How the Chains Research Restaurant Locations and What You Can Learn From Them

As the old real estate saw goes, the three most important selling points of a property are "Location, location, location."

In the restaurant business, that goes doubly.

Picking the right place -- and time -- to open a restaurant is critical to success for the simple reason that location is one of the few aspects of your restaurant you can't easily change.

And no one does it better than the chains. They are not infallible, in this regard; however, in general there is method to their madness. You don't grow to 25, 50 or 100 units by getting it wrong.

Sure, chains have resources and systems that give them many advantages in site locations because figuring out where to put their next units is integral to their success. Still, independents can learn a lot for their approach process and with the advent of online search tools, for example, can more level the playing field. Hopefully, this glimpse into the location approach and strategy of the chains can help you, as an independent, understand and benefit by employing some of the information and techniques they use.

Requirements Common to Every Operator

H.G. Parsa, Ph.D., FMP, Barron Hilton chair in lodging and professor of hospitality management of the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver in Colorado, says, "We have all kinds of chains: micro chain, regional chains, national chains, international chains. There are different levels of chains." Each has their own requirements but many of those are common to every operator, including the independent.