Top 10 Best Restaurant Consulting Firms | Ranking | Food & Beverage

RANKING & REVIEWS
BEST RESTAURANT CONSULTING SERVICES

Top Restaurant Consultants & Best Food Consulting Services | Everything You Need to Know

The restaurant industry is one of the most competitive. To succeed, you have to not only have a fresh concept that’s well-marketed, but you also need to ensure your operations are running efficiently, and your customers are well taken care of.

As many as 50% of new restaurant close within three years, according to RestaurantOwner.com, which just goes to show how difficult it can be to get all the elements right for a successful food establishment that has staying power.

New restaurant owners can run into trouble with hiring and employee management, getting their menu just right to keep attracting customers, or knowing where to open a new location.

This is where restaurant consulting firms come in. They leverage years of experience in the industry and a knowledge base that only comes from working with many different types of eateries to point restaurant owners in the right direction.

Top Restaurant Management Consultant Firms

Food & beverage consultants can come in and help restaurant owners succeed by offering advice and guidance in a number of areas including:

• Concept development
• Branding and market research
• New restaurant business plan
• Restaurant turnarounds
• Improving operations
• Restaurant management
• Quality assurance
• Food Costing
• Management recruitment
• Rebranding
• Inventory management

Whether you’re launching your very first restaurant or you’re a well-established brand looking to shake things up, the help of a top restaurant advisor can make all the difference in your bottom line.

After the recent pandemic, the restaurant business has become even more challenging. Getting help adapting to the new “normal” from a food industry consultant can mean the difference in staying open or having to shut down indefinitely.

Who should you look for when researching the best food service consulting companies?

Our AGS team has researched the top restaurant consulting firms in the country and have chosen 11 of the best for our top ranking. Each of these restaurant setup consultants and food consulting services has plenty to offer a restaurant owner or large franchise when it comes to optimization and efficiency.

We’ve included a mix of restaurant consulting firms that work with large multi-restaurant and global companies as well as firms that work with coffee shops, delis, and family-owned restaurants.

So, no matter the size of your restaurant venture, there’s a top restaurant business consultant (or two or three) on our list that can help.

Whether you’re just starting out and want to have the best chance of success or need help reimaging your restaurant to stay competitive, you’ll find some excellent options among the restaurant consulting services on our top-rated list.

Award Emblem: Top 10 Best Restaurant Consulting Firms

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Top 10 Best Restaurant Consulting Firms | Brief Comparison & AGS Ranking

Table: Top 10 Restaurant Business Consultant Firms | Above list is sorted by rating

What is a Restaurant Consultant?

A restaurant consultant is a firm that’s well versed in restaurant management and operations. The firm’s team provides expert guidance and advice on all areas of food and beverage operations.

Whether you need help designing an attractive menu and with consistent branding or are in trouble and need help turning your business around, restaurant consulting companies can help.

When answering, “What does a restaurant consultant do?” it might be faster to ask what don’t they do? Restaurant consultants can advise restauranteurs on every aspect of running a restaurant, from choosing a theme for a restaurant to compliance with safety regulations.

Many restaurant owners love to cook and just want to share their gift with the world and do something they love. But they soon find out that running a restaurant involves much more than just creating great food.

It’s easy for new restaurant owners to get overwhelmed with things like employee management, accounting, tax reporting, inventory control, and health code compliance. Having someone that can provide expert guidance can relieve the pressure and help owners avoid missteps.

Those who have been in the restaurant business quite a while and have multiple locations to handle are also well aware of the benefits of a restaurant business consultant to help with optimization, expansion research, and concept creation.

Short-Term or Long-Term Help

Restaurant setup consultants can be hired for a one-time project, such as advice for optimizing operations to turn around a restaurant that’s losing money. They can also help on an ongoing basis.

For some restaurant owners, the answer to “What is a restaurant consultant?” is someone that helps them manage their restaurant daily, and that picks up some of the heavy lifting of day-to-day operations.

