Before opening or taking over a restaurant or takeaway, it’s recommended to conduct a brief analysis about the competition, target audience, location, and the general market. This analysis can help you determine if your business plan is healthy at the chosen location. With a little research, you can quickly find out who your potential customers are and how strong the competition is locally. In the following article, we’ll show you how to easily conduct a quick competition analysis for your restaurant.
Key Questions for Takeaways:
Analyses for the Takeaway Restaurant Business Plan at a Glance:
A competition analysis for the food sector is comparable to competition analyses in other industries. A complete competition analysis consists of the following areas:
Analysis of competition and the market
As mentioned earlier, it is recommended, before starting a new business or taking over an existing one, to conduct a thorough market analysis. This primarily involves analysing competitors and potential customers.
Competitors play a significant role in market analysis. Examine the market closely and analyse the competition and the situation in your area. From this, you can deduce the difficulties or advantages for your business.
Try to approach market analysis as systematically as possible and back up your thoughts with facts and figures. How many competitors are there in the region? Do they offer similar services to what you’re planning? What is the capacity utilization of competitors?
It’s also recommened to visit the competition in person, possibly anonymously. This way, you can assess their offerings and services yourself. What are your impressions regarding location, service, ambiance, image, price, assortment, and quality of the competitors’ dishes?
It’s best to note your impressions in a table. Especially note the unique selling points of your competitors. What strengths and weaknesses do your competitors have?
This evaluation should be particularly thorough for companies that are similar to your concept and can be directly compared.
Formula for Market Size:
Number of Buyers × Purchase Frequency × Price
Analysis of the Restaurant Target Audience:
Place high value on analysing your target audience. What customers do you want to cater to in your restaurant or takeaway? Is the target group large enough in this location? Be sure to note that not all people can belong to your target group. For example, if you exclusively offer vegan dishes, the target group is different from if you run a steakhouse. Similarly, a café offering cakes has a different target group.
To create target groups, there are useful tools online. Describe your target group, ideally individual customers, as precisely as possible. This involves facts such as age, gender, place of residence, profession, income, and lifestyle.
Target group analysis is particularly important in the food industry to offer a concept that will be accepted by the customers. The target group defines the concept, including marketing, furnishings, and much more.
Another important question in starting a business should be whether your offering defines the target group or if you tailor your offering specifically to the existing target group. Both options are possible and depend on your specific circumstances. If you’re a pastry chef and want to open a café, your offering will define your target group. If you are open regarding the orientation of your restaurant or takeaway business but already have a suitable property, you can also reach a particularly attractive target group through a location analysis.
Analysis of the Restaurant Location:
According to estate agents, there is only one factor for properties: location. Especially in the food industry, it’s important that the location is easily accessible for guests. Therefore, a thorough location analysis is indispensable before starting a business.
Key facts in location analysis:
- What is the population in the catchment area, i.e., the potential market?
- What is the percentage of the target group?
- Are there companies in the area with a demand for your offering?
- Is the location easily accessible?
- Is the location appealing to your target group?
- Are there enough parking spaces and/or good public transport connections?
- Are there larger companies in the vicinity that are particularly relevant as a target audience?
- Are there any regulatory or structural requirements?
Conclusion: Market Research Provides Insights into the Competitive Situation
The examples show: a competition analysis of competitors with their strengths and weaknesses, as well as knowledge of the general market and customers, are important strategies to succeed in the target market. Especially, entrepreneurs should be sure that the concept fits the market, target audience, and location when developing new business ideas.
