Introduction
Restaurant expansion decisions carry massive financial stakes. A single wrong location can drain hundreds of thousands in lease commitments, build-out costs, and operating losses before you finally cut your losses.
Yet many restaurant brands still choose new locations based on gut feeling, basic demographic reports, and limited competitive research. This approach worked decades ago when markets moved slowly, and information was scarce. Today, it’s a recipe for expensive mistakes.
Point of Interest data changes everything. It gives you a complete view of the market landscape before you commit to anything. You’ll see precisely where competitors operate, which areas have strong customer density, and where genuine opportunities exist versus markets that only look promising on the surface.
This guide explains how restaurant operators and food chains use POI data to make confident expansion decisions. You will learn what high-quality data is, how to use it effectively, and why choosing locations based on data is often better than traditional methods.
What Is POI Data and Why Do Restaurants Need It?
POI data (Point of Interest data) is location-based information about physical business establishments. For restaurants and food chains, this includes precise addresses, operating hours, cuisine types, seating capacity, and customer ratings.
Restaurant operators need POI data to make smarter expansion decisions. LocationsCloud helps restaurant brands find the best locations to open. It looks at markets that need more restaurant options, checks how many competitors are nearby, and assesses potential spots before brands sign expensive leases.
Research shows that 60% of restaurant failures are due to poor location choices. By providing reliable data on nearby attractions, LocationsCloud helps brands make smart decisions about where to set up next.
How Does POI Data Help With Restaurant Site Selection?
Choosing the correct location for your new business is crucial to its success. Using Point of Interest (POI) data can help make this choice easier and more systematic.
First, you can see all your competitors within a certain distance from your chosen site. It shows you market saturation levels and identifies gaps where customer demand exceeds supply. Additionally, you’ll see clustering patterns that indicate high-demand areas.
Second, POI data reveals nearby traffic generators. These include shopping centers, office buildings, entertainment venues, and transit stations. You can predict how many people will visit and move around your store throughout the day.
Third, demographic alignment becomes clear. For example, fast-casual concepts require different population characteristics than fine-dining establishments. POI data shows you where businesses that attract your ideal customers are located.
LocationsCloud’s platform provides these insights through easy-to-use mapping tools, with no technical skills required.
What Information Does Quality Restaurant POI Data Include?
POI (point of interest) datasets give you a comprehensive view of your various markets (subsections) based on specific attributes relevant to a particular area (geographically) and the types of businesses that operate there. The POI datasets are comprised of four distinct, yet complementary, types of layers:
Basic Location Attributes
- Geographic Coordinates
- Full Address
- Neighborhood District Classifications
- Accessibility features such as ramps and ADA-compliant products
Operational Attributes
- Days and Times of Operation
- Available Services
- Seasonal Closures
- Drive-Thru Service Availability
Business Classification
- Cuisine and Specialty Item Types
- Restaurant Classifications (Quick Service, Fast Casual, Casual Dining, Fine Dining)
- Price Range (Low-End, Mid-Range, High-End)
- National Chain vs. Independent
Performance Metrics
- Customer Ratings and Total Reviews
- Popularity Indexes
- Average Estimated Spending
- Peak Traffic Hours
Because of potential inconsistencies in data quality across POI datasets from different sources, LocationsCloud provides the most accurate POI dataset available. The LocationsCloud dataset is refreshed monthly to ensure it contains the most current data.
How Can Franchise Brands Use POI Data for Territory Planning?
Franchisors face unique challenges when assigning territories to franchisees. Therefore, POI data becomes essential for fair and profitable territory design.
Protected territories should reflect actual market conditions rather than arbitrary radius measurements. A two-mile area can include very different types of customers in cities compared to suburbs.
LocationsCloud helps franchisors assess the number of customers in an area, the level of competition, and the growth potential in suggested territories. This focus on data helps ensure that franchisees can find good markets that are worth their investment.
Additionally, analyzing points of interest shows when areas can support multiple locations without hurting each other’s business. Some markets have sufficient density to support several franchise units profitably.
What Role Does POI Data Play in Competitive Intelligence?
To truly understand your competition, you must dig deeper than just their addresses. You should also know how they perform, their place in the marketplace (positioning), and what their go-to-market strategy is.
POI (point of interest) data shows how competitors have clustered. Clustering of similarly positioned competitors in proximity typically indicates that customer demand for that menu type is high, rather than those areas being saturated with restaurants.
Minimized competitor locations, however, generally suggest that they are conducting a test in that market or have strategically positioned themselves there for whatever reason that suits their growth strategy.
You can also use POI data to benchmark your restaurant locations against your competitors. You can benchmark on operating hours, service model, and customer satisfaction—this information is key for any restaurant to determine how they can offer a different experience.
You can filter through the LocationsCloud competitive analysis tools to see restaurant competitors by cuisine, price, and customer ratings to quickly know where you stand compared to other restaurants in the marketplace.
