> Source: https://www.k-stra.com/industries/restaurants-and-cafes/ > Updated: 2026-11-09 Industries · Restaurants and cafés # How do I choose a location for a café or restaurant? Food is bought close to where people are, many times a week. Here is how to read the street around a site, and what the numbers can and cannot see. In short Choose a café or restaurant location by counting the residents within a short walk or drive, then every venue of the same kind around them, per 10,000 residents against the council, the state and Australia. Strips that serve workers, students and visitors pull far more people than live there, so compare streets with each other, not with the national average. [Map cafés near you](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?b=10&tm=walk&cat=markets_brands&mm=sector&sc=bars&src=industries-restaurants-and-cafes) What K-Stra maps ## Which food businesses does K-Stra map? K-Stra splits food service into six sectors: fast food, bars and cafés, ice cream, restaurants, pizzerias and take-away. Each has its own share of ABS household spending on eating out and its own reach, so a café is measured on a walk and a drive-through on a drive. Bars and cafés is the largest, with 33,133 locations. In the Brunswick example it holds cafés, coffee shops, pubs, bars and a wine bar, each with the category of its listing. Sectors of the Food service group in K-Stra, with the number of locations in the catalogue Sector in the app Locations What it counts Fast food 10,838 Burger, chicken and other quick-service chains and independents. Bars & cafés 33,133 Cafés, coffee shops, bars, pubs and wine bars. Ice cream shops 2,607 Gelato and ice cream shops. Restaurants 33,619 Sit-down restaurants of every cuisine. Pizzerias 4,731 Pizza restaurants and pizza delivery. Take-away 4,626 Take-away food shops. Source: the Food service group in the sector list of the K-Stra app on 1 November 2026, with the names the app uses; business catalogue of 23 October 2026, built from public online business listings. The counts here are the whole catalogue, as on the Australia pages; the national figure in the per 10,000 table of the example below counts only the locations K-Stra can place on an Australian address, so it can be a few places lower, which moves its rate by at most a hundredth. What matters ## Which numbers matter most for a café or restaurant? 1. ### Residents within a short walk The K-Stra model measures bars and cafés on a 5-minute walk. Coffee and a quick lunch are bought on foot, so the people who live within a few streets matter more than a whole suburb. The 5-minute walk is how far K-Stra assumes customers usually travel to a café when it models demand and competition; the 10-minute walk of the example is the area chosen to look at. The first sets the model, the second sets what is counted. In the app: the Where step on foot, and the Demand map, which counts the spending reachable from each point. 2. ### Who else is around Workers, students and visitors fill many strips, and they are not residents. K-Stra does not count them, so a busy strip always looks crowded against its residents. Compare it with other strips, not with the national average. In the app: the density table, read across several catchments of the same kind. 3. ### Venues per 10,000 residents Australia has 11.99 bars and cafés per 10,000. A suburban centre far below it may be under-served; an inner-city strip far above it lives on people from elsewhere. In the app: the density table: catchment, council, state and Australia side by side. 4. ### Reviews and ratings of competitors Food venues have no estimated sales. The number of reviews is the best public sign of how busy a place is, and the rating of how hard it is to beat. In the app: the store table, sortable by reviews and rating. 5. ### Market gap and good neighbours Where spending within reach is high against the venues already there, a newcomer has room, and cinemas, hotels, food halls and shopping centres nearby bring people at mealtimes. In the app: the Market gap map, the five best locations and the neighbouring categories option. Data ## What data do you need to assess a café or restaurant site? Venues, residents and spending on eating out, already loaded. Nothing needs uploading. - ### Every food venue Six food sectors from public online business listings, with category, address, rating and number of reviews. [Business and competition data](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/markets/) - ### Residents ABS population estimates at 30 June 2025, spread address by address, so even a five-minute walk counts the right people. [Population data](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/population/) - ### Spending on eating out Household spending from the ABS national accounts for 2024–25, assigned to each food sector. [Work, income and spending](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/work-and-income/) - ### Walk times on real paths Walking catchments on footpaths and paths at 4 km/h, not circles on a map. [Isochrone or radius](https://www.k-stra.com/geomarketing/isochrone-vs-isodistance/) *[Image: K-Stra market gap map for bars and cafés within a 10-minute walk of 1 Sydney Road, Brunswick VIC: purple shading along Sydney Road and Brunswick Road, café pins along the strip, and the best locations with their market gap index.]* The market gap layer for bars and cafés around the south end of Sydney Road. Darker purple is where spending within reach is highest against the venues already there. In K-Stra ## How do you analyse a café site in K-Stra? Type the address, switch the catchment to on foot, open Markets & Brands and pick Bars & cafés — or Restaurants, Fast food, Take-away — as a whole sector. 1. WhereThe address and a walk-time catchment. The size of the area does not change the price. 2. WhatMarkets & Brands, whole sector, the food sector you trade in. Add the neighbouring categories if you want the context. 