You’ll find that the top restaurant consulting firms can tailor their services to meet the needs of the restauranteur, giving them help where they need it and for however long it’s needed.

What Does a Restaurant Consultant Do?

Food & beverage consultants can come in and provide as little or as much help as a restaurant may need in all areas of operations and marketing. This includes creating a manual for how things are done and training staff.

Ultimately, a restaurant business consultant helps restaurant owners succeed by leveraging their expertise and knowledge in multiple areas of restaurant operations.

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AGS Ranking and Selection Methodology

What methodology does the AGS team use in reviewing, researching, selecting, and finalizing the firms and products that are ranked on the various AGS ranking lists?

Click here: “AGS Selection and Ranking Methodologies” for a detailed review of AGS’ selection methodologies.

What Does a Food Consultant Do?

While a restaurant management consultant can help in multiple areas of restaurant operations (food, inventory, hiring, costing, branding, etc.), a food consultant, or food beverage consultants, will advise restaurants specifically in the area of the food they serve.

When answering, “What is a food consultant?”, you will often find that many restaurant consulting companies include food consulting in the services they provide. Food consulting handles the part of restaurant consulting services specifically related to the food.

Services provided by food & beverage consultants include:

• Engineering a menu
• Advising on environmental safety
• Creating food safety procedures
• Helping with food costing and methods to reduce waste
• Advising restaurants on the best food suppliers to use
• Assist with nutritional calculations for menu items
• Design of food production systems
• Assistance coordinating food photography for menus and marketing

That being said, you’ll often find that food service consulting companies and top restaurant consulting firms provide many of the same general services that go beyond just food assistance only.

Services offered by the best restaurant consultants and food beverage consultants will often branch into marketing, staff management, and all other aspects of running a restaurant.

AGS Ranking | The Best Restaurant Advisor & Food Beverage Consultants

Below, please find a review of each firm on our list of this year’s best restaurant consulting firms. We have highlighted some of the factors that allowed these top-rated food industry consultant firms to score so high in our selection ranking.

Click on any of the names below to go directly to the review section for that firm.

• Aaron Allen & Associates
• IRHC Group
• MBB Management
• National Restaurant Consultants
• Playground Hospitality
• RealFood Hospitality Strategy and Design
• Synergy Restaurant Consultants
• The Culinary Edge
• The Restaurant Company
• VSAG

Aaron Allen & Associates Review

Aaron Allen & Associates is a leading restaurant advisor and food industry consultant that works with clients around the world. The firm’s founder is Aaron Allen, a third-generation restaurateur.

This top-rated restaurant management consultant has worked with clients in over 100 countries, posting more than $200 billion in revenue. Aaron Allen & Associates leans towards working with larger clients and specializes in working with multi-brand multination organizations.

Key Factors That Enabled Aaron Allen & Associates to Rank as One of the Best Restaurant Consultants in the Industry

Wide Range of Restaurant Consulting Services

Aaron Allen & Associates looks at, “What is a food consultant?” as someone that can help a restaurant organization solve its most complex problems and reach its most ambitious goals.

The firm’s wide range of services includes everything from helping design a stellar menu to connecting restauranteurs with technology providers to take client experience to the next level.

This top restaurant advisor offers some of the following services:

• Corporate Strategy: The firm’s team delivers rich insights into consumer behavior and industry intelligence to help corporations make the best decisions on their next step.
• Cost Optimization: Using industrial engineering practices and gap analysis, these top restaurant setup consultants can help improve profitability.
• Strategic Plans: Do you need a fresh perspective to identify new opportunities? In this case, “What is a restaurant consultant?” means someone that can help you look at the industry from a different perspective to help you stay a step ahead of the competition.
• Marketing: Poor marketing can have just as much of a negative impact on a restaurant as poor service. The team at Aaron Allen & Associates can help in all aspects of marketing and build a strategy from the ground up.
• Brand Strategy: Branding is vital to getting new customers and retaining them. This top restaurant advisor can help with innovative strategies to reinvigorate your brand.
• Due Diligence: If you’re looking to acquire a restaurant, it’s important to understand everything from the market to transaction-level data, which these food-beverage consultants can help with.
• Sales-Building Strategies: What does a restaurant consultant do for revenue building? In this case, they’re “fanatical about driving revenue” and will look at both short-term and long-term strategies.
• Menu Strategy: An effective menu strategy can improve sales and guest experience. This top food industry consultant can help with all aspects of optimizing your perfect menu.