How Does POI Data Optimize Supply Chain Operations?
Restaurant operations run smoothly thanks to hard-working distributors who provide products and services as required by the restaurant & foodservice industry. Point of Interest (POI) data allows for optimized use of facilities, delivery routes, and more.
To keep restaurant deliveries efficient, a distribution center must be located near the most densely populated restaurant areas. Having this information will provide a better point of reference for future restaurant development.
Optimized delivery routes are substantially improved thanks to POI data. In addition to being able to locate restaurants within the company’s defined delivery zones (and thus know where to go next on their delivery routes), delivery drivers will receive current traffic conditions and weather forecasts as they drive through these areas.
LocationsCloud provides bulk access to your location data, making it easy to integrate with logistics and supply chain management systems.
Can POI Data Improve Real Estate Negotiations?
Walking into lease negotiations with solid market data changes the power dynamic completely.
You can demonstrate precisely how much restaurant competition exists nearby. This information helps justify requests for lower rent or tenant improvement allowances. Additionally, vacancy rates for similar properties give you comparable figures for negotiation.
Co-tenancy clauses become more specific when you know which neighboring businesses drive traffic that converts for your concept. Instead of vague requirements, you can specify the types of establishments that create customer synergy.
Furthermore, build-out cost estimates improve when you understand what previously occupied the space and what infrastructure exists nearby.
What Are the Key Differences Between Free and Premium POI Data?
Although free data sources may have value, they often fail to deliver on their promise, creating additional obstacles for their users.
Drawbacks of Using Free Data
- Inconsistent or no updates
- Not all free data will contain a complete set of essential information
- No guarantee of accurate and reliable free data
- A limited amount of territory from which free data can be sourced
- For free data, there is no technical assistance or installation support available.
Benefits of Using a Paid Data Source
- Weekly/monthly updates
- Complete set of detailed records for each POI
- Multi-sourced and verified records for each POI
- Nationwide and/or worldwide availability
- Technical assistance and the ability to connect to the API.
LocationsCloud offers a complete solution of enterprise-level verified POI data. Our POIs offer verified accuracy across all attributes, with clients relying on frequent updates and dedicated support to ensure an easy, efficient integration process.
How Do You Measure ROI From POI Data Investment?
Monitoring the return on investment for data utilization provides improved visibility into the value provided by the subscription to data services and helps maximize the overall benefit of the service.
For our clients, the ability to measure improvements in site selection accuracy after implementing Point of Interest (POI) analysis provides concrete value, as fewer failed sites generate revenue sooner. Traditional methods of data-based site selection have proven to achieve a 40% reduction in failure rate compared to POI sites.
When calculating the time savings in the research process, you quickly see a cumulative effect: reducing the time needed to evaluate sites from weeks to days across all markets and concepts, allowing our clients to benefit from leasing on better terms through improved negotiation.
All LocationsCloud clients receive a financial return on investment in less than 3 sites selected from LocationsCloud, based on cost avoidance and improved negotiation benefits.
What Integration Options Work Best for Restaurant Teams?
Incorporating Point Of Interest (POI) data into a decision-support system can significantly improve the system’s return on investment.
With CRM integration to POI data, business users can access POI data within the same CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software they already use, eliminating the need to switch between BI (Business Intelligence) and CRM software. By viewing POI data alongside customer data, business users can better identify opportunities that might not be apparent without both sets of data.
The use of a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping platform enables business users to visualize POI (Points of Interest) data from multiple data sources. By converting a multitude of fields from spreadsheets into graphical representations, such as heat maps, buffer zones, and drive-time analysis, the GIS platform enables business users to identify patterns not apparent in the raw numerical data.
In the context of business intelligence (BI), using BI dashboarding tools allows business operations teams to directly compare the effectiveness of their operational performance to their competitive local market, as well as to be aware of how performance affects customer interactions in the local marketplace (i.e., are customer interactions negatively affected by an underperforming location or due to operating challenges in a particular geographic area).
LocationsCloud provides flexible RESTful API access for integrations with leading business intelligence platforms and mapping platforms. Therefore, implementations typically are completed within days rather than months.
How Often Should Restaurant POI Data Be Updated?
How often a business updates its information directly affects how well its decisions are made. In the restaurant industry, for example, around 30% of restaurants currently in operation will have been sold, changed hands, or had new ownership during the next 12 months.
Monthly updates help keep you abreast of many of these marketplace changes. A rapidly growing chain may benefit from receiving weekly updates on competitors, enabling it to act quickly when new competitors enter its market. A more mature brand considering expanding its business could obtain sufficient information from monthly updates on its competition.
With LocationsCloud, you can customize the frequency of updates you receive based on your business goals and growth strategy. We work with you to maintain the accuracy of all your updates through our verification process.
What Privacy and Compliance Issues Apply to POI Data?
