and foodservice operators in the area, ask residents in the area what the neighborhood is like. Develop your own feel for the market. Also, consider how much population growth is expected. Additional competition in the area is usually a given, depending on the type of business.

The most important population element is not how many people reside within the area, but rather who are the people; what are their ages and income levels? How do the characteristics of the area match the characteristics of your most frequent customer?

Adequate Accessibility
Access occurs at three levels. First, one must have access to an area. The next is access to a particular site. Lastly, ingress and egress are necessary via adequate curb cuts, traffic signals, or others. Poor access rarely can be overcome by reputation or promotion, especially when competition is plentiful.

Identify Activity Areas
Activity is people and people are potential customers. Why do you suppose that there are so many food operators located on major streets leading to shopping centers or employment concentrations? Activity! Activity generators include: commercial areas, shopping centers, malls, office concentrations, downtowns, industrial areas, airports, hotels/motels, hospitals, recreation complexes, amusement parks, major highway interchanges, and others.

Study Local Habits and Patterns
People are habitual; we tend to follow certain patterns daily. Traveling interrupts some patterns, and others are interrupted by unusual circumstances. Nonetheless, if observed over several weeks, it would be very easy to predict the patterns. One of the tricks in the food business is to locate your units within the existing travel patterns of a majority of people in an area. This will permit you to intercept consumers without requiring them to change their patterns. People resist change, so it pays to capitalize upon it. Get into the pattern!

Continue Next Page Here