Restaurant Technology

Technology has infused itself into just about every aspect of life, and many other industries have been able to use it to reduce costs, automate processes, and improve productivity.

Aaron Allen & Associates helps corporations fully explore the benefits that technologies can bring to the customer experience, employee management, and other areas of operations.

The food service industry hasn’t always been quick to adopt technology solutions. But with food delivery becoming prevalent and innovation being needed to stay relevant, smart use of technology can separate a good restaurant from a great one.

This is one of the restaurant management companies that is well versed in how technology can help restauranteurs and keep them on the cutting edge.

Rating Summary

Aaron Allen & Associates have worked with some of the most recognized names in the industry, including Outback Steakhouse, Burger King, and The Cheesecake Factory. This team’s expertise in multi-location, multi-national ventures makes them a top choice for large food industry organizations.

Beyond just being one of the best restaurant consultants, the firm also works as a hospitality consulting firm, working with organizations such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

With proven industry credentials and a focus on keeping restaurant brands relevant and innovative, Aaron Allen & Associates earns a 5-star rating as one of the top restaurant consulting firms to work with.

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IRHC Group Review

International Restaurant & Hospitality Consultant Group, aka IRHC Group, is international hospitality, retail, and food industry consultant that has offices around the world in the U.S., UK, India, Hong Kong, China, and Malaysia.

This top-rated restaurant business consulting firm is made up of a team of former CEOs, operators, and owners of some of the biggest hospitality and retail companies around the world. The firm’s principals believe that giving a fresh perspective can be vital in an industry where it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

Key Factors That Enabled IRHC Group to Rank as One of the Best Restaurant Consulting Firms

Services for Inside & Outside Your Four Walls

IRHC Group breaks down its food consulting services in a comprehensive way, which includes services inside your four walls and outside your four walls.

Whether you need operational help or a strategy to reach more customers, the wide variety of services provided by these expert food & beverage consultants have you covered.

Inside Your 4 Walls:

There is plenty going on inside the walls of your restaurant that the team at IRHC Group can help you with. The services in this area include things like restaurant concept development, turn around programs, employee training programs, and guest experience enhancement programs.

The restaurant consulting services offered by this firm inside your four walls can help you improve your operations, systems, and processes in multiple areas.

Outside Your 4 Walls:

Getting people in the doors, talking about your restaurant, and sharing it with others is the focus of IRHC Group’s outside your four walls services. This includes things like website design, social media strategy, reputation management, and branding.

This top restaurant management consultant can drive new customers through tactics like search engine optimization, video promotion, and more.

Restaurant Revenue Management

It’s all about the bottom line when it comes to running a successful restaurant, and this is one of the best restaurant management companies to come to if you need help with the numbers.

The firm can help you improve your pricing strategies to ensure you’re not missing out on potential profits. IRHC Group uses a quantitative approach that blends consumer needs and business rules and conditions.

With over 30 years of experience, these top restaurant setup consultants can also help you improve your bottom line using:

• Menu development
• Recipe development
• Menu item placement strategies
• Price evaluation systems

Rating Summary

With experience helping retailers, hotels, and restaurants succeed, when you work with IRHC Group you know you’re getting the value of its collective team’s knowledge and experience in a number of areas.

This is one of the food service consulting companies that has an impressive list of loyal clients, including Hard Rock Café, Chick-fil-A, and Sbarro.

