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Location, Location, Location....for Delco?

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SLICE

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How important is location when it comes to a Delco with 6 tables. I have an opportunity to go into a location which is in a strip center (perpendicular to the main road) and “slightly” visible. Per the landlord, I would be able to get small signage on the marquee out front be very aggressive with banners and political signs for 90 days out by the road. Being in retail for 20 years before my adventure into the pizza biz, I understand how important location is. But am unsure about this one…

I have an existing 2200 sq/ft dine-in/delco (majority dine in) at the other end of town and I would like to make the major percentage of this one a delco with 6 tables, as it is only 1200 sq/ft. what really makes it work is that EVERYTHING (vent hood, in ground greese trap, prep tables, sinks, counter)is there except the pizza oven. It is in “mint” condition and was previously a restaurant (not pizza) that the mom/daughter walked away from after 6 months and left everything. I can get 3 free months and a one year lease after that with several renew options. There is 1 PJ, 1PH, 1Dom in a town of 25,000 households.

After reading dozens of posts on marketing from many of the pizza “gurus” I know I would have to do plenty of doorhanging, mailouts, etc…

what do you guys think???
 
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Edited as you said Households not population. I will guess your area at 2.5 people per household. so your population is 62.5k people.

My first question is for clarification. You say the town is 62.5k people.
Pj, PH, and Dom are also in this town. You Mention that this location is across town.

I guess I am a bit interested and confused.

General Current Data.

62,5k People

Based National Averages
62500x 17.45 monthly per person in pizza.

1090625 monthly market potential
251682.69 Weekly Market Potential

4 stores currently

In an evenly shared market (which doesn’t happen) Each store has roughly a 62920 weekly market potential.

IF you are able to take an additional 15% of the Total Market Share from the big three then I would think it would be a great “idea”.

You know the market and the geography. You know your share of the market (or should). Will your Town/Area Support another “SLICE owned Pizza place”? Or will your competitors still keep their market share and all you do is split your customer load to two separate locations?

I don’t really have enough info on your area to even begin to analyze it.
Your question was straight forward enough for someone that lives in your town to help you with. but every area is different.

***Still applies, would be different ratios
I have seen towns of 25000 people be as geographically different as 40 square miles and 100 square miles for the same population.

Tell us a bit more or PM me and maybe I can help you.

The building sounds great, location interesting.

Costs of being there. Your current market share. and your location would all go a long way to helping you find an opinion outside of your own.

Good luck SLICE!
 
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Considering you already have another place, 1200 feet is good size for a pretty high volume delco. If the six tables are just “gravy” in your business plan I would not worry about the location. Just don’t let those tables use up floor space you need for operations.

My chief concern regarding location would be access to the main roads, stoplights and such to be able to get to your major delivery population areas. Storefront visibility is nice but not crucial in advertising for delco business. Yellow pages, mailers, doorhangers, hotel/motel presence, campuses etc are more important.

I will assume that you are going to combine some major prep items like making dough and sauce to one location and save a little on labor, equipment and food cost.

For example, if your delco is slow during the day and the sit down has a good lunch, you can use the delco kitchen for prep by adding another pair of hands to the day shift.
 
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SLICE:
How important is location when it comes to a Delco with 6 tables. I have an opportunity to go into a location which is in a strip center (perpendicular to the main road) and “slightly” visible. Per the landlord, I would be able to get small signage on the marquee out front be very aggressive with banners and political signs for 90 days out by the road. Being in retail for 20 years before my adventure into the pizza biz, I understand how important location is. But am unsure about this one…

I have an existing 2200 sq/ft dine-in/delco (majority dine in) at the other end of town and I would like to make the major percentage of this one a delco with 6 tables, as it is only 1200 sq/ft. what really makes it work is that EVERYTHING (vent hood, in ground greese trap, prep tables, sinks, counter)is there except the pizza oven. It is in “mint” condition and was previously a restaurant (not pizza) that the mom/daughter walked away from after 6 months and left everything. I can get 3 free months and a one year lease after that with several renew options. There is 1 PJ, 1PH, 1Dom in a town of 25,000 households.

After reading dozens of posts on marketing from many of the pizza “gurus” I know I would have to do plenty of doorhanging, mailouts, etc…

what do you guys think???
Click to expand...
I know I’m in Australia but my shop is less than 1200 sq ft and we have 7 tables, do all prep on premises. Service 23,000 houses. Shop is on the outside of a medium size shopping centre which is set back from the major road on a rise.

We are limited to one sign on the facia on the front of the shop and limiyed shop window signage. Visibility from the road is minimal. The centre has one entry from the main road (traffic light controlled and another from the side street.

We have Ph and Domino’s 1 - 1 1/2 miles away, plus a couple of indies (don’t do much) plus another franchise and another Domino’s about 3 and 4 miles north plus 2 indies and another Domino’s 3 miles south.

We pull between $10 - $11K per week only open from 5pm - 10pm Sun - Thurs and 5 -midnight Fri and 5 - 10.30pm Saturday.

We do about 5% dine in, 30% - 35% delivery and the rest pick up.

With what you described I think yes you can do well PROVIDING you have a good product and do the marketing along the lines others suggest, especially J_r0kk.

If your other store is strong then I think you will be known across town and people will come in to try, and if the product is good, wella.

Dave
 
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Bobes and others:

population is 25k…sorry

I’m sure this shines a different light on it, also, there are 5 “middle of the road hotel/motels” days inn, comfort inn, etc, within a half mile.
 
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Bobes,

I’d like to make a little correction. Although the advice is good, the numbers are off. You wrote:
Based National Averages
62500x 17.45 monthly per person in pizza.
Click to expand...
It’s actually $17.45 / household in monthly pizza consumption. With that being said, I’d like to adjust the numbers if you don’t mind:

25,000 addresses x $17.45 = $436,250.00 in potential monthly sales.

Slice,

It’s a little hard to believe a town this size has only 3 pizza places. With that scenario, just 10% marketshare will net you $43,625.00 per month in sales.

I would be cautious, though. Location is one of the primary keys to success when I research a market. You see, a location with over 15,000 cars per day passing in front means you advertise to literally 15,000 people each day, although passive as it may be. Don’t think this doesn’t help in sales growth because it does.

I’ve had real-life experiences where I’ve operated a pizza store that did marginal sales. We moved the pizza store (in one case, a block down and across the street) into better locations and sales excelled significantly and maintained the volume.

So, even though you’re getting a good deal on the rent… think to yourself, “Why am I getting such a great deal?”. The answer might lie with the location itself.

-J_r0kk
 
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j_r0kk

Thank you for that correction.

that was a major oversight on my part.

Sorry for the trouble on the numbers SLICE.

Re-Edited for population AND oversight on household vs population.

Population being 25000

uess the averae household at 2.5 people (no idea on your area.)

10k homes x 17.45 = 174500 monthly market.

40269 weekly market. Major differance
 
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