Lane Cardwell

Highest Sales Restaurant Locations

One of the things that has fascinated me, ever since joining this industry, is learning what different locations do in sales volume for different concepts. I had the unique experience while at Steak and Ale, then at Brinker, of working on 25 different restaurant concepts. Many never reached a size of over 20-30 locations, but several were 200 units or more. With size comes a good statistical sample of volumes to look at across a chain.

A quote that I always enjoyed hearing, and I must not have been alone or it wouldn't have been quoted so often, was "This is XXX concept's highest volume location in their system." Often, looking at the location, I could picture it being true, and not the subtle salesmanship of a real estate broker. Sometimes I would just stare at the location and wonder, if true, how could that be?

Over time I learned that every concept has its own biorhythms when it comes to sales at a particular location. There were many times when we would put two, or even three, of our different concepts next door to each other, or within the same block. Rarely did the sales volumes of those two or three concepts rank the same within their own system. One might be in the top 10%, while another, just next door, might be at the system average. Of course execution always plays a role in helping or hurting sales volumes, but usually these differences were simply the effect of one concept being a better match for the site than another.

Being a sales volume information junkie, I was excited when one day AOL, that bastion of all things mainstream, had a feature on Popular Chains' Busiest Locations for 26 different retail brands. 11 of those retail brands were restaurant concepts. The information is quoted on the basis of traffic, not dollars, so that exchange rates and pricing have no effect. In no particular order here are those locations:

McDonald's

• Busiest in the world: Karlsplatz, Munich, Germany
• Busiest in the U.S.: 220 W. 42nd St., New York (Times Square)

 

Dairy Queen

• Busiest in the world: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
• Busiest in the U.S.: Rosedale, MD

 

Outback Steakhouse

• Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas, NV

 

Domino's

• Busiest location: Outside Camp Lejeune, NC
• Busiest outside the U.S.: Tallaght, Ireland

 

Applebee's

• 42nd St. between 7th and 8th Ave., New York (Times Square)

 

Red Lobster

• Times Square, New York

 

Hard Rock Cafe

• Busiest in the U.K.: London
• Busiest in Europe: Barcelona
• Busiest in the U.S.: Times Square

 

Burger King

• Busiest in the world: Luchthaven Schiphol, Netherlands
• Busiest in the U.S.: San Francisco, CA

 

Dunkin' Donuts

• 755 Main St., S. Weymouth, MA

 

Baskin-Robbins

• Busiest location: 1201 S. Victory Blvd., Burbank, CA
• Busiest outside the U.S.: Meundong store, Seoul, South Korea

 

KFC

• Busiest in the U.S.: Fall River, MA
• Busiest in China: Beijing Railway Station, China
• Rest of the World: Les Halles, Paris, France

 

 

 

 

Posted by Lane Cardwell on April 21, 2008 | Comments (0)