In addition to being one of the top-rated restaurant consulting companies, IRHC Group also offers leadership workshops and seminars. That’s just one more reason we’ve scored this top restaurant advisor with 5 stars.

MBB Management Review

MBB Management was founded by John Moser with a goal of helping businesses with “impact management,” a concept that embodies a quick and effective strategy to achieve results and reach full potential.

The firm’s expert team combines a wide range of experience and knowledge in the restaurant and hospitality industries. MBB takes a hands-on approach, helping restaurants with everything from relearning the basics of good restaurant techniques to fully streamlining operations.

Key Factors That Enabled MBB Management to Rank as One of the Top Restaurant Consulting Firms

Solutions That Solve Issues

As a top-rated restaurant advisor, MBB Management offers a wide range of solutions for restaurant owners, many of them designed to solved common issues.

The team takes a systematic approach, observing employees, guests, and how food is prepared so they can identify areas of improvement and offer positive solutions to reduce waste, improve profits, and help drive more business.

Some of the firm’s problem-solving services include:

• Liquor Inventory Solutions: MBB will help identify areas of waste and theft, create a “Bar Bible” for all procedures, and help improve consistency of service.
• Food Distribution: Restauranteurs can leverage MBB’s range of food distributor relationships to get deviated pricing and rebates based upon volume.
• Inventory Revenue Maximization: If a restaurant owner doesn’t have a handle on their inventory, they can quickly find themselves losing money. MBB understands the importance of inventory revenue maximization.
• Rebranding and Reflagging: MBB helps clients with everything from improving their appeal to their target market to reenergizing a brand to set it apart from the competition.

Franchise Development

If you have a great concept and a growing business, it’s natural to want to take it to the next level through franchising. But, where do you begin?

MBB is one of the best food service consulting companies to work with if you’re interested in franchising your restaurant brand because its team will walk you through every step of the process. The firm has experience working with well-known brands, such as Sonic.

The MBB team understands that good franchise programs take time to develop, and they have to have a solid structure. The firm can take a client through each phase of franchise strategy development and help them build a solid framework upon which to launch a successful franchise model.

Some of the steps taken by this top restaurant advisor to lay out your franchise strategy include helping you develop:

• Franchise Business Plan
• Franchise Legal Documentation
• Franchise Operations Manual
• Franchise Marketing Program

MBB Management | Top Restaurant Consulting Firms

Rating Summary

The team at MBB is close-knit and believes in rolling up their sleeves and working alongside their clients to help them achieve their goals. The firm’s expertise in the restaurant and hospitality industry has helped it achieve success for multiple clients, including helping to open the very first Italian-American steakhouse in the country.

MBB serves clients on the entire East Coast and has offices in South Jersey, Philadelphia, PA, and Delray Beach, FL. The firm counts among its clients, popular brands like Wahlburgers, Sonic, and Hilton.

With a solid track record of success for its clients and a team that has a passion for what they do, MBB Management is one of the top restaurant management companies to consider working with. They’ve earned a full 5-star rating.

National Restaurant Consultants Review

Assisting clients around the world, National Restaurant Consultants is a top food industry consultant that fully appreciates the difficulty inherent in the industry. The firm deploys a combination of top talent, hard-won experience, and cutting-edge tools to help its clients achieve outstanding results.

This is one of the best food consulting services for restaurants of all types. The company works with all size restaurants from delis and coffee shops to full-service and theme restaurants.

Key Factors That Enabled National Restaurant Consultants to Rank as One of the Best Restaurant Consulting Firms

Veteran Consultants That Get Results

When you work with National Restaurant Consultants, you’re working with a seasoned team that knows the restaurant industry inside and out. The firm’s consultants average over 35 years of professional experience in the food and hospitality industry.

One of the big factors that set these food & beverage consultants apart from the competition is that clients get guaranteed results. The firm has so much confidence in its team that it guarantees clients will save more money than the cost of their investment with the company.

