How to Project Traffic for a Restaurant

Correctly projecting your traffic flow is a crucial stage in restaurant planning.

Starting up a restaurant isn't an easy thing to do. There are many decisions to be made in developing a good business plan, and the high failure rate of new restaurants demonstrates how many opportunities there are to get them wrong. One of the most important calculations for the budding restaurateur is projecting how much customer traffic to expect. There is no single, simple way to do this.

Things You'll Need

• (no special equipment required)

Instructions

1. Locate the other restaurants in the area surrounding your location. Visit them at different times of day, and note how much traffic they draw during and between meal times.

2. Consider the demographics of your area. Is it a residential area, or commercial? If it is commercial, you need to determine if you will have traffic all day, or if it will be concentrated into one mealtime. If it is a residential area, determine the income and type of resident. For example, see if the locals are young families on a budget, or affluent older diners?

3. Examine vehicular and foot traffic in your location. What volume of passers-by can you expect, day by day? Does your location have easy entry and exit paths for your customers, or are there obstructions at busy times of day?

4. Troubleshoot potential locations before committing to a lease. Visit your local planning authority, and make sure that your dream location will not be marginalized by planned construction or infrastructure upgrades. Factors like this can have a drastic impact on your potential traffic.

Tips & Warnings

• Industry organizations such as the American Hotel and Lodging Association and National Restaurant Association can be excellent sources of information and advice for budding restaurant owners. Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration also has a large number of useful reports and research tools for restaurateurs.

References

• "Planning and Control for Food and Beverage Operations"; Jack. D. Ninemeier, Ph.D., CHA; 2001
• "How to Open Your Own Restaurant: A Guide for Entrepreneurs"; Richard Ware et al.; 1983
• Food Service Warehouse: Projecting Sales for Your New Restaurant
• University of Wisconsin Extension; Restaurant Market Analysis; John Goodpasture et al.; 1994

Resources

• Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research
• American Hotel and Lodging Association Educational institute
• National Restaurant Association: Education and Networking