QSR Magazine has published its latest "Growth 40" report and the report singles out Denver, Colorado as the top market in the United States.  That doesn’t surprise the restaurant brokers who launched their first franchise location in the country in Denver just over a year ago. 

How does a market get named the best large market for quick-service growth potential?  Making the cut is not just a popularity contest.  The researchers with NPD Group who perform the research for QSR have a methodology that includes hard data and key statistics like quick-service traffic and population changes.  On those measures, the Denver DMA topped the list with an 11% growth in quick service traffic and a six percent increase in population.  This is the third consecutive year for the Magazine’s study which is seen in the industry as a great predictor of growth and highly stable analysis.

On the ground, our restaurant brokers agree.  John Jordan is the Restaurant Broker and Franchise Partner for We Sell Restaurants in Denver, Colorado.  He says, "The Denver market has been on fire over the past year, between our 300 days of sunshine per year and the business friendly government, Colorado’s economy continues to thrive. The sports bar market is doing fabulous with the Broncos and Peyton Manning leading the way to the Super Bowl. Our housing market has stabilized and recovered from the minor losses from 2008 and then some.  There is a shortage of affordable housing and the economy is doing great."

Another key finding in the report is also mirrored by the restaurant brokers findings.  According to the magazine, while current concepts experience strong density, growth continues unabated as players enter the market as part of their expansion strategy.  QSR states, "Though the Mile High City’s quick-service density (118 units per 100,000 residents) is higher than any other Growth 40 member, concepts across the quick-service arena continue expanding in the area. These include Pizza Ranch, CiCi’s Pizza, frozen-yogurt chain Menchie's, snack retailer Doc Popcorn, Asian-inspired fast casual Mama Fu’s, and Dunkin’ Donuts, which has more than 30 units planned for the Denver area."  Eric Gagnon, President of We Sell Restaurants sees similar results saying, “There seems to be no end to the demand for listings in Denver.  Our first restaurant broker franchisee has seen strong growth, particularly from those relocating into the area.  Listings sell much faster is this market than on the east coast and for higher multiples.” 

Many restaurant chains are headquartered in Denver including the homerun concept, Chipotle, Qdoba, Boston Market and TCBY along with newcomer Smashburger.  This concentration of headquarters creates almost an incubator atmosphere where restaurant idea development and growth flourish.  

Denver is flying pretty high (note, pun intended!) these days with more than one publication singing its praises.  Forbes ranks the city Number 5 in the nation for business and careers, number 10 for personal safety and one of the Top 10 best cities to live in the nation.

This thriving food and beverage scene is home to the first restaurant brokers franchise location and there has been plenty of action since inking that deal just over a year ago.  Strong growth, quick turnover and higher prices are hallmarks of the restaurant brokerage practice in this market.

For more information on this thriving food and beverage scene, give John Jordan a call at 720 427 5822

Insights shared in this blog posting originated from material created by The NPD Group.   NPD Group is the foodservice industry's leading source for trends and performance indicators such as traffic, consumer spending, same-store sales, check size, and consumer demographics. NPD’s rigorous foodservice market research includes CREST®, which continually tracks more than 400,000 consumer visits at commercial and non-commercial foodservice establishments a year; SalesTrack® Weekly, which monitors the same-store sales of 100,000 leading restaurants; SalesTrack® Market, which, like SalesTrack® Weekly, monitors same-store sales but on a market basis; QSR Market Monitor, a syndicated awareness, trial, and usage tracker; and CREST® Local Market, which tracks consumers’ local preferences, demographics, and restaurant visits across the country’s top media markets. For more information, visit restaurantindustrytrends.com.