Further, this is one of the restaurant management companies that is passionate about the industry and takes on challenges with relish. The firm’s website mentions that in all cases, the firm has generated a return on investment of its operations analysis of 200% in the first 6 months.

Those are impressive results, and that sort of payback on investment makes the ability to hire food consulting services in reach for many smaller establishments that may need some help.

Pandemic Reopening Guide

The restaurant industry was one of the biggest impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and many are now struggling with reopening plans and trying to keep themselves above water.

National Restaurant Consultants is going out of its way to help by offering a complimentary reopening guide to help restaurant owners get through the process of reopening after the lockdowns.

This includes understanding reopening rules and phases and providing guidance on how to deal with health and safety for staff and guests.

The COVID-19 reopening guide from this top restaurant advisor includes:

• Current government guide to the phases of reopening the country
• Reopening guidance document
• Four log templates that restaurant owners can download, customize, and print

Rating Summary

It’s hard to find a restaurant business consultant that makes the type of guarantee you get with National Restaurant Consultants. The firm believes so much in its successful track record that it guarantees positive results for clients.

You won’t have to worry about feeling “too small” when working with these top food-beverage consultants because they enjoy working with restauranteurs of all sizes. This makes the firm a perfect choice for smaller coffee shops, family restaurants, and others.

With a seasoned team of food and hospitality veterans and a talent for getting quick results, National Restaurant Consultants has scored a 5-star rating as one of the top restaurant consulting companies to consider this year.

Playground Hospitality Review

Playground Hospitality was founded by Doug Roth, a third-generation restauranteur that has over 30 years of experience in operations success. He has owned and operated restaurants such as the award-winning Red Moon and Blackhawk Lodge.

The philosophy of this top restaurant advisor includes the importance of imagination, collaboration, and team work to help clients deliver unique experiences that revitalize traditional dining and wow their guests.

Key Factors That Enabled Playground Hospitality to Rank as One of the Top Restaurant Consulting Firms

Designing a Restaurant from Ideation to Reality

Concept design is a specialty of Playground Hospitality. The firm understands that concept clarity and consistency from marketing to standard operating procedures is vital to creating a cohesive guest experience.

When asking, “What is a food consultant?” often, the answer is someone that can help a restaurant reflect their brand personality in their food, atmosphere, and service each and every day.

The experts at Playground Hospitality work with restauranteurs in this vital aspect of their success to turn ideation into reality. Some of the restaurant consulting services relating to concept design include:

• Brand and architectural design
• Business model design
• Competitive analysis
• Concept clarity and design
• Demographic profile development
• Existing concept reformulation
• Implementation and planning
• Ongoing support and project management

Facilities and Operations

When operations aren’t going well, it shows in just about every other facet of a business from the reviews you receive to your employee turnover rate.

Playground Hospitality helps clients connect the dots between their branding/concept and the day-to-day operations to help ensure that the experience a guest actually receives lives up to the promises.

Whether you’re having a problem with staffing and consistent training or have a kitchen that could use an upgrade in the technology department, this top-rated restaurant management consultant can guide you in the right direction.

If you need help with running operations, these are some of the restaurant consulting services offered by Playground Hospitality that can help:

• Human resources evaluation and hiring
• Quality standard and training
• Atmosphere and interior design consulting
• Kitchen consulting and technology improvements
• Connecting food and beverages
• Standardization and quality control

Rating Summary

Playground Hospitality focuses on one of the basics of any service industry, which is consistency, consistency, consistency. From helping design dynamic restaurant concepts to ensuring operations manuals and staff training drive that concept home, this top restaurant advisor helps brands outshine the competition.

This is one of the best restaurant consulting firms if you want to leverage relationships to get the best team on your project. Playground Hospitality can pair your project with top talent from its extensive network of global leaders in the industry, including renowned chefs, cutting-edge creatives, and market makers.

