Data-Driven Site Selection Focuses on the Most Profitable Locations for East Coast Wings + Grill
We are passionate about helping our franchisees succeed for a simple, symbiotic reason: If their first East Coast Wings + Grill restaurant succeeds, they will be more likely to open more. Their success means greater profitability for them and greater brand presence and awareness for all of us. So, let’s talk more about the most profitable franchise location for your business.
Among the many efforts we make to help ensure franchisee success – which includes conducting a yearly business review and tracking each restaurant’s Net Promoter score – is our site selection process.
Because our franchisees tend to have strong business acumen and are more sophisticated, we do not rely solely on demographics to select a site in target markets. Instead, our site selection process is based primarily on psychographics, the analysis of consumer lifestyles to develop a detailed customer profile. East Coast Wings + Grill uses Buxton, a company specializing in the science behind who the customer is, where they live and which are the most valuable to determine ideal locations for franchisees.
How Our Approach to Site Selection Works
Data gained from credit card swipes lets us know where our potential customers live, allowing us to focus on where they shop and eat. We can then begin considering locations in that area or in a vibrant trade area nearby. Among the many elements of our criteria that we examine is the daytime work population and how many big-box retailers are in that area. We also want to know what grocery stores exist there and who our competition is – overall, direct and even quick-service restaurants (QSRs).
Our site selection process saves franchisees time, money and heartache because it reduces the potential of low unit volume. If a franchisee has an interest in opening an East Coast Wings + Grill restaurant in a particular area, we will use Buxton to see if our consumer is there. In some smaller markets, that has helped us make a decision whether an East Coast Wings + Grill restaurant would go into that market. We could see our customers were not there nor were the big box stores or grocery stores that serve as magnets for us.
Benefits for Existing Franchisees
Buxton not only helps with site selection, it has marketing capabilities that can be used for East Coast Wings + Grill locations already up and running.
For example, Buxton can help us zero in on the best homes for mail drops. Since we know where our consumer is (thanks to the credit card swipes, clicks on banner ads, etc.) and what some of their habits are, we can determine if they like chicken wings. This allows us to send marketing material to them without wondering if they will even look at it. We’re confident they will because of everything we know about them. And, we can expect a positive response rate.
This is much more effective than the traditional mail drop, where a business floods an entire zip code with marketing material. They may know their demographic, but they don’t know who their customer or potential customer is. It’s hit or miss.
Not Just Lip Service
When we say we’re focused on the success of our franchisees, we mean it. Even though we’re an emerging brand, we invested in a predictive analytics tool, Buxton, to get franchisees set up in the most profitable locations possible. Typically, most franchise concepts don’t invest in a predictive analytics tool until they’re double or triple our size.
Your success is our success. That’s not just lip service. It’s why, in addition to precision site selection, we’ve also established a unit level economics department, conduct annual business reviews for each franchise location, comb through each restaurant’s profits and losses, and more. But it all starts with opening your East Coast Wings + Grill in the right location.
