Feasibility for a second location: who to trust with the call

You've found a location that feels right. The lease terms are attractive, the foot traffic looks promising, and your gut says it could work. But your accountant wants proof before you sign anything, and your business partner thinks you need hard data before committing capital. A feasibility study makes sense—but do you run it in-house with staff or consultants who already know your business, or bring in outside specialists who'll push back harder?

This choice shapes everything: the study's independence, its credibility with your funders, the speed of delivery, and ultimately whether you spot real risks or miss them because someone was too close to hope you'd succeed.

When internal teams are the right call

Your own staff know your operations inside out. They understand your supply chain, your customer base, your unit economics, and what actually drives profit in your model. If your business is straightforward—a retail expansion into a neighbouring suburb, a second café following your exact formula, a duplicate branch of a service you've already perfected—your team can often gather the data you need quickly and cheaply.

Internal feasibility works best when the decision is low-complexity and low-stakes. You're replicating a proven model in a similar market. Your staff can count foot traffic, check competitor density, verify rent affordability against known metrics, and survey existing customers about their interest in a second location. The study stays fast and focused. Cost is minimal—mostly time spent by people already on payroll.

The trap: your team has skin in the game. If the expansion is their growth opportunity, they may gloss over risks or oversell the upside. They also lack the breadth of outside comparison—they've never run the numbers for fifty locations, only yours. Their conclusion may feel safe but lack the challenge it needs.

When external consultants earn their fee

Bring in specialists when the location is a departure from your core model, the market is unfamiliar, the capital outlay is substantial, or funders need independent assurance. External consultants see patterns across dozens of businesses and hundreds of locations. They know what questions to ask because they've watched others fail.

An outside consultant has no investment in a yes answer. They can tell you hard truths—that the rent is too high for your margins, that competitor saturation will crush your volume, that the demographic doesn't match your customer profile. They can stress-test your assumptions in ways insiders won't. They also build credibility with lenders, investors, or franchisors who want to see an unbiased view.

Use external help when the expansion is risky, the location is new to you, the funding is contingent on a study, or you need someone to challenge your team's optimism. A good consultant pays for itself by saving you from expensive mistakes.

The hybrid path

Many businesses split the work: your team gathers internal data and local market facts, and the consultant synthesises it, adds depth, and delivers the final recommendation. This moves faster than a consultant starting from zero and costs less than a full outside study, yet still brings in independent challenge and credibility.

Decide this mix early. Brief the consultant on which parts you'll handle in-house so they know what to add, not repeat.

Red flags either way

Whether you choose inside or outside, watch for studies that feel rubber-stamped. If someone predicts success without naming real obstacles, or if the language avoids clear go-or-no-go language, the study isn't fit for decision-making. A good feasibility study will show you the conditions under which the location works and the threshold numbers that would flip the verdict.

Cost shouldn't be your only measure—a cheap study that misses a fatal flaw costs far more than a thorough one that saves you from a bad expansion. Equally, paying for an external consultant makes sense only if you'll actually heed their warnings.

When you're ready to commission the study, look for consultants on Strove who specialise in feasibility for your industry. Read their case studies, ask for references from businesses in your sector, and check that they've worked with expansion decisions similar to yours. The right fit—internal, external, or hybrid—depends on your risk appetite and the stakes of the decision.