Chapter 3
Concept, Location, and Design
• Restaurant Concepts
• Concepts: Clear Cut or
Ambiguous?
• Protecting a Restaurant’s Name
• Defining the Concept & Market
• Successful Restaurant
Concepts
• Concept Adaptation
• Changing/Modifying a Concept
• Restaurant Symbology
Chapter 3
Concept, Location, and Design
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When a Concept Fails
The Multiple-Concept Chain
Sequence of Restaurant Development
Common Denominators
Planning Decisions
Profitability
The Mission Statement
Location & Design
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What is a concept?
• The matrix of ideas that constitute what will be
perceived as the restaurant’s image.
• It provides the framework on which to hang the
image.
• Applies to any foodservice operation.
• Should fit a definite target market.
• Distinguishes the establishment as D&B, different
& better, than the competition.
• May be necessary to modify as competition arises.
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Concepts include…
• Public relations
• Advertising
• Promotions
• Building
• Curbside appeal
• Décor
• Menu
• Staff
• Music
• Style of operation
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Symbols
• Aspects of the concept seen
in the:
– Sign
– Logo
– Colors
– Upholstery
– Food
– Food presentation
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Concepts: Clear Cut or Ambiguous?
• Many restaurants lack clear cut
concepts because there is no
integration of the atmospherics.
• Everything should fit together:
•Signs
•Uniforms
•Menus
•Décor
• A concept is strengthened if it
establishes an identity.
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The Name is Part of the Image
THE SPAGHETTI FACTORY
Suggests quick service, low costs & a fun
place for Italian food.
THE SEVEN GRAINS
Suggests a healthy-food restaurant.
LONG JOHN SILVER’S
Suggests seafood.
GRANDMA’S KITCHEN
Suggests a homey, friendly place.
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Protecting a Restaurant’s Name
• Lawsuits happen!
• Trademark regulations protect the
use of a name.
• If another party uses your name
you should take action.
• Loss of the right to a name means
changing signs, menus,
promotional material, etc.
• It also means the loss of power
that has been built into the name
by the superior operator.
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Defining the concept & market
• In selecting a concept for a restaurant, define it
precisely in the context of which markets will find it
appealing.
• The market may constitute only a small
percentage of the total population in an area.
– i.e., a coffee shop with counter service would appeal to
interstate travelers.
• Must be a market gap or need for the idea.
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Market/Restaurant Relationship
The concept and market comprise the hub around which the
restaurant develops. They are central to the restaurant, supported
by the menu, prices, service, quality, location, atmosphere, food &
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management.
Successful Restaurant Concepts
• TGI Friday’s has remained successful over the years
because it has stayed close to the guest and concentrated
on quality & service combined with a theme of fun.
• The Lettuce Entertain You Group has several theme
restaurants in the Chicago area & beyond including:
– Scoozi, which recalls an artist’s studio & serves Italian country
cuisine.
– Café Ba-Ba-Reeba, a Spanish restaurant featuring tapas, the
popular hot and cold “little dishes of Spain”.
– Shaw’s Crab House, a premier seafood house features the Blue
Crab Lounge—an oyster bar offering oysters on the half shell, clams,
lobster, and crab dishes. The main dining room serves more than
40 fresh seafood items plus chicken & beef.
• Hard Rock Café
• Union Square Café
• Corner Bakery Café
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Concept Adaptation
• Most concepts that have not
been tested need some
adaptation to the particular
market.
• Concept development has
always been important in the
restaurant industry, but it is
becoming more so now that
dining districts are developing
in almost every community.
• Different menus and prices
attract different markets.
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Changing/Modifying a Concept
• Many highly successful concepts
that have worked well for years
gradually turn sour.
– The customer base and the
demographics change.
– Morale and personal service may
decline.
• Copy & improve
– There is no such thing as a
completely new restaurant concept—
only modifications, changes, new
combinations, changes in design,
layout, menu, and service.
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Restaurant Symbology
• Restaurant symbology
includes the logo, the line
drawings, the linen napkins
& the service uniforms—
• This all helps to create the
atmosphere .
– Cesar Ritz: Waiters dressed
in tails.
– Chart House: Servers dressed
in Hawaiian attire.
– McDonald’s: Ronald
McDonald.
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When a Concept Fails
• The concept can be changed to
fit the market.
• Conversion from one concept
to another can take place while
the restaurant is doing
business.
• A new concept (complete with
decor, price, & service), may
better appeal to the same
market & siphon customers
away from the competition.
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The Multiple-Concept Chain
• Multiple-concept restaurant chains
can have five or more restaurants in
the same block, each competing with
the others, each acquiring a part of
the restaurant market.
• Customers do not like feeling like they
are eating in the same restaurant all
over the area, so the restaurants are
varied somewhat and carry different
names.
• The largest of all restaurant
companies, Tricon Global Restaurants,
Inc., has three concepts—KFC, Taco
Bell, and Pizza Hut. They stand alone,
twin or even triple concepts.
