10 Best Restaurant Consultants to Help Your Restaurant Grow

While many restaurant owners have successfully run their businesses, roughly 14–30% of restaurants close within their first year, with much of this early failure traced to poor overall management and operational inefficiencies.

To protect their businesses from closing doors for good, restaurateurs seek help from industry experts.

Restaurant consultants are hospitality professionals who provide the strategic vision and tailored solutions that owners often overlook while managing the daily demands of service, staffing, and cost control.

The impact of expert guidance is measurable. According to Consulting Magazine, businesses that hired outside consultants saw a 27% improvement in operational efficiency within 12 months.

This article explores the 10 best consultants for restaurants in the U.S., explains what a restaurant consultant does, and shows how their expertise can help restaurants overcome challenges, optimize their operations, and achieve long-term success.

What is a restaurant consultant?

Running a restaurant is notoriously difficult because it requires mastering multiple disciplines at once, including operations, finance, marketing, staffing, technology, and compliance. 

A restaurant consultant is a hospitality expert who advises restaurant owners and managers on improving operations, profitability, guest experience, and restaurant management for overall growth. Their recommendations are based on hands-on industry experience and data-driven analysis.

10 highly recommended restaurant consultants in the U.S

Below is a list of top restaurant consulting firms in the United States, known for helping hospitality businesses improve performance, enhance guest experiences, and drive sustainable growth.

1. Synergy Restaurant Consultants

An industry veteran with over 30 years of experience, Synergy Restaurant Consultants is known for its restaurant turnaround consulting. They work with both independent restaurants and global chains, covering everything from back-of-house systems to executive leadership training.

Service offers: 

• Performance audit and operational efficiency
• Revenue and profit strategy
• System development and restaurant technology
• Restaurant turnaround consultants and growth strategy
• Concept and brand development
• Menu and recipe development
• Brand refresh and food service programming
• Leadership coaching and custom training
• Management and training courses

2. The Restaurant Group Consulting

TRG focuses on making the process of opening or reinventing a restaurant less overwhelming. They are highly design-centric, ensuring that the physical space supports the brand’s culinary and operational goals.

Service offers: 

• Concept development 
• Restaurant, kitchen, and bar design 
• Feasibility study 
• Menu and culinary strategy 
• Operation assessment 
• Restaurant marketing consultant and branding 
• Auto social 
• Design development 

3. Aaron Allen & Associates

Aaron Allen & Associates is a strategy-heavy advisory firm working mostly with multi‑unit brands, larger groups, and investors. 

They focus on big-picture issues like brand positioning, international expansion, restructuring underperforming portfolios, and using data to improve sales, margins, and unit economics at scale.

Service offers: 

• Restaurant research
• Growth and expansion
• Private equity
• M&A advisory
• Due diligence
• Future-proof consulting
• Middle East restaurant consulting

4. Coyle Hospitality Group

For over 25 years, they have helped restaurants and hotels improve by allowing restaurants and hospitality groups understand how customers actually experience their brand, then translate those insights into training, service standards, and operational changes.

Service offers: 

• Customized measurement programs
• Immediate program deployment
• Competitive set and industry benchmarking data
• Secure/online deliverables
• Unparalleled support and client care
• Proprietary market research and analysis

5. Blackwood Hospitality

Based in New York and Los Angeles, Blackwood Hospitality specializes in high-energy urban markets. They are particularly strong during the pre-opening phase, guiding owners through real estate, funding, and construction challenges.

Service offers: 

• Strategic services 
• Concept development and creative services
• Turnaround service 
• Design and construction service 
• Real estate service 
• Kitchen service 
• Operation services
• Funding and financial services 
• Growth services 

6. Playground Hospitality

Led by Doug Roth, this firm focuses on the “soul” of the restaurant. They look at the business through a 360-degree lens to ensure the concept strategy aligns with the physical reality of the guest experience.

Service offers: 

• Concept Design
• Menu Development
• Facilities + Operations
• 360° Business Evaluation
• Business Strategy
• Custom Consulting

7. Blue Orbit Hospitality Consulting

Blue Orbit is very technical, focusing on the “nuts and bolts” of the kitchen and labor planning. They are experts at creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that keep a restaurant running like a machine.

Service offers: 

• Concept development 
• Operational support 
• Menu development 
• Training solution 
• Kitchen and bar design 
• Advisory sessions 
• Landlord support 

8. Goliath Consulting Group

Goliath acts as a strategic partner for restaurants that want to grow into franchises. They provide the heavy lifting documentation like technical manuals and supply chain systems that smaller owners often struggle to create.

Service offers: 

• Menu development and branding
• Strategic planning and restaurant assessments
• Marketing and social media
• Finance and investment guidance
• Supply chain and equipment management
• Operating systems and technology solutions
• Training and staff development
• Bar consulting and outsourcing
• Project management and documentation/manuals

9. Gilkey Restaurant Consulting Group

Scott Gilkey and his team are known for deep financial and feasibility work. They are the ones you call to see if a location is actually viable before you sign a lease. They also have a unique specialty in expert witness services for the industry.

Service offers: 

• Feasibility studies and business plans
• Brand and menu development
• Custom design and operational consulting
• Financial assessments and investment structure
• Labor management and staff training
• Hospitality management and quality assurance
• Technology consulting
• Sustainability consulting
• Expert witness services
• Nutrition analysis

10. Harlan Scott

Harlan Scott takes a culture-first approach. He believes that a restaurant’s success is driven by its people, so his consulting focuses heavily on hiring the right talent, building a healthy workplace culture, and staff development.

