How to Fill an Open Franchise Niche

Businesses gain customers from being unique. Their sheer novelty draws in patrons from miles around. A fact that not only works in their favor, but works in their favor in a number of different directions. For instance, it allows customers to not only crave a product (and therefore purchase it), and travel to do so. Bringing in shoppers (or rather eaters) from miles around. But perhaps most importantly, with a niche, there’s no competition. No other guy to take away one’s profits or entice customers to give them their money instead. None. If someone wants to eat [interesting type of food], they’re the only option for miles around.

Sounds like a pretty great deal, right?

So how do you gain this type of setup? How do you find a niche where there’s zero competition and almost infinite amounts of business? By finding the right type of brand to fit the bill.

First off, look at what chains are in your eatery. Chances are there are more pizza joints, Mexican restaurants, and burger places than you can find in a single app page. (Or if there isn’t, this is an opportunity to fill that void.) Their business may be booming, but so is the competition’s. Which means high advertising fees, customer turnover, and no real income security - at least for the long term. In other words, it’s a set up that might be successful for the time being, but because the market is saturated, income could drop off at any point.

Finding the Right Niche

Rather than going for a “norm,” look at food options that aren’t already available. This might be a dessert, or a specialty food that’s specific to a certain region or country. Maybe it’s just a unique type of bread, or burgers that come with breakfast in the middle. Whatever it is, it needs to be novel, and it needs to be delicious. However, when venturing into these specialties, it’s important to look at ease of cooking. The goal is to find the tastiest product, but without hours spent on labor or food prep. And while that might sound like a tricky balance, it’s also the key to finding a food that can’t be replicated or repeated. But that can still bring in plenty of business.

When looking at brands, consider traveling to see what other branches have been able to achieve. Order a meal over lunch and see how busy they are on a Tuesday, then see how busy they are on a Saturday at breakfast, or at dinner. By looking at these traffic levels, you’ll have a better idea if said brand will be able to fill your area.

Finally, if stuck about what to offer, or to hear it straight from the customers, ask them what they want. Ask them what type of food(s) are missing from your area, and then make it happen. (Focus groups or chatting with friends are a simple way to go about this without polling the population. As well as hearsay.) After all, it’s the best way to find out what people will actually eat, while taking out the guesswork.

With this research in place – and plenty of hungry customers – you can be on your way to opening up a successful franchise branch. One that fills any open market niche with delicious-tasting foods.

By FoodFanchise.com Staff | September 4, 2017 | Food Franchise Blog