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Sequence of restaurant development:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Business marketing initiated
Layout and equipment planned
Menu determined
First architectural sketches made
Licensing and approvals sought
Financing arranged
Working blueprints developed
Contracts for bidding
Contractor selected
Construction or remodeling begun
Furnishing and equipment ordered
Key personnel hired
Hourly employees selected and trained
Restaurant opened
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Planning Services
Many aspects of restaurant design are carried out by
other parties, hired by the owners and management.
The designer, for example, performs the following
services:
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Basic floor plan
Equipment schedule
Electrical requirements
Plumbing requirements
Equipment
Equipment elevations
Refrigeration requirements
Exhaust and in-take requirements
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Common Denominators
Some factors may be common to all
kinds of restaurants:
• Human needs met by the restaurant
• Menu prices
• Degree of service offered
• Space provided for each customer
• Rate of seat turnover
• Advertising & promotions expenditures
• Productivity per employee
• Labor cost
• Food cost
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Planning Decisions
• Who are the target customers?
• Buy, build, lease or franchise?
• Food preparation from scratch or from
convenience items?
• A limited or extended menu?
• Service: limited or full?
• Young part-time or older career
employees?
• Paid advertising or word-of-mouth
advertising?
• Grand opening or soft opening?
• Electricity or gas?
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Profitability
• Most profitable restaurants
are in quick-service
category because they
have:
– Predominantly minimumwage personnel
– High sales volume
– The use of systems
– Excellent marketing
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The Mission Statement
• The purpose of the business and the nature of what
it offers.
• The business goals, objectives, and strategies.
• Philosophies and values the business and
employees follow.
– Example: Chili’s Grill and Bar: “We aim to be a premier
growth company with a balanced approach toward
people, quality and profits: to cultivate customer loyalty by
listening to, caring about, and providing customers with a
quality dining experience; to enhance a high level of
ethics, excellence, innovation and integrity; to attract,
develop, and retain a superior team; to be focused,
sensitive and responsive to our employees and their
environment: and to enhance long-term shareholder
wealth.”
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Location Criteria
• Demographics of the area: age, occupation,
religion, nationality, race, family size, educational
level, average income of individuals and families.
• Visibility from a major highway.
• Accessibility from a major highway.
• Number of potential customers passing by the
restaurant (potential customers might be only
travelers going through a community, drivers, local
workers).
• Distance from the potential market.
• Desirability of surroundings.
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Location
• Dinner or family-style restaurants need not
place the same high priority on convenience
of location necessary for casual and quickservice establishments
• Location decisions are based on asking the
right questions and securing the right
information.
• Real estate agents are prime sources.
– Real estate commissions are ordinarily based
on 6 percent of the building’s selling price and
10 percent of the selling price of raw land.
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Location
• Other sources of information are the
chamber of commerce, banks, town or
city planners & other restaurant
operators.
• Town & city planning officials can
provide traffic and zoning information.
Know what zoning officials are planning
for the future.
• Locations wax and wane in desirability,
depending on a number of conditions,
including the general economy, the
nature of the residents of the area, the
presence or absence of new or declining
buildings, changing traffic flows &
security.
• Look for built-in traffic generators such
as hotels, business parks, ball parks,
indoor arenas, theaters, retail centers &
residential neighborhoods.
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Location Criteria
• Proper zoning.
• Drainage, sewage, utilities.
• Minimal size.
• Length of lease.
• Excessive traffic speed.
• Access from a highway or street.
• Visibility from both sides of the street.
• Market population.
• Family income.
• Growth or decline of the area.
• Competition from comparable restaurants.
• The restaurant row or cluster concept.
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Some Additions to Consider:
• Minimum population needed to support the concept
• Downtown versus Suburban
– Many restaurants have faded or failed because of the exodus of the
middle class from the downtown area, leaving the restaurant perhaps a
luncheon crowd, but no one for dinner.
• Average Travel Time to Reach Restaurants
– Patrons will travel an average of 15 to 18 minutes to reach a hotel, steak,
full-menu, or fish restaurant. People often spend about 10 minutes when
going to cafeteria & department-store restaurants.
• Matching Location with Concept
– A particular site may be right for a coffee shop but wrong for a dinner
house or a fast-food place.
– The size of the lot, visibility, availability of parking, access from roads, and
so on, all have an impact on the style of restaurant that will fit a location.
• Takeover Locations
– Being short of capital or wishing to minimize risk, the beginning
restaurateur often starts by leasing or buying out an existing restaurant
• Cost of the Location
– A restaurant has two potential values, its real estate value and its value as
a profit generator.
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Visibility & Design Criteria
• Visibility & accessibility are
important criteria for any
restaurant.
– Visibility is the extent to which the
restaurant can be seen for a
reasonable amount of time, whether
the potential guest is walking or
driving.
• Design needs to correlate with the
theme and includes:
– Space allocation - front of the house
and backstage
– Lighting (single most important
element)
– Color (in tandem with lighting)
– Layout of the dining area
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The End
Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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