With a history of championing restaurants with the “wow” factor and a diligent approach to concept design and branding, Playground Hospitality earns a 5-star rating as one of the top restaurant setup consultants to help energize your customer experience.

RealFood Hospitality Strategy and Design Review

RealFood Hospitality Strategy and Design is a top-rated food industry consultant that does things a little differently. Its team believes in combining outside-the-box thinking with a diligent and strategic approach that takes the necessary time to lay a solid foundation for success.

RealFood was founded in 1996 by Ed Doyle, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of American with a long list of work with award-winning hotels and restaurants. In 2019, this top-rated restaurant advisor joined the Troon family of brands focused on offering best-in-class hospitality management services.

Key Factors That Enabled RealFoods to Rank as One of the Top Restaurant Consulting Firms

Strategic Restaurant Services

The team at RealFood understands that having a solid foundation upon which to base everything else is important. Without a solid strategy for your restaurant, the wheels can quickly begin falling off as you try to execute new operational plans.

This is one of the food consulting services that believes in going slower in the early stages of a project and faster later, once there’s a solid foundation to build upon. This team of experts makes sure you have a solid roadmap in place that directs you where to go so you can execute improvements with confidence.

This team of top-rated food & beverage consultants offer a wide range of restaurant consulting services and take this strategic approach with them all. Expert advisory services include:

• Operational opportunity assessments
• Food service concept development
• Strategic advisory
• Food and beverage systems
• Restaurant turnarounds
• Financial modeling and analysis

RealFood | Top Food Consulting Services

Restaurant and Hospitality Design

If you’re building a restaurant from the ground up or doing a major remodeling of an existing space, RealFood is one of the top restaurant management companies to consider because facility design is a specialty.

Rather than beginning with the design, the experts at RealFood begin with the experience. They then pour their extensive food and beverage expertise into even the smallest of details to ensure the design matches the experience concept.

Designs by this top restaurant advisor are thoughtfully specified with performance and profits in mind. The firm can assist with a wide range of facility design tasks that fall into three main categories:

• Foodservice Facility Design
• Site Selection and Facilities Planning
• Commercial Kitchen Design

Rating Summary

The core mission behind RealFood is to help clients deliver a hospitality experience that works. They do this by not skipping over the important planning phase and take a strategic and holistic approach to fulfill that mission.

This Cambridge, MA-based top food industry consultant has worked with clients such as The Boston Beer Company, Sheraton, and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. The firm’s expertise spans restaurant groups and independents, family entertainment centers, country clubs, workplace dining facilities, and more.

With proven business strategies that focus on the customer experience and building a strong foundation, RealFood is a top restaurant management consultant to consider and is worthy of a 5-star rating.

Synergy Restaurant Consultants Review

With a prestigious history dating back to 1988, Synergy Restaurant Consultants is a proven global leader in the restaurant and hospitality consulting industry. Two of the firm’s very first clients were Nabisco and Chiquita.

The team at this top-rated restaurant consulting firm uses fully integrated solutions and a hand-on consulting philosophy to help clients drive success in every area of their operations. These experts are passionate about what they do, and it shows in the team of caring professionals.

Key Factors That Enabled Synergy Restaurant Consultants to Rank as One of the Top Restaurant Management Companies

Full-Service Restaurant Consulting

These top food & beverage consultants have seasoned restaurant industry veterans on the team that gives a wide depth of knowledge. This allows Synergy to offer a broad range of services in just about every area of the business you can imagine.

From nutritional analysis and menu optimization to human capital strategies and labor optimization, Synergy Restaurant Consultants can leverage years of expertise to help your business grow.

