Letter From Square
Opening a new location allows you to serve more customers and generate higher sales, directly impacting your bottom line – and beyond these financial benefits, expansion can help mitigate risks by diversifying your presence in the market and strengthening your brand’s credibility.
However, the industry is highly competitive and, following a period of decline, the casual dining sector has rebounded, with data revealing the UK saw on average three new sites opening per week in early 2024.
To better understand the realities of restaurant expansion, Square partnered with Industry Dive to survey 150 senior-level executives, including restaurant owners and founders, heads of operations and general managers, in the UK restaurant sector. These leaders, who oversee businesses ranging from quick-service to full-service restaurants, shared their insights on the key factors influencing their growth, the challenges they face and the strategies that have helped them succeed.
The findings reveal that while nearly all executives (98%) felt prepared for their most recent expansion, challenges still arose – particularly in managing costs, identifying a new location, securing real estate and navigating regulatory hurdles. Many also found that marketing their new location and building customer loyalty required more effort than anticipated.
The mood, however, remains optimistic with nearly all restaurant executives (94%) saying their business would be ‘highly prepared’ (44%) or ‘somewhat prepared’ (50%) to open another location in the future.
Confidently approach your next expansion with this playbook, which walks you through key steps, from knowing your finances to selecting a location and scaling your technology. Learn from the experiences of industry leaders and equip yourself with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions.