A restaurant needs good food to keep patrons returning, but it also must have an excellent location in order to get customers in the first place. No matter how good an eatery's meals are, most people will only drive so far to get breakfast, lunch or dinner. If you're starting a new restaurant, here are some factors to consider during the site-selection phase of your planning.

Traffic Patterns of Road

The traffic patterns of the road that your restaurant would be located on are some of the first things you should consider during the site-selection phase. Additionally, there are multiple factors to look at when examining traffic patterns. You'll want to note the:

• Total number of cars that pass by per week, as this will account for a large portion of your potential customer base
• Peak traffic days, as this will determine whether weekdays or weekends will be busier for you
• Peak times of day for traffic, as this will determine whether people mostly drive by at breakfast, lunch or dinner time
• Direction that most traffic travels, as this will determine what side of the road your selected site should be on

Your site selection should lead you to a location that's on the busiest side of the road. Customers will be more likely to turn into your parking lot if they can make two right turns, as opposed to two left turns or even a U-turn on some avenues.

Distance to Fire and Police Stations

While any nearby place of work can provide hungry patrons, there are three reasons to prioritize locations near fire and police stations during your site-selection process.

First, fire stations and police stations are always open regardless of what's going on. Even in economic downtimes and times of disaster, first responders will still go to work and need to eat. Thus, these stations can provide you with regular customers in situations where other places of work might close.

Second, the people who work at fire stations and police stations can provide valuable referrals if they like your restaurant's food. First responders are often active in their communities, and people will trust the responders' recommendations.

Third, being located near a fire station or police station might get you a discount on your restaurant insurance premiums. Because first responders can get to nearby locations quickly, insurance companies sometimes extend discounts on property insurance coverages for buildings that are near stations.