What Does a Restaurant Consultant Do?

A restaurant consultant is someone you bring in to fix or build a specific part of your restaurant that you don't have the time, experience, or outside view to handle yourself. That's the short answer. The longer answer matters, because "restaurant consulting" covers very different jobs, and hiring the wrong kind is an expensive way to learn the difference.

The main kinds of restaurant consulting

Concept and development. Turning an idea into a restaurant: the concept, the menu direction, the market, the business plan. Most useful before you've committed to a location.
Design and kitchen layout. Floor plans, equipment, and workflow so the kitchen can actually produce the menu at volume.
Financial. Food cost, menu pricing, P&L setup, break-even, and the weekly numbers that tell you whether you made money. This is the least glamorous kind and often the one with the fastest payback.
Operations and systems. Recipes, prep routines, ordering, training, and the checklists that make the place run the same way when the owner isn't there.
Marketing. Brand, social, local search, and getting people in the door.
Turnarounds. A mix of all of the above for a restaurant that's losing money and running out of runway.

Plenty of consultants cover more than one of these. Ask which one they're actually strongest at.

How restaurant consultants charge

You'll usually see one of three structures:

Hourly. Flexible, but the total is hard to predict, and it can reward slow work.
Flat project fee. A defined scope for a defined price. You know the number up front.
Monthly retainer. Ongoing support after a project: check-ins, number reviews, and help with new problems as they come up.

Rates vary a lot by market, experience, and scope. Whatever the structure, get a written scope that says exactly what you'll have when the engagement ends.

Signs you need one

You don't know the food cost on your best-selling items.
Sales are up, but there's no more money in the account than last year.
You can't take a day off without the place running differently.
You're about to sign a lease, add a location or a truck, or make a big equipment purchase, and you haven't run the break-even.
Your prices haven't changed in a year, but your supplier invoices have.

Signs you don't need one yet

If you're at the idea stage with no product and no plan, a consultant is early. Learn the fundamentals first. Cost one item by hand, price it on purpose, and sell it somewhere. The free guides and the Anthony Forgr YouTube channel cover exactly that, and you'll get far more out of a consultant later once you have real numbers to look at.

Questions to ask before you hire anyone

Have you run restaurant operations yourself? Not advised on them. Run them.
What will I have when you leave? Spreadsheets, recipe cards, routines, trained staff. If the answer is "a report," keep looking.
Is it hourly or a flat quote? And what exactly is in scope?
Who does the work? The person you're talking to, or someone junior?
Do you work with places my size? A firm built for multi-unit groups isn't built for a single-location independent.
Can I see how you think before I pay? Good consultants teach in public or will walk through a small piece of your problem first.

Where Forgr fits

Forgr is financial and systems consulting for independent restaurants, food trucks, and owners getting ready to open. I've spent 10+ years running restaurant operations for Fortune 500 brands, and I work directly with owners on food cost, menu pricing, the P&L, and the systems that let a team run it their way. I'm based in Salt Lake City, with on-site work across the Wasatch Front and remote work anywhere.

Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute session so we both know whether it's worth doing. See restaurant consulting or restaurant consulting in Salt Lake City.