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— Retail Properties Quarterly — August 2016
T
he old adage “location, loca-
tion, location” has been a
virtual Bible verse for real
estate for more than 60 years.
Based on my bias from the
hospitality industry, I thought that the
phrase was derived from an hotelier
by the name of E.M. Statler. How-
ever, in recent years, the subject was
researched further. Now the roots of
this retail coinage phrase is credited
to a real estate agent from Chicago
in 1926, who published a real estate
classified ad in the Chicago Tribune
that read: “Attention salesmen, sales
managers: location, location, location,
close to Rogers Park.”
This mantra remains as true now as
it was in 1926. Following are several
tips to help you determine the right
restaurant tenant for your shopping
center and the best ways to support
that tenant. It is important as a land-
lord or owner of a shopping center
to care about how the restaurateurs
approach and handle their business.
As a professional food service and
hospitality industry consultant work-
ing in the Rocky Mountain region, I
am witnessing new factors that are
driving retail-purchasing decisions.
These purchasing decisions stem
from how the restaurant uses social
media, engages millennials and tech-
savvy boomers, and acknowledges the
influence women have in decision-
making. By embracing these needs,
restaurants and centers can team up
to succeed.
The dinner decision – what or
where are we going for dinner – often
is not made until after 4 p.m., when
a quick text after to spouse, friends
or family drives the answer. For this
reason, the retailer
needs to command
prominent positions
on “near-me” appli-
cations, Facebook
and Twitter in order
to catch the eyes of
consumers when
they are ready to
make their meal
decisions. Brokers
and landlord should
inquire about a
prospective ten-
ant’s social media
engagement during
the review process of qualified ten-
ants.
In order to compete in the food
service and hospitality industry, a
well-laid-out and skillful social media
marketing strategy must be employed.
This should be discussed as part of an
interview with a prospective tenant
and should be heavily documented in
any business plan presented to bro-
kers and landlords.
n
Design.
Restaurateurs, when
designing or remodeling their restau-
rants, look at the number of seats in
the restaurant and their compelling
need to put butts in seats. This, of
course, is a key economic factor to
test feasibility of the business. How-
ever, one cannot overlook specific
details that address comfort, security
and cleanliness within the restaurant.
As women account for the greatest
consumer decision-making power, it
is important to look at the concept,
menu, attraction and design of a
space, and apply some basic Maslow
principles to address the basic needs
of the consumer and the female
patron. These are highly regarded
components of the overall experience
in a restaurant.
Basic components such as ease of
parking, distance to the front door,
lighting and the overall sense of
security are important to meet the
psychological and physical needs of
consumers. You want a tenant that
will pay attention to the infrastructure
and address the exterior and interior
needs of the property. And, of course,
the restrooms are important, especial-
ly space for baby changing. Adequate
space, adequate lighting, and heating,
ventilating and air conditioning are all
areas that surveys find female patrons
care about. How important these
items are to potential tenant can be
discovered during the due-diligence
part of the interview process of the
tenant candidate.
n
Leasing.
The right location within
a large shopping center facilitates
food service operations and, almost
always, is in demand because res-
taurants draw additional foot traffic.
However, addressing the needs of the
anchor tenant can be challenging,
and the “A” sites within the center
as well as the end caps present the
best opportunities for the landlord,
the developer and the prospective
tenant.
An independent restaurant needs
all of the help and opportunity it can
get in order to be successful. Closing
the door to bright ideas and placing
intriguing budding entrepreneurs in
the “B” sites is a recipe to increase
the restaurant failure rate.
Yes, the restaurant business is a
risk. Managing the risk from the get
go in terms of the final determina-
tion of where to locate the restaurant
within your space is challenging.
During the interview process, be
sure to ask questions about the ten-
ant candidate’s beliefs and plans for
social media, attracting and retaining
female consumers, and overall layout
and design beliefs within the restau-
rant relating to comfort, security and
cleanliness. Asking these questions
early on can help ensure that the
landlord and restaurant tenant are
both moving toward the same goals.
s
Richard Weil
Senior consultant,
CFE-National
Restaurant
Consultants,
Denver
Restaurant Trends
The retailer needs to
command prominent
positions on “near-
me” applications,
Facebook and
Twitter in order to
catch the eyes of
consumers when
they are ready
to make their
meal decisions.
