Expanding Your Restaurant to More Locations in Ireland

If you're considering a second, third, or even tenth location in Ireland, you're in good company. In Toast's Voice of the Restaurant Industry in Ireland report, 95% of Irish restaurateurs predict year-over-year sales growth, and over half say they're very likely to open a new location or concept this year. At the same time, many operators cite profitability, staffing, and managing finances across sites as their biggest challenges.

Expansion isn't just about putting your name above another door. It's about choosing locations that fit your concept, protecting your margins, keeping your culture intact, and making operations simpler, not harder, as you grow.

This guide walks through how to expand your restaurant to more locations, from working out if now is the right time, to building an Ireland-specific location strategy, navigating local regulations, and using technology to keep every site on brand and profitable.

Step 1: Decide if Now Is Really the Right Time to Expand

Before you sign another lease, pressure-test whether your current operation is truly expansion-ready.

Start by asking yourself and your leadership team some honest questions. Is your first location consistently profitable? You'll want to look at at least 12 to 18 months of trading, ideally across different seasons, to see if you're hitting your target food cost, labour percentage, and operating margin. Are your systems repeatable? If you dropped your best manager into a new site tomorrow with a new team and the same tech stack, could they replicate your guest experience and financial performance? Do you have a clear guest value proposition? What are guests choosing you for: speed, experience, local sourcing, price, a specific cuisine, neighbourhood vibe? Expansion should amplify that, not dilute it. And finally, do you have leadership bench strength? You'll need strong general managers, supervisors, and kitchen leaders ready to step up. If your current site still relies on you being there for every shift, expansion may be premature.

Step 2: Use Data to Understand Where and How to Grow

Once you've established you're ready in principle, use data to decide how you expand: more seats in your current neighbourhood, a second full-service site, a quick-service offshoot, a kiosk, or a ghost kitchen.

Start with your own data. Use POS and CRM reports to understand where your highest-value guests live and work, which menu items drive margin versus just volume, peak days and dayparts, plus delivery versus on-premise mix. Track operational metrics like table turn times, ticket times, and labour efficiency. Your managers and servers know where guests say they'd love to see another location, so listen to that qualitative intelligence as well.

Now layer in Irish consumer insights. According to the Toast Consumer Preferences Survey 2025, value and experience are front of mind for Irish diners. Price sensitivity is real, with 61.5% of Irish diners saying price is the primary factor or quite influential in restaurant choice. This means expansion plans should build in clear value communication and careful pricing, especially if you're moving into higher-rent areas. Support for local independents is strong, too.

When choosing small independent restaurants, a large share of Irish diners say that supporting local businesses is a key motivation, alongside taste and unique menu items. As you grow to multiple locations, protect your "local" feel by highlighting Irish suppliers, neighbourhood ties, and community initiatives in each site. Design and layout also matter for loyalty, with 63% of Irish diners saying the design and layout of a restaurant is extremely important or important in their decision to return. This means fit-out decisions in new locations aren't just cosmetic, they directly impact repeat visits.

Use these insights alongside market research tools such as demographic data, footfall counts, and competitive mapping when you model new locations. 

Step 3: Build an Ireland-Specific Location Strategy

A smart restaurant location strategy means matching your concept to the right catchment area, not just chasing a cheap lease or the busiest street.

When assessing potential sites across Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, or regional towns, consider the neighbourhood fit carefully. Are there enough people in your target age and income bracket to sustain your concept, especially if it's premium or occasion-driven? Think about the daytime versus evening economy. Office-heavy districts may justify strong weekday lunch and early-evening trade, whilst residential suburbs might reward family-friendly offerings and strong delivery. Footfall and visibility matter: can people see you and reach you easily? Is there foot traffic from retail, offices, tourist attractions, or transit? You'll also want to assess competition and saturation. Are you entering a cluster of similar concepts, which can be positive, or a market that already feels over-supplied?

Learn from Irish multi-location operators who've successfully navigated expansion. Sprout & Co, founded by brothers Jack and Theo Kirwan, began with a salad bar on Dublin's Dawson Street in 2015 and has grown to almost nine restaurants, including their first Cork location on Winthrop Street. According to the Irish Examiner, the brothers credit their success to loyalty and people-first culture, with five team members moving to Cork for the opening and a focus on developing managers through their Rising Stars programme. This people-centred approach has helped them scale whilst maintaining quality and culture across locations. 

Step 4: Run the Numbers and Build a Multi-Location Business Case

Irish restaurateurs in the Voice of the Restaurant Industry say that managing business finances is one of their top challenges. Many allocate around 10% of their budget to technology and 15% to labour, showing how important both are to sustainable growth. 

According to the Restaurants Association of Ireland, rising operating costs remain the single biggest issue affecting businesses in the tourism sector, with costs often outstripping any growth in revenue.

When modelling expansion, stress test your capital expenditure including fit-out, equipment, deposits, professional fees, tech stack, and opening marketing. Consider ongoing operating expenditure such as rent and rates, utilities, food and beverage cost, labour, licences, insurance, maintenance, and marketing per location. Use historic data from your first site and conservative assumptions to estimate cash flow and break-even timing. Model optimistic, realistic, and cautious revenue curves, and adjust for potential shocks like VAT changes, wage increases, or energy price fluctuations.

Step 5: Design a Consistent, On-Brand Guest Experience

As you add locations, guests should feel "this is us" wherever they walk in, without every site being a cookie-cutter copy.

According to the Toast Consumer Preferences Survey 2025, design and ambience play a real role in how Irish diners choose and talk about restaurants. A majority say design and layout are important in their decision to return, as noted above. Nearly half, around 45.5%, say they are likely or very likely to post on social media when a restaurant's interior is visually appealing.