3. ReadDemand, competition and market gap on the map, every venue with its category, rating and reviews, and the best locations. [Open this setup in the app](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?b=10&tm=walk&cat=markets_brands&mm=sector&sc=bars&src=industries-restaurants-and-cafes) Example ## What does a café analysis show? Bars and cafés within a 10-minute walk of 1 Sydney Road, Brunswick VIC: 23 venues for 3,902 residents, 58.94 per 10,000 — 4.9 times the Australian 11.99. They are 11 cafés, 5 bars, 4 pubs, 2 coffee shops, 1 wine bar. None has an estimate of sales: food venues never do. Bars and cafés per 10,000 residents within a 10-minute walk of 1 Sydney Road, Brunswick VIC, compared with the council, the state and Australia Area Venues Residents Per 10,000 residents Catchment 23 3,902 58.94 Merri-bek (council) 232 189,108 12.27 Victoria 8,379 7,073,859 11.85 Australia 33,114 27,613,654 11.99 Sources: K-Stra analysis of 1 November 2026: bars and cafés within a 10-minute walk of 1 Sydney Road, Brunswick. Businesses: K-Stra places catalogue, October 2026. Residents: ABS population estimates at 30 June 2025. Spending: ABS national accounts, 2024–25. Reading the numbers ## Does Brunswick have too many cafés? For the people who live there, by far; for the people who come there, perhaps not. The walk covers the south end of Sydney Road and only 3,902 residents, while the Merri-bek council area as a whole has 12.27 per 10,000, close to Victoria’s 11.85. The venues of the strip live on workers, students and visitors that a resident-based model does not see. Inside the walk, the market gap still separates good corners from crowded ones: the best are near 747 Park Street, Brunswick; and 207 Brunswick Road, Brunswick, with indices of 242 and 238 against 100 for the typical spot. That is the comparison the model is built for. *[Image: K-Stra table of the 23 bars and cafés within a 10-minute walk of 1 Sydney Road, Brunswick VIC, with category, address, walking time, rating and number of reviews.]* Venues · Brunswick 23 venues, 5 categoriesEvery bar and café within the walk, with its category, walking time, rating and number of reviews. Cost ## How much does a café or restaurant analysis cost? The Brunswick example cost 40 credits. A whole suburb costs the same: you pay for the sector, not the size of the area. Each further food sector — restaurants next to cafés, for instance — is another analysis at the same price. [How credits work](https://www.k-stra.com/pricing/how-credits-work/) - Markets & Brands, one food sectorper sector, any area 40 credits - Maps, tables and exports of the results Free - Total\= 40 credits - ≈ A$61 at the Single report pack rate of A$1.53 a credit; less with larger packs and monthly plans. A new free account’s 40 welcome credits cover it. Optional, not in the total - Neighbouring categoriesper set \+ 2 credits - Compare candidate sitesper candidate site \+ 20 credits The estimate appears before the run starts, and a run that fails costs nothing. Three questions ## What do people opening a café or restaurant ask next? - ### Which of my candidate sites is stronger? Run the same model on one to five addresses and compare the residents’ spending each could capture, and from which venues. It counts residents’ spending only, so use it to compare sites in the same sector and area: the absolute value is an order of magnitude, and workers, commuters, tourists and passing trade are not in it. [Retail site selection](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/retail-site-selection/) - ### How far do my customers come from? Draw walk-time and drive-time bands on real paths and roads and see who lives in each one. [Catchment area analysis](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/catchment-area-analysis/) - ### Who lives around here? Age, households, income and spending of the people who live near the strip, against the council, the state and Australia. [Demographic analysis](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/demographic-analysis/) FAQ ## What else do people ask about café and restaurant locations? ### How many cafés and bars are there per resident in Australia? 33,114 bars and cafés for 27,613,654 residents, or 11.99 per 10,000. Restaurants, fast food, take-away, pizzerias and ice cream shops are counted as separate sectors, each with its own figure. ### Does K-Stra count the people who pass by or work nearby? No. Demand comes from the spending of residents within reach of each point. Workers, students, tourists and passing trade are not in it, so city centres, campuses and tourist strips come out lower than they really are. Use the numbers to compare similar streets. ### Does K-Stra show the estimated annual sales of competing restaurants? No. Estimated annual sales are shown only for existing retail stores, always as a band with its confidence and never as a figure, and food service venues have none. The table shows each competitor’s category, travel time, rating and number of reviews, which is the clearest public sign of how busy a venue is. ### Should I use a walk-time or a drive-time catchment? It depends on the trade. The K-Stra model measures bars and cafés on a 5-minute walk, because coffee is bought on foot; a destination restaurant or a drive-through draws from a drive. You choose the area in the Where step, by car, on foot or as a radius. The 5-minute walk sets the model; the area you draw, 10 minutes on foot in the example, sets what is counted. ### Which businesses help a café? The ones that bring people at the same hours: offices, gyms, shops, a cinema or a shopping centre. The neighbouring categories of a food analysis count cinemas, hotels, arcades, supermarkets, food halls and shopping centres around the site for 2 credits. Related pages - [For small business owners](https://www.k-stra.com/for/small-business-owners/) - [All industries](https://www.k-stra.com/industries/) - [Competitor analysis](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/competitor-analysis/) - [Franchise territory planning](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/franchise-territory-planning/) - [Isochrone, isodistance or radius](https://www.k-stra.com/geomarketing/isochrone-vs-isodistance/) - [How to choose a store location](https://www.k-stra.com/geomarketing/how-to-choose-a-store-location/) - [Business and competition data](https://www.k-stra.com/product/data/markets/) - [Foot traffic analysis](https://www.k-stra.com/solutions/foot-traffic-analysis/) Your turn ## See the street around your venue. Type an address, pick your food sector and read residents, competition and the gaps on one map. [Open the app — free to explore](https://www.k-stra.com/a/?b=10&tm=walk&cat=markets_brands&mm=sector&sc=bars&src=industries-restaurants-and-cafes) Exploring the map is free; you pay only for the analyses you run