Fazoli Information

I could not get in contact with anyone at the Fazoli Corporation

Fazoli's Systems, Inc.
2470 Palumbo Dr.
Lexington, KY 40509-1117
Phone: (606) 268-1668

When they came before Planning Commission on April 20, 1999 they submitted information below to the Planning Department as part of the site planning process.  Data is from Fazoli's.

1) Fazoli's has two peak periods each day and these last approximately 2 hours each.

2) They estimate that a restaurant with 98 to 114 seats requires 55 parking spaces to adequately provide for guests and employees during peak periods. To calculate this number, they used the average amount of money made during peak sales.
For example:

Average peak hours sales $800.00/hr
Divided by the average expenditure of $ 4.00/guest
Equals the # of guests 200 guests

At this time, Fazoli's drive-thru business is at an average of 30%

Number of guests 200
Times drive-thru % 30
Equals drive-thru guests 60

Therefore, the number of guests that eat inside is 140.

This method of calculation based on how much people eat appears to be unusual.

Fazoli's turns each chair twice per hour, which would mean that each parking space would be used twice each hour. Their studies show that customers arrive 1.8 customers per auto.

140 customers / 1.8=78 spaces needed for the customers
2 times per hour=39 customers spaces+
8 employee spaces or 47 spaces each half hour

Statistics From McDonald's

To test the Fazoli method, I went to McDonald's to collect a one day tally of the number of sit-down customers.

Location: 2310 West Stadium
When; Thursday, August 5/99
Accommodates: 103 people

The manager approached me, while I was taking statistics; she was concerned that I was a secret customer critiquing the restaurant. After I explained my project, she shared the stores numbers before 4:30 p.m.

Breakfast 6:00-10:30 (388 transactions)

Lunch 10:30-1:30 (357 transactions)

Mid after noon rush 1:30-4:30 (269 transactions)

Dinner 4:30-6:30 (119 sit-down customers--from my survey)

The manager also informed me that 65-70% of the transactions are from the drive-thru customers. Thus, to discover the number of sit-down customers I divided the numbers into separate hours and then divided by 30% to get an estimate of the number of sit-down customers. I did not include breakfast because Fazoli's does not provide this meal.

Lunch 10:30-1:30--

Total of 357 transactions multiplied by 30% = 107 sit-down customers
Total number of customers divided by 3 equals = 36 sit- down customer/hr
Therefore, according to Fazoli's statistics:
Total number of customers 36 should be divided by 1.8 (average number of customers that arrive in a car) = 20 spaces needed for customers
2 times per hour = 10 customers spaces+
8 employee spaces or 18 spaces per half hour

 Dinner 4:30-6:30 (119 sit-down customers--from my survey)

Total number of customers divided by 2 equals = 59.5 sit-down customers
Therefore, according to Fazoli's statistics:
Total number of customers: 59.9 should be divided by 1.8 (average number of customers that arrive in a car) = 33.3 spaces needed for customers
2 times per hour =16.5 customer spaces+
8 employee spaces or 24.5 spaces per half hour

At this point it seems as if the Fazoli-need for 47 spaces is extremely exaggerated. However, one has to keep in mind that the number of expected drive-thru customer at Fazoli's is considerably less at only 30%. In order to get more accurate results the total number of transactions should be divided by 70% not 30% in the first example.

Total of 357 multiplied by 70% = 249 sit-down customers
Total number of customers per hour is 249 divided by 3 = 83.3
Total number of customers: 83.3 should be divided by 1.8 (average number of customers that arrive in a car) = 46 spaces need for customers
2 times per hour = 23 customer spaces+
8 employee spaces or 31 spaces per half hour

It makes sense that the number of drive-thru customers would be considerably less for a restaurant such as Fazoli's. This is because their menu consists of foods that would typically not be easily consumed while driving. For instance, it is difficult to eat spaghetti or lasagna on the road.

It is important to remember that the method used to collect data from the two restaurants is different and the statistics from McDonald's are only from one day and not an average. One must also keep in mind that if I had taking results on a Friday or Saturday the numbers of customers would have probably increased because these days are typically busier business days.

My greatest doubt concerns the Fazoli-claimed need for 47 spaces. The total number of guests was calculated by taking the average peak sales divided by the average guest receipt, which they say to be $ 4.00/guest. I believe that this number should be larger and this would decrease the number of total customers and the number of parking spaces.