What this means for expansion is that you should keep core design signatures consistent, like your logo, brand colours, and some hero materials or features, but allow each site to reflect its neighbourhood. Invest in lighting, seating comfort, and sightlines, as they're not just aesthetic decisions. They affect dwell time, spend, and shareability. Plan back-of-house flow and bar layout with your menu and service model in mind so that you maintain ticket times as you scale.

Step 6: Choose Pricing and Menu Structures That Scale

Expansion often brings higher rents and wage bills, especially if you're moving into Dublin city centre or prime tourist areas. The key is to align pricing and menu design with what Irish guests actually prefer.

According to the Toast Consumer Preferences Survey 2025, 29% cite price as the top driver of where they choose to eat, so transparent, value-focused pricing is essential as costs increase. Many Irish diners show a strong preference for either promotional or deal-heavy menus or set or fixed-price menus for special occasions. In one survey, 43.5% preferred promotion-heavy pricing whilst 34% favoured prix-fixe menus.

Expansion-friendly pricing tactics include using prix-fixe or tasting menus in higher-rent locations to protect margins and smooth operations. Offer clear value stacks, such as welcome drink plus three courses plus coffee, for big nights such as Christmas or New Year's Eve. Keep menu engineering front and centre by leading with margin-friendly dishes that still feel like a treat. 

Step 7: Navigate Irish Legal and Regulatory Requirements for New Locations

Every new site in Ireland comes with its own regulatory checklist. This section isn't legal advice, but it will help you talk to your accountant, solicitor, and local council with the right questions.

Planning Permission and Change of Use

In Ireland, you generally need planning permission if you construct a new building for business purposes or materially change the use of an existing building, for example, from retail to restaurant. The Office of the Planning Regulator's leaflet "A Guide to Planning for the Business Person" explains when planning permission is needed and how to engage with your local planning authority. Work closely with your architect and planning consultant early, as this can impact timelines, fit-out design, and even whether a site is viable. According to recent guidance from planning experts, virtually any works that change the external appearance of buildings or result in a material change of use require planning permission unless they are specifically exempt under planning legislation.

Food Business Registration and Food Safety

For each new location, you must register as a food business. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and HSE require you to notify and register your food business with the HSE National Environmental Health Service before you start operating. FSAI's Starting a Food Business hub covers key obligations including HACCP-based food safety management systems, allergen information, traceability, and staff training. As you expand, consistent food safety culture across sites is critical, both for compliance and to protect your brand.

Tax, VAT, and Payroll

For each business entity, you may need to register for VAT if your turnover exceeds the relevant thresholds for services such as restaurant and catering. The Revenue Commissioners provide current thresholds and online VAT registration via ROS. Restaurant and catering services are generally subject to the reduced VAT rate, with standard rate applying to alcohol and certain drinks, as outlined in Revenue's guidance on the VAT treatment of restaurant and catering services.

Alcohol Licences

If your new locations will serve alcohol, the Irish government outlines the Special Restaurant Licence and other on-licence options, which allow the sale of alcohol for consumption with a substantial meal on the premises. Licensing is typically granted by the courts and may depend on planning permission, character references, and compliance with fire and building regulations. Consult a licensing solicitor early in your expansion planning, as timelines can be significant.

Music and Entertainment

If you play recorded or live music in your restaurants, you'll likely need an IMRO licence. IMRO licenses public performance of music in restaurants, bars, and other businesses.

Step 8: Make Multi-Location Operations Easier With the Right Tech Stack

As you add sites, the complexity of your operations grows, but the admin shouldn't. The Voice of the Restaurant Industry in Ireland report notes that 1 in 4 Irish restaurant operators have a goal to use tech to better run their business this year. 

Standardise but Stay Flexible

With Toast, multi-location operators can keep menus and pricing aligned across locations, with the flexibility to adjust by region or site. Use handheld POS devices at the table to reduce order errors, speed up service, and increase table turns. 

BANG in Dublin credits Toast handhelds and KDS with cutting ticket times, lifting tips, and even reducing one staff member per shift without sacrificing service. Connect front-of-house and back-of-house via a Kitchen Display System (KDS) to speed food times and reduce misfires. Access real-time reporting across locations, from product mix to labour costs, in a single dashboard, which is invaluable for CFOs and owners analysing performance.

Step 9: Create a Launch and Marketing Playbook for Each New Site

Finally, treat each new opening like a campaign, not just a date on the calendar.

Before opening, conduct local research to learn how people in that area dine: early or late, family-driven, office-heavy, strong delivery demand. Pitch local press and food writers with the story behind your brand and why you chose this neighbourhood. Use video on platforms like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube to show behind-the-scenes fit-out, menu development, and staff training.

Post-opening, track performance from day one using Toast reports to monitor sales mix, staff productivity, and guest feedback so you can tweak menus, staffing, and marketing quickly. Build loyalty by connecting your POS, online ordering, and loyalty programmes so guests can earn and redeem rewards across locations, which is a key lever as Irish consumers become more selective and value-conscious. Use guest feedback and survey tools to refine your offering in each neighbourhood.

Bringing It All Together

Expanding your restaurant to more locations in Ireland is a bold move, and a realistic one, given how optimistic Irish restaurateurs are feeling about growth. However, it's important to balance this optimism with the reality of the challenges facing the sector. According to the Restaurants Association of Ireland, 150 restaurants closed in the first quarter of 2025 due to rising business costs.

The operators who will thrive are those who stress-test readiness using data and guest insight, choose locations using a thoughtful, Ireland-specific strategy, invest in design, pricing, and menu structures that match local consumer preferences, navigate planning, licensing, food safety, and tax requirements with eyes wide open, and use integrated technology, like Toast, to run every location efficiently and consistently. With the right preparation, your expansion can build on your success whilst staying true to what makes your restaurant special to guests in the first place.