This is one of the restaurant consulting firms that’s helped hundreds of clients across the country with needs, including:

• Restaurant Turn Arounds
• Restaurant Technology
• Labor Optimization
• Catering & Off-Premise Sales
• Bar & Beverage Innovation
• Menu & Recipe Development
• Branding & Brand Development
• Financial Advisory
• Marketing Strategies
• Operations Assessments
• And much more

Restaurant Startup Support

Just getting a new idea off the ground can be fraught with missteps. Inexperienced restauranteurs may be led by the emotions of just wanting to fulfill a dream, but not know the foundation that they need to put in place to support it properly.

Synergy is one of the restaurant consulting firms that can help refine a vision, develop a brand, and put the right pieces in place to help secure a great launch.

The firm promotes simplicity as the cornerstone of successful restaurants and execution as the secret to great guest experiences. Some of the steps these top restaurant setup consultants take restauranteurs through are:

• Competitive market review
• Brand development
• Financial modeling
• Technology evaluation
• Creating of operating systems
• Product development
• Thoughtful restaurant design

Rating Summary

If you’re looking for top restaurant management companies that have a long-term track record of success and decades of experience, then Synergy Restaurant Consultants is a great option.

The firm works with a mix of both big and small restaurants, including independent and multi-unit operators. Clients include popular brands like IHOP, Five Guys, and Romano’s Macaroni Grill.

With an expansive range of services and a team that’s earned their stripes in the restaurant and hospitality industry, Synergy Restaurant Consultants scores a 5-star rating and is one of the best restaurant consulting firms to consider partnering with.

The Culinary Edge Review

The Culinary Edge was founded in San Francisco in 2002 and specializes in launching unique and innovative food and beverage experiences.

The mission of this top restaurant advisor is to create food with a purpose. The team at The Culinary Edge does this by keeping a focus on sustainability and supporting all types of businesses “from startups to Starbucks.”

Key Factors That Enabled The Culinary Edge to Rank as One of the Top Restaurant Consulting Services

Four Key Service Areas

Bringing vision and driving results are key cornerstones of the approach this firm takes to restaurant consulting services. Its team has a passion for creating new concepts and guest experiences, which helps it infuse a fresh perspective into new ventures and existing restaurants alike.

The Culinary Edge divides its service offerings into four key areas:

• Launching New Businesses: This includes everything a new restaurant needs as a foundation for success, including recipe creation, menu design, operating materials, and more.
• Keeping Brands Competitive: Staying ahead of the pack in such a competitive industry means always reinventing yourself. These top restaurant consultants help with a SWOT analysis, financial analysis, and more.
• New Product Creation: These top food & beverage consultants can help clients identify new opportunities, create product messaging, position a new product, and more.
• Growth Planning: From acquisition due diligence to evolutionary brand positioning, these restaurant consulting experts can help clients with strategic expansion.

Brand Creation

One of the areas that The Culinary Edge specializes in is brand creation. The firm can help a client take a concept from dream to reality and guide them through the due diligence necessary to make that happen successfully.

Two brands that the firm helped launch include:

• Pacific Catch: A Westcoast fish house designed to provide a casual California lifestyle experience while taking advantage of regional seafood offerings.
• Starbird: This restaurant is the country’s first super-premium fast food restaurant. The concept was to take the best of two worlds and put them together for a completely unique dining experience for modern consumers.

Rating Summary

The team at The Culinary Edge has a talent for communicating fresh concepts in engaging ways. This top restaurant advisor helps clients put together two important parts of any restaurant business, great-tasting food and turning that food into a business solution.

Many large brands have sought the restaurant consulting services of this highly respected firm, including Starbucks, Panda Express Courtyard Marriot, and Jack in the Box.

With a fresh and innovative style and an eye on what makes great and unique guest experiences, The Culinary Edge earns a 5-star rating as one of the best restaurant consultants to consider.

The Restaurant Company Review

Since its start in 1989, The Restaurant Company has been driving innovation and helping local restaurant owners gain the confidence and security they needed to stay strong and profitable in a competitive industry.

The firm states on its websites that clients save an average of $3,000 per month when they work with one of its expert restaurant advisors. The Restaurant Company works with restaurant owners in all 50 US states, Canada, and Europe.

