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I believe the adage about location is true for restaurants. Location!  Location!  Location! is the single most crucial element for a restaurant.

Location is critical, and it is a key success factor (KSF).  Celebrity chefs may be able to get by with a destination-restaurant strategy, but location for other restaurant owners is one of the six to eight critical factors for success.  I will discuss the other KSFs in future posts.

The critical question to ask is what constitutes a great location?  I believe that there are three essential elements in choosing a restaurant location.

First, the restaurant space must be highly visible and easily seen from the street.  Ideally, the restaurant should be on a major traffic street and within 100 to 150 feet of traffic flow.  A corner location is even better because the restaurant will have visibility from four traffic flows.

Second, there is ample parking for customers.  The number of parking spaces will be dependent on the customer capacity of the front of the house.  One space for two customers is a good rule of thumb.  For example, if your restaurant seats 40, then ideally you should have at least 20 parking spaces.

Third, the restaurant space is easily accessible from all directions of traffic.  This accessibility means that customers can turn easily into the parking area in two or more ways, as well as exit easily and safely after dining.  For downtown locations, there should be high pedestrian traffic during your hours of operation.