Sushi Itto, a restaurant located in Plaza Fontabella, zone 10, in Guatemala City, captures a potential market of 430 thousand consumers within a 15-minute drive, of which 11% are interested in Japanese food.
Using the Geomarketing solutions we have developed for our clients, CentralAmericaData's Business Intelligence team analyzed the environment of some of the main locations of Asian restaurants operating in Central American countries. Below is an excerpt of the study's findings.
Relocating existing restaurants, strengthening the digital sales channel and identifying the areas where consumers are currently concentrated in order to choose the location of new stores are some of the strategies of the chains when executing their expansion plans.
As a result of the covid-19 outbreak, several expansion projects were affected, which must now reinvent themselves and adapt to the new commercial reality, in which consumers have different lifestyles.
By 2021 in Costa Rica, the fast food restaurant chain Burger King plans to invest in the start-up of five new stores that will be located inside and outside the Greater Metropolitan Area.
According to information provided by the directors of the company, the new service points will be located in the surroundings of La Sabana, Alajuela, eastern sector of San José, Cartago and one outside the Greater Metropolitan Area whose location is still under study.
Betting on sales through digital channels, offering dishes at more accessible prices and carrying out promotions are some of the strategies that some casual dining restaurants that compete in the Costa Rican market seek to apply.
The spread of covid-19 severely affected the restaurant sector, especially businesses that did not sell through digital channels or did not have options to deliver their products to their homes.
AR Holdings will invest $1.5 million in the opening of The Capital Grille restaurant on Avenida Escazu.
According to information provided by the conglomerate, the restaurant is expected to open to the public by the end of the first semester of 2021 in premises that will have an area of 470 square meters.
The new location in which Friday's invested $150,000 is located in Los Yoses, east of the capital, and has the capacity to serve 180 people, but because of health restrictions it is only half full at the moment.
Previously, Friday's served its clients in San Jose in the La Bandera traffic circle, San Pedro de Montes de Oca, but, because its property was expropriated in 2019 due to the construction of a viaduct, the company was forced to close its operations in that location.
Taco Bell, located on 6th Avenue in zone 9 of Guatemala City, has a potential market of 315,000 consumers 15 minutes away by car. Of this group of people, 26% are interested in fast food and 15% in Mexican food.
Using the Geomarketing solutions we have developed for our clients, CentralAmericaData's Trade Intelligence team analyzed the environment of some of the main locations of fast food restaurants operating in Central American countries. Below is an extract of the study's findings.
In Central America, nearly 13 million people search online and participate in conversations related to pizzas, with Papa John's, Pizza Hut and Domino's Pizza being some of the chains with the greatest presence in consumer interactions.
An analysis of consumer interests and preferences in Central America, prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, provides interesting results on people's preferences and tastes in food and all kinds of products or services, as well as restaurant chains and activities.
In recent months, interest in fast food in the region's markets has continued to show a clear upturn, with El Salvador, Panama and Honduras recording the largest increases in interactions on the subject.
Through a system that monitors in real time changes in consumer interests and preferences in Central American countries, developed by CentralAmericaData, it is possible to project short and long term demand trends for the different products, sectors and markets operating in the region.
In Central America, it is estimated that nearly 14 million people show an interest in fast food in the digital environment. Pizza, tacos, organic food and snacks are some of the terms that have best positioned themselves in the minds of consumers with high purchasing power.
An analysis of the interests and preferences of consumers in Central America, prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, shows interesting results on the preferences and tastes of people in various foods, products, services, restaurant chains and activities.
In Costa Rica, a bill to give the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce the power to determine the maximum commissions and amounts that may be charged by digital platforms such as UberEats, Glovo, Rappi and Hugo was presented.
In Costa Rica, the new commercial reality requires restaurants to operate with a capacity of 50%; however, since they maintain the same level of fixed costs, the losses of this sector could exceed 20%.
For more than four months, when the first cases of covid-19 were reported in the country, consumers have been subjected to severe restrictions on mobility and restaurants were forced to operate in conditions unfavorable to their finances.
With the boom in demand for food delivery, Costa Rican restaurant owners claim that their companies have given up part of the profits to assume the costs of making alliances with delivery applications.
Since last March, when the first cases of covid-19 were reported in Costa Rica, consumers have been subjected to severe restrictions on mobility, which has led to transformations in the forms of marketing.
Sales via websites, social networks and instant messaging systems, as well as offering home delivery and including frozen food on menus, are some of the innovations that restaurants have had to apply in the new commercial reality.
Until the abrupt change in consumption habits brought about by the covid-19 outbreak in Costa Rica, restaurants did not imagine that the situation would force them to abandon their classic table service.
Removing commonly used beverage dispensers, signaling establishments to ensure social distancing, and installing doors with a foot opening are some of the adaptations that restaurants will have to make to operate in the new commercial environment.
The restaurant sector has been one of the hardest hit by the covid-19 outbreak, as in most countries the authorities have prohibited these establishments from serving their customers in the table area and only allow them to sell take-out.