Service offers: 

• Concept development and brand identity
• Operations, policies, and SOPs
• Culture building and staff development
• Hiring and training
• Marketing and event planning
• Beverage menu development
• Vendor management and cost controls
• Point of Sale, IT, and  operational systems

When to hire a restaurant consultant 

Running a restaurant comes with constant challenges, and solving everything internally isn’t always efficient. Here are common situations where hiring a restaurant consultant makes sense:

1. Big investments

You are planning a significant investment, such as a new restaurant technology, a major marketing campaign, or a new location, and want a feasibility study or ROI assessment before committing resources.

2. Growth stalls

When sales plateau or decline, it’s often unclear why past strategies stop working. Harvard Business Review, cited by Sanguine, refers to this as “growth stall syndrome,” noting that 87% of companies misdiagnose the problem, wasting time and money.

3. Skills gap 

If you need short-term or highly specialized expertise, hiring a full-time employee may not be practical. A consultant can fill that gap, recommend solutions, and guide implementation without long-term payroll costs.

4. Operational chaos

Operations may feel chaotic or inefficient, with missed deadlines, rework, and rising costs that affect the overall restaurant profit margin while often appearing without a clear cause. 

According to Boardroom Advisor, consultants recommend targeted improvements to boost productivity and lower expenses.

5. Major transition 

You are going through a big change in your business or organization: expansion, new restaurant kitchen equipment and system, restructuring, merger, or market entry, but you haven’t done something like this before, so you lack experience in handling this type of transition.

7 key traits of the right consultant for restaurant 

Choosing the right consultant can significantly affect your results. Evaluate candidates based on these criteria:

1. Goal alignment 

They should have strong experience with your specific problem and should understand your restaurant branding, format, and scale (fast casual vs. fine dining, single unit vs. multi‑unit).

2. Proven wins 

Look for case studies, before-and-after stories, or metrics (profit lift, cost reduction, sales growth) on similar projects. Ask for references from restaurants like yours and actually call them.

3. Real expertise and experience 

Prefer people with deep operational experience across all types of restaurants there are, along with at least a few years of consulting experience. 

Check that their strengths align with what you’re investing in, whether that’s financials, operations, culture, marketing, or other areas.

4. Clear communication 

They should listen well, ask sharp questions, and explain things clearly without jargon. You want someone honest but respectful, not a know‑it-all, and a good fit for your culture. 

5. Smart approach, fees, and ROI

Make sure their process is clear: how they diagnose, involve your team, deliver recommendations, and follow up.

Moreover, understand the restaurant consulting fees (fixed vs hourly, what’s included) and how you’ll judge success so you can see a realistic return on the fee.

6. Tech integration 

The best consultants think in systems— the restaurant POS system, digital menu, and kitchen display system, restaurant management system, delivery platforms, and inventory should talk to each other instead of being isolated gadgets.

This ensures your restaurant stays competitive and future-ready.

7. Hands-on implementation 

Choose consultants who stay involved during execution (coaching managers, adjusting plans) instead of just handing you a slide deck and disappearing.

5 essentials to prepare before meeting a restaurant consultant

When you finally sit down with a consultant, the goal is to stop “guessing” and start “fixing.” To get the most out of their expensive time, you need to have your house in order.

Here are the five most important things to have ready before that first meeting:

1. Goals and challenges 

Goals and challenges are a clear outline of your business objectives, growth targets, and the obstacles currently preventing you from achieving them.

Consultants can only help you reach your desired outcomes if they understand what success looks like for you. Sharing your goals and challenges sets the context for their work, as consultants are experts in how to conduct market research and generate actionable insights. 

2. Data from your restaurant order management system

The data from your restaurant order management system is the blood work of your business. A consultant can’t diagnose the problem without seeing the hard numbers.

Sales reports, peak‑hour data, and menu performance metrics help consultants identify revenue drivers and problem areas quickly.

3. Financial statements

Your financial statements summarize your restaurant’s financial performance, including profit-and-loss statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports. Consultants need to understand not just what you earn but what you actually keep. 

Reviewing at least the last 6 to 12 months helps identify “leaks,” such as high utility bills, rising food waste, or labor costs that are out of line with industry standards.

4. Staffing and labor schedule 

A staffing and labor schedule is a clear record of your staff roles, responsibilities, shifts, and labor costs. Clear labor data allows consultants to spot overstaffing, understaffing, and scheduling conflicts that affect profitability.

5. Operational processes and SOPs

SOPs help consultants understand how your restaurant operates on a practical level. Documented processes reveal bottlenecks, redundancies, and inconsistencies impacting service quality.

Your restaurant deserves to grow, let a pro show you how

If you’re feeling burnt out by the daily grind, don’t think of professional consultations as another expense. They are an investment in your own peace of mind. 

By bringing in a restaurant consultants to handle the systems and the “math,” you get to go back to the reason you started this journey in the first place: the food and the people. 

Your restaurant deserves to thrive, and you deserve to actually enjoy the process of building it.  So, don't wait for things to fix themselves. Prepare your data from your restaurant management system and leverage a consultant's expertise to turn it into a roadmap for long-term survival. 

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