Restaurant Consultants are people who have the right experience and expertise in the F&B industry that is invaluable to help you set up and operate a successful F&B business. The consultants and their team members have worked in the industry for many years in various capacities such as chefs, operations managers, etc. Hence, they have faced or seen up-close, the different issues a restaurant might face before and after opening on a day-to-day basis. This knowledge and experience will help you enormously to own and operate a restaurant in the best manner. As a future owner of a restaurant, you may have knowledge or expertise in 1 or 2 areas, but consultants can help in all important areas pertaining to the business and hence the business as a whole, so that you can hit the ground running.

So, what can a restaurant consultant do for you that you may struggle at, yourself?

• Food and Menu:  Once the concept is finalized, food and menu is an important decision to make as that is your main product and selling point. Consultants usually have experienced chefs working with them who can work with you on the kind of food and cuisine(s) that will work, recipes, the costing and pricing, the tasting trials, plating, etc. A restaurant may have great interiors and concept, but you get repeat customers only if the food is good, so the expertise of consultants in this field is invaluable.

• Staff Hiring and Training:  Having been associated with the industry both inside and out, consultants know the right people for your restaurant business from the wrong. They can help you decide the number of staff needed for each department and how much should they be paid, based on demand and supply, and keeping in mind your budgets. They can help you interview and select the right people by asking the right questions and testing the interviewees. They will also come up with staff SOPs, schedules and provide them training.

• External Factors: Consultants are always up-to-date with external factors like changing government regulations, licensing, etc. They also analyze factors like adequate parking space, electrical supply etc. Some places for example may not have enough regular water supply to meet the requirements of your restaurant making them unfeasible.

• Marketing & Branding: Consultants know the right marketing tools that will best help establish your brand. Everyone knows the common ways of marketing like print ads, leaflets, hoardings, discounts, offers, social media handles etc. but only restaurant consultants can help you come up with the right marketing plans, budgets and strategies that will help benefit your brand the most keeping in mind the concept, demographics, location, key customer base etc. They can also get you in touch with the right marketing industry experts like PR and Brand Managers as per your budgets and concept.

• Existing F&B Businesses: Restaurant consultants can not only help first-timers but can provide the right perspective to existing F&B business owners too. In this cut-throat industry, existing owners need to also keep re-inventing, re-strategizing and maybe even re-branding. Or they may be thinking of scaling up, adding new brands under their umbrella with new and unique concepts, or franchising their existing brands. In all these aspects restaurant consultants can be of significant value. Existing units may also be facing issues like low sales, high inventory costs etc. which may require in-depth analysis to understand the root causes of the issues and how to overcome them. This is also something that consultants can do for owners.