3 Instances when you NEED to Hire a Restaurant Consultant

 

As a restaurant owner, when you are faced with serious operational problems or are about to enter a new stage of growth, it’s time to seriously think about hiring a restaurant consultant. Restaurant consultants are a great resource because they provide a valuable outside perspective into your business. With that outside perspective, consultants can often recognize issues more clearly, because sometimes it’s easy for owners to develop tunnel vision when running your own operation. Based on past experience and specialized skills, the consultant can develop an objective strategy that includes situational analysis, problem-solving, strategic planning, and implementation services. More often than not, the ROI of hiring a restaurant consultant will be massively in your favor because the consultant can help you avoid costly mistakes in both operational effectiveness and sustainable profitability.

 

Here are 3 instances where you should seriously consider hiring a consultant:

 

1. When your restaurant is underperforming. Have sales been slipping lately and you don’t know why? Is food cost out of control? These are great opportunities to ask for help.  Many will sit down with you for free the first time.  Restaurant consultants have years of experience and have seen many different situations, so odds are they know exactly what’s going on in your restaurant.  And they can fix it for you, too. Most will start with some type of operational assessment to get a good picture of exactly what the issues are, and then they will sit down with you and walk you through the problems and exactly what needs to be done to correct them. Some will even help you implement the necessary corrective action.

 

2. When planning to open a new restaurant. Opening a new restaurant is an incredibly costly and risk-intense proposal, and no matter how successful you’ve been working in someone else’s restaurant, venturing out on your own is a very scary idea. Many studies show that the vast majority of new restaurants just don’t have what it takes to make it, and are forced to close their doors in less than a year. Restaurant consultants can help navigate those challenges, from concept development and feasibility studies to licensing and permitting. This is a great time to hire a consultant if you are an amazing chef, but not so great at dealing with all the little details required to start your own restaurant.

 

3. When expanding or scaling your restaurant. Congratulations. You opened your own restaurant that has been successful for several years now. You have a great concept in a great location, business is booming, and you want to expand. Now what? Transitioning from one unit to more than one is an incredibly daunting task. When you open the doors to your second location, you’ve just doubled the size of your investment, costs, number of employees, and risk for failure. If done correctly, you’ve also just doubled your revenue and profit. A consultant takes the guesswork out of scaling your business, because they’ve done it before and can provide insight on what to do and what not to do. Consultants can help shorten the timeframe from idea to reality and can help avoid costly mistakes along the way.

 

Restaurant consultants are a valuable resource that can’t be overlooked if you own a restaurant, or if you’re thinking about it. They leverage their experience and specialized skills to your benefit, drastically cutting down a costly learning curve for you in a variety of different situations.