To Open a restaurant is a risky endeavor that includes many factors that play into the success of a restaurant. Between hiring qualified staff, obtaining the proper work permits as well as marketing there is a lot to be done before even opening the doors to the restaurant for business. And this doesn’t take into consideration possibly the most important factor of all for a restaurant to be successful and that is the location of the restaurant. So where are the best locations in the United States to open a restaurant? Bid On Equipment recently released a report that analyzed 236 cities across the United States which included the 150 most populous cities, to try and determine the 50 best cities to open a restaurant.
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In the report they analyzed the following factors:
- Annual restaurant sales per capita
- Competition and market saturation (broken down by restaurants per capita)
- Workforce (broken down by the number of restaurant industry workers per capita)
- Medium income in each city
Data for restaurant sales, restaurants per capita and workforce was collected from the U.S. Census Bureau. Median income data was collected from the American Community Survey.
The Washington D.C. locale was well represented in the list claiming two of the top three spots. Overall the rankings were a mix of big and medium sized cities from across the United States. San Francisco had the most restaurants per capita and came in at number four on the list. Many cities with growing restaurant scenes were also featured on the list. Cities like Denver, Austin, and Portland Oregon. One big take away for potential restaurant owners is that there is as much or if not more opportunity in mid-sized cities as there is in large cities across the nation.
The full list can be seen below:
- Arlington, Virginia
- Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Washington, D.C.
- San Francisco, California
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Plano, Texas
- Seattle, Washington
- Bellevue, Washington
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Austin, Texas
- Tampa Bay, Florida
- Denver, Colorado
- Miami, Florida
- Orange, California
- Orlando, Florida
- Costa Mesa, California
- Thousand Oaks, California
- McAllen, Texas
- Charleston, South Carolina
- New Orleans, Louisiana
- Huntsville, Alabama
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Springfield, Illinois
- Houston, Texas
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Paradise, Nevada
- Wilmington, North Carolina
- Stamford, Connecticut
- Chattanooga, Tennessee
- Santa Clara, California
- Clearwater, Florida
- Savannah, Georgia
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Columbia, Missouri
- Knoxville, Tennessee
- Berkeley, California
- Naperville, Illinois
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Fort Collins, Colorado
- Portland, Oregon
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Tempe, Arizona
- Huntington Beach, California
- San Diego, California
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Lakewood, Colorado
- Providence, Rhode Island
To see the full analysis check out the graphic below.