Colby Smith, general manager of restaurant franchise chain Outback Jack’s Bar & Grill, answers some questions about location for a franchise outlet …

How important is location when setting up a restaurant franchise?

Location is extremely important for OBJ’s when setting up a new store. We are in a number of very different locations across Australia but restaurant precincts and tourist areas are highly sought after and are to date experiencing increasing popularity and patronage, turnover and profit.

What are the main factors you consider when finding a suitable site?

Outback Jacks’ locations are assessed on their suitability to the available market and their ability to meet the building and design requirements. Our restaurants need great signage exposure, alfresco dining, good foot traffic and a great selection of other restaurants to feed off. We have sites in both strip and shopping centre locations; one of our flagship stores is at Knox City, in Melbourne. We need a substantial square metreage (300 sqm plus alfresco) to seat our customers, and our largest store is 650 sqm, seating approx 250 to 300.

Who does the groundwork as location scout -franchisor or franchisee?

The location hunting is mostly done by the franchisor and the team at head office because we have the experience and the contacts.

Since Graeme and Denise Diamond opened the restaurant chain a few years ago we have developed strong and successful relationships with many of the people involved in leasing which helps us secure great locations.

In Perth the Northbridge store may be moving further along the street to a better site?

Yes, we have a store in Northbridge, Perth which is quite a successful store, and has been trading for just over a year now. A location two doors down has recently become available and due to its position we are seriously considering moving there.

We believe that the sales would dramatically increase in this location which is a corner site on the edge of a green space where movies and events are held, and there should be increased foot traffic.

Also the layout of the store itself is very OBJ’s friendly – for instance it has large bi-fold windows at the entrance creating more of a relaxed, alfresco feel which is what our restaurant brand is all about.