Most restaurant POI data consists of businesses rather than people. As such, most Regulations about People’s information will not apply to these types of companies. However, being responsible when using this data is also essential.
When you provide transparency surrounding the sources of your information, you establish credibility with Franchisee partners who utilize your Market Intelligence. Furthermore, secure collection practices ensure that competitive intelligence does not fall into competitors’ hands.
LocationsCloud adheres to high data security standards and provides detailed information on how data is obtained, using methods that comply with commercial data regulations in every region where LocationsCloud operates.
How Is AI Changing Restaurant POI Analysis?
Using Machine Learning, AI adds additional layers of insight to traditional POI datasets.
- Timely Information: Mobile devices have enabled mobile data, and automated verification systems are providing timely updates in days rather than months. Having up-to-date information on competitors’ openings and closures allows a company to adjust its strategic timing.
- Adding Emotional Context to Location Performance: Review data adds a level of emotional context to how customers feel about a location. By understanding what customers praise and what they complain about, a company can develop its positioning strategy accordingly.
- Predicting the Future: Historical changes, combined with demographics, will provide a predictive model for where demand will be for a particular location before your competitors enter the market. It will allow companies to expand proactively rather than reactively.
LocationsCloud combines the ability to obtain AI-Driven insights and have human verification of key data points (critical data points). This combination of speed and accuracy improves the overall product.
What Questions Should You Ask POI Data Providers?
Evaluating providers requires understanding their capabilities and limitations.
Coverage Questions
- Which markets do you cover comprehensively?
- How do you handle rural versus urban areas?
- Do you include food trucks and temporary establishments?
Quality Questions
- How do you verify data accuracy?
- What’s your update frequency?
- How complete are attribute fields across your database?
Integration Questions
- Do you offer API access?
- Which platforms integrate with your data?
- What technical support do you provide?
Pricing Questions
- How does pricing scale with usage?
- Are there setup fees or minimum commitments?
- What’s included in base pricing versus add-ons?
LocationsCloud provides transparent answers to all these questions with no-obligation consultations for restaurant brands evaluating their options.
How Do Multi-Unit Operators Use POI Data Differently?
Multi-unit operators in the restaurant business need to establish a systematic process rather than conducting one-time analyses. Using standardized, consistent evaluation frameworks for each market and restaurant concept enables an objective analysis of multi-unit opportunities.
Each potential site is evaluated using uniform criteria and data points, so you can compare your options rather than making subjective decisions based on varying opinions.
Portfolio optimization becomes feasible when each restaurant location is analysed simultaneously. The Point of Interest (POI) data will indicate whether low-performing restaurant locations in the same market are due to local factors or operational problems, leading to different improvement strategies.
Additionally, generating expansion sequencing by prioritizing the most attractive markets can help develop a systematic approach to pursuing restaurant opportunities rather than randomly selecting markets.
LocationsCloud works with dozens of multi-unit operators to create these systematic processes. Our system enables operators to evaluate both individual restaurant locations and the total portfolio from a comprehensive perspective.
What Makes LocationsCloud Different for Restaurant Brands?
With the help of LocationsCloud, restaurant and foodservice brands can make better decisions regarding their following location.
Our POI data sets include specific attributes about restaurants that generic business databases do not provide. We include features such as cuisine types, seating capacity, service style, and food service permits as standard on our platform.
Additionally, we understand the economics of restaurants and the challenges of expanding a chain. We’ll provide you with tools and reports to help you answer the questions that really matter when selecting, planning, and positioning your sites.
When you become a client of LocationsCloud, you’ll receive support from dedicated specialists who understand the restaurant industry, providing you with information that is relevant to your needs, rather than generic assistance from a database.
We confirm all our data points across multiple sources and update them monthly. Because of this, you’ll never have to worry about making a costly error due to outdated or incorrect information.
Conclusion: Making Smarter Restaurant Expansion Decisions
POI data also eliminates risk and supports well-informed, structured decision-making across expansion decisions – all restaurant location decisions are based on market realities and not perceptions.
Brands that are succeeding today have integrated location intelligence into their organisation and established processes to utilise ongoing market observation and data-driven analysis rather than relying on ad hoc research projects.
Whether your restaurant has three or three hundred locations, you require the same core inputs, including accurate customer density information, competitor positioning, and genuine market location opportunities.
Restaurants now have access to verified POI data and reliable analytical tools to support foodservice growth through LocationsCloud. LocationsCloud provides comprehensive coverage, is frequently updated, and integrates seamlessly with existing restaurant operations’ workflows.
The successful location for your next restaurant is out there. The questions you must ask yourself are: will you find it first before anyone else, and will you know it when you see it? The answer is yes, with LocationsCloud’s high-quality verified POI data.
To discuss how verified POI data will help your restaurant grow faster and with less risk associated with expansions, contact LocationsCloud today.
