Identification of Cluster Factors for the Standalone Restaurant

The growth and performance of hospitality industry nowadays not only focuses on hotel sector, but also dependable on the restaurant services. Restaurant is one of the local attractions in highest demand for both local and international market segment in craving distinctive and specialty cuisine at the tourism destination. Moreover, it has been reported that almost 17-20 percent of total monthly household expenditure is spent on dining out. Thus, it is unquestionable that restaurant operation can be considered to be a very lucrative business. Nevertheless, not every restaurant operator would successfully manage their business. As a matter of fact, a large number of businesses fail to compete and survive. Many efforts such as campaign, related business courses and investigations have been conducted to solve such problem. However, failure rate is still imminent. Wrong selection of restaurant concept is the most critical and common cause of failure. The aim of this paper is to conceptually discuss on how the restaurant concept selection can influence the growth of restaurant business. Finally, two cluster factors for standalone restaurant concept selection, namely internal (menu, financial support and staff) and external (location, market segment, competitor and economic status) are identified and elaborated further. These factors are believed to be an essential parameter to guide the business operator in planning and developing their restaurant.