Joann Podkoscielny

This study identifies the characteristics of the full-service restaurant delivery customer by linking demographic data at the Dissemination Area (DA) level of geography with sales data at the FSA LDU level of geography. More specifically, the study focused on the spatial variation of sales patterns of the consumer base of a major FSR chain. The first and second order properties of the point sales dataset were explored through the use of kernel estimation. It was found that the highest density postal codes that ordered delivery were located in the downtown areas of Toronto. A geodemographic market segmentation approach using the K-means cluster method exposed the underlying sales clusters as well as differences between those customers that order phone delivery versus those potential customers that reside in each restaurant delivery trade area. All together, 16 clusters were developed, of which 3 clusters represented 33.3% of all delivery sales within the City of Toronto. These three clusters represented a higher daytime work population as well as middle-income families suggesting that the restaurant chain under study appealed to this Toronto demographic. In establishing these 16 clusters, this research study helped improve our understanding of the delivery customer, it will improve the marketing and delivery techniques of the FSR under study, and most importantly, this research study has shown the value of spatial analysis within business geomatics.