Competition in the casual dining segment is fierce. Fast casual restaurants are encroaching on market share and with a rebounding economy, the price for prime real estate is increasing. Famous Dave’s knew they needed to leverage analytics and real estate tools to develop effective growth strategies.
By partnering with Buxton, Famous Dave’s has been able to:
• Evaluate potential sites more effectively
• Make a stronger case to prospective franchisees
• Get a clearer picture of who their best customers are, and where to find them
Scout More Sites Than Ever Before
“I look to Buxton to get me as close to the bullseye as possible,” says Brad McNaught, Director of Real Estate at Famous Dave’s. “With SCOUT, I can toggle in our core customers, and overlay a map of various retail areas. It becomes easy to identify the trade areas to focus on, and rank them in terms of which we should look at first.”
SCOUT enables real-time analysis of specific locations instantly, via phone, tablet or laptop.
Real-time access to information makes plotting a real estate strategy both easier and faster. It also enables companies like Famous Dave’s to put together the type of solid, data-driven documentation required to make a stronger appeal to potential franchisees, and to help existing franchisees pinpoint new options for expansion.
“Now we’re looking at ways that Buxton can support our marketing initiatives, like getting away from direct mail and going more into electronic mail.”
See Your Customers More Clearly
Buxton’s customer analytics are also enabling Famous Dave’s to get a clearer picture of who their prime customers are – and revealing exactly where to find them.
In addition, the brand now looks at trade areas in terms of drive time rather than geographic radius.
This makes a tremendous difference in comparing potential urban and suburban sites.
“Our lunch guests come from within a 10 minute drive time, while dinner guests are up to 15 minutes,” says Brad. “Lunch is about 40% of our dine-in sales, and we also do a significant amount of catering. So it’s crucial to look for heavy daytime population near our locations to drive that business.”
Famous Dave's Has Already Opened Six New Locations, With Six More Planned to Open This Calendar Year
Famous Dave’s was initially interested in Buxton’s site evaluation capabilities. But they soon began looking for ways to leverage Buxton’s extensive data and analytics to make improvements in other areas.
Moving forward, Famous Dave’s will explore ways to enhance its marketing efforts. For example:
• Enhancing ability to match the right audience with the right message
• Fine-tuning email messaging
• Identifying promising target audiences that may have been historically overlooked
When it comes to competition, information is power.
“I look to Buxton to get me as close to the bullseye as possible.”