Creating Food Hot Spots in South Lansing
When we learned about the plight of the Naing Myanmar Family Restaurant we realized we could do more to support our South Lansing neighborhood restaurants, especially the new or small establishments, by making people aware of them. Toward that end we have created an initial inventory of almost 300 eating and drinking establishments in the South Lansing area.
We will be working to identify the new, small, locally-owned and unique establishments and create maps of their locations. We will also be working to identify existing clusters or groupings of establishments as well as restaurants that are not currently in a cluster and may benefit from co-locating near other restaurants or in incubators. We look forward to working with many partners on this project and you can read more about our initiative in this described in this City Pulse article.
We will be working to identify the new, small, locally-owned and unique establishments and create maps of their locations. We will also be working to identify existing clusters or groupings of establishments as well as restaurants that are not currently in a cluster and may benefit from co-locating near other restaurants or in incubators. We look forward to working with many partners on this project and you can read more about our initiative in this described in this City Pulse article.
Economic Impact of "Food Hotspots"
Clustering restaurants has the potential to impact local economic development for a variety of reasons:
(1) Clustering restaurants together provides a competitive advantage to all the restaurants in the cluster. A group of restaurants has more pull to attract customers than just one single restaurant. (Porter, M. “Clusters and the New Economics of Competition” Harvard Business Review, Nov/Dec 1998).
(2) Consumers spend a significant portion of their disposable income in restaurants. 2014 U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey data reports that the average consumer unit spends $2,661 annually eating out which is equal to 5.1% of their total expenditures. Furthermore, the U.S. Commerce Department announced earlier this year that for the first time Americans spend more on eating out than on groceries (“Americans' Spending on Dining Out Just Overtook Grocery Sales for the First Time Ever”, Bloomberg Business 4/14/2015).
(3) Money spent at independent restaurants recirculates back into the local economy at high rate (“The Multiplier effect of Local Independent Businesses” American Independent Business Alliance). For every dollar spent on an independent restaurant sixty-five cents is returned to the local economy. This is compared to 48 cents recirculated by independent businesses in general and thirty-five cents recirculated by chain restaurants.
(1) Clustering restaurants together provides a competitive advantage to all the restaurants in the cluster. A group of restaurants has more pull to attract customers than just one single restaurant. (Porter, M. “Clusters and the New Economics of Competition” Harvard Business Review, Nov/Dec 1998).
(2) Consumers spend a significant portion of their disposable income in restaurants. 2014 U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey data reports that the average consumer unit spends $2,661 annually eating out which is equal to 5.1% of their total expenditures. Furthermore, the U.S. Commerce Department announced earlier this year that for the first time Americans spend more on eating out than on groceries (“Americans' Spending on Dining Out Just Overtook Grocery Sales for the First Time Ever”, Bloomberg Business 4/14/2015).
(3) Money spent at independent restaurants recirculates back into the local economy at high rate (“The Multiplier effect of Local Independent Businesses” American Independent Business Alliance). For every dollar spent on an independent restaurant sixty-five cents is returned to the local economy. This is compared to 48 cents recirculated by independent businesses in general and thirty-five cents recirculated by chain restaurants.
You make a difference in South Lansing! Come Join our Community Outreach Team.
Many folks in South Lansing are already doing things to keep neighborhoods great places to live. Here are some more ways you can be involved with one of our current initiatives to develop Food Hubs in South Lansing:
1) Join our Community Outreach Team to talk with all our locally-owned restaurants in South Lansing. We'll have volunteer training and you can visit as few or as many restaurants as you would like to help us reach our goal.
2) If you own a Restaurant in South Lansing we would love to hear from you!
1) Join our Community Outreach Team to talk with all our locally-owned restaurants in South Lansing. We'll have volunteer training and you can visit as few or as many restaurants as you would like to help us reach our goal.
2) If you own a Restaurant in South Lansing we would love to hear from you!