Being part of the restaurant industry, we all know that it is incredibly complex yet rewarding.
Running a restaurant is not for the faint of heart. It’s difficult to start a restaurant from scratch and run it successfully. There are many factors to consider, from interior design and business management to planning your menu and dining room ambience, all while ensuring a pleasant dining experience for your customers. On top of all of that, you’ll also have to focus on future-proofing your business and streamlining your operations to be as efficient and productive as it can possibly get.
A successful restaurant business takes more than just great food: it involves managing dozens of employees and hundreds of customers on a daily basis. Add navigating dining trends, dealing with investors, licenses, and banks into the mix and restaurant owners and management staff have their hands full with too many things to focus at once and at all times.
This is where a restaurant consultant will truly shine. If you have never considered having a restaurant consultant, or even heard of what a restaurant consultant is, we’re here to help.
In this article, we will take you through the basics of the roles of a restaurant consultant, what it is that they do, and why it is important to hire a restaurant consultant to keep operations running smoothly at your restaurant.
What are restaurant consultants?
Studies show that 60% of restaurants close within their first year in business while another 20% close within five years. While there are a lot of factors that go into a failed restaurant, two of the major reasons are due to disorganization and improper planning. This can be easily avoided with the proper guidance of a restaurant consultant.
Restaurant consultants assist restaurants and restaurant owners with accomplishing a particular objective, such as opening a restaurant or obtaining a particular profit margin. They market their expertise, time, and capacity for information gathering and analysis. They conduct market research, keep up with industry developments, and possess a thorough technical and analytical understanding of the restaurant sector.
A restaurant consultant will work closely with restaurant owners and management staff to assess the strengths and weaknesses in their business plan. They will also assist them in creating or modifying plans that will help restaurants grow from ground zero. Established restaurants can also hire these consultants to gain a new perspective, a fresh outlook on things that might have become mundane, and to better streamline restaurant operations to achieve maximum productivity.
What do restaurant consultants primarily do?
A restaurant consultant can help restaurants with:
- Developing a concept, theme, or a brand identity
- Financial planning and menu pricing
- Advice on filing legal and license paperwork
- Hiring and training restaurant staff
- Refining your USP and identifying your target market
- Conceptualize menus and help with menu engineering
- Designing your restaurant layout, interior design, and ambience
- Social media promotion strategy
Why is it important for restaurants to have a restaurant consultant?
A restaurant consultant can help restaurant owners with understanding whether the plans they have for their restaurant are viable in the long run. Consultants are well-equipped to assess the viability and feasibility of ideas, and determine whether the intended results are ideal, realistic, and possible.
This step is important for new and established restaurants alike as it is important to analyze whether the USP, ideas and plans for your restaurant can compete in a highly competitive restaurant market, whether the target audience will find this idea appealing, and whether the financial targets can be met within certain deadlines so that restaurant owners can pay off any loans or pump in more capital for restaurant renovations and developments.
Consultants are especially important when it comes to choosing concepts for restaurants. These include planning the restaurant’s layout, researching market demographics, studying competitive challenges, and creating a financing plan.
A strong concept generates a branding strategy, takes advantage of culinary trends, and acts as a pillar to keep up the restaurant’s financial model. A restaurant’s financial model is largely based on presumptions such as the number of seats, the average food and beverage charge per table, the average beverage bill per table, and a mix of fixed and variable costs such as food and beverage prices, labor costs, and rental costs. A consultant can help with determining price ceilings and price floors to ensure that a restaurant is following these protocols and is not running the risk of sending too much or running at a loss for long periods of time.
The mission and ideals of a restaurant are expressed through its brand, which also has an impact on its ambiance and concept. Restaurant consultants can help with developing a brand that evokes an emotional connection with your customers. This is highly important because quality restaurant branding not only fosters customer loyalty but also draws in new customers.
If consultants deem a restaurant’s business plan is going to be profitable and viable, restaurant owners can proceed with executing it confidently. If not, they can reevaluate, start over and come up with a better, profitable restaurant plan with new concepts, pricing, and expenses with the help of the consultant.
The takeaway
Because of the mentorship provided by the restaurant consultants, they become a valuable asset to your restaurant. The secret is to work with a consultant that understands the main targets you have set for your restaurant. Hiring someone who can support you from the start of your journey as a new restaurateur to an established business and be there for you when you need them is one of the most important factors towards establishing a successful business.
While hiring a restaurant consultant will initially cost more, the investment will pay off eventually as your efforts start to save you money and even make more from various fronts.