A Guide To Hiring A Restaurant Consultant

Consider the following conversation.

restaurant owner: Hey, got a minute?

General Manager: Sure. What do you have for me?

Owner: I’ve been looking at some figures. Food and labor costs are only going up, and the loan I got two years ago isn’t going to do me any favors either starting September. We need to refinance and take control of our costs, and we need to start doing it now.

Manager: About controlling our costs, I have some ideas. But I don’t have the time to implement them since I have my hands full with the operations. About refinancing, beats me. I didn’t sign up for that.

Owner: I see. I guess it’s time to bring in a restaurant consultant.

As a restaurant owner, a time will come when you need to hire a restaurant consultant. It’s something that happens over the course of managing a growing restaurant business.

restaurant consultants sell ability, time, credibility and experience to find information you need to stay on top of things. These professionals are trained and carry the experience to advise you on any number of things, including interior design, concept development, financial information systems, development assistance, etc. When your business hits a dead end, restaurant consultants help put you back on track.

But the question remains: how do I hire a restaurant consultant?

Here are the basic steps:

1. Begin a preliminary search
The first objective is to find the right consultant with the right solution to your problem.

Ask friends or colleagues if they could recommend you a good consultant, someone they’ve worked with in the past. Find out if their situation back then is similar to what your business is experiencing right now, and if they were satisfied with the consultant’s performance.

2. Discuss the project with each consultant
The goal is to create a shortlist of three or four consultants who you think is the missing link to your restaurant’s success.

By now you should have a fairly good idea of what you need to do with your finances. Discuss this project with the finalists and listen very carefully to their feedback. What they have to say about your problem could very well spell the difference between a good consultant and a bad one.

3. Ask for a written proposal
It’s time to see what these guys are capable of. Ask them to pass a written proposal regarding your current financial problems, as well as references, company brochures and collateral from the other candidates.

4. Analyze the proposals
Study the proposals and screen the remaining candidates based on how well they understood your ongoing dilemma. Ask them to explain their proposed solution very carefully, and from there determine if everything is realistic and well-thought out.

5. Choose the best consultant
It’s decision time once again. Consider everything you’ve learned about the finalists up to this moment, and then make a decision. Pick who you think is the most qualified consultant to work with you on the project.

It should be noted that restaurant consultants are paid by the hour. So save time and money by giving him all the information he needs right from the beginning. Withholding information from him won’t be doing you, or your wallet, any good.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Offline Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.