Key Factors That Enabled The Restaurant Company to Rank as a Top Restaurant Business Consultant

Package Pricing

One of the features that will stand out immediately to anyone shopping restaurant consulting services is that The Restaurant Company offers affordable and convenient package pricing for its services.

This is a big benefit for smaller restaurant owners who may be afraid they can’t afford the expert help they need to turn their business around. The firm even has an On-Call Consultant plan available, starting at just $29.99.

Not many restaurant management companies will package their services the way that The Restaurant Company does. The package pricing structure makes it easy for restaurant owners to choose exactly the help they need without paying more than they need to.

Some of the restaurant consulting packages available include:

• Restaurant Assessment
• Restaurant Tune-Up
• Restaurant Turnaround
• Restaurant Branding/Marketing
• Restaurant Menu Development
• Restaurant Bookkeeping
• Restaurant Health & Safety
• And more

Assistance Buying or Selling a Restaurant

A unique offering that you won’t find advertised by many other food consulting services is assistance buying or selling a restaurant. The firm also offers investors the opportunity to “adopt a restaurant.”

The Buyers Package at The Restaurant Company helps entrepreneurs find restaurants that are ready to go so they can jump right in and get started.

For those retiring or getting out of the restaurant business, this top restaurant advisor firm can help motivated sellers find a buyer as well as help them evaluate whether or not it’s the best time to sell.

For those that want to invest in a restaurant that’s managed by The Restaurant Company, their opportunities for them as well to get into the restaurant business without the challenges of actually owning one.

The Restaurant Company | Top Food Industry Consultant

Rating Summary

The Restaurant Company has a passion for helping restaurant owners make the most out of their passion and prices its services to be in reach for just about any restauranteur.

As a top-rated restaurant business consultant, the firm has worked with over 7,000 clients, including brands like Panera Bread, Starbucks, and Cinnabon.

With a completely unique pricing structure and a solid track record of providing value to clients, The Restaurant Company is one of the best restaurant consulting companies to consider and earns a 5-star rating.

VSAG Review

Leading the industry in new concept development, VSAG is led by two innovators in the restaurant and hospitality industry, Michael Vucurevich and Dan Simons. Collectively, they have over three decades of experience helping business owners succeed.

Three cornerstones that VSAG helps both new and existing restaurant owners achieve are originality, recognition, and profitability. This is one of the top restaurant consulting firms that works with clients around the world and serves restaurants, hotels, bars, lounges, and more.

Key Factors That Enabled VSAG to Rank as One of the Top Restaurant Consulting Firms

Start-Up Services

VSAG is diligent in its process to help new restaurants become successful, and the process begins with start-up checklists. These checklists cover every area of restaurant business operations and are the foundation of creating a winning strategy to go from vision to reality.

Whether you need help earning investors or creating a memorable opening that gets plenty of press, the start-up services offered by this top restaurant advisor have you covered.

Some of the services offered to help new restaurants get started on the right foot include:

• Concept development and creation
• Brand filtering and identity design
• Restaurant business plan
• Menu development and engineering
• Investor presentations
• New restaurant openings
• Bar and beverage
• FOH services and systems
• Operations and management

Restaurant Development

If you’re looking for ways to reinvigorate an existing restaurant, the award-winning team at VSAG can help by leveraging their decades of expertise to help your business shine.

The firm sees clients as family and offers custom playbooks to help restauranteurs grow their business and succeed in creating memorable guest experiences.

For those with existing restaurants, VSAG offers the following restaurant consulting services:

• Evaluators and advisory services
• Restaurant coaching
• Concept repositioning
• Expansion and growth strategy
• OpenTable and reservations
• Food safety audits
• Marketing strategy
• Brand management
• Digital marketing and social media

Rating Summary

VSAG is guided by a seasoned team of food industry experts that helps restaurant owners improve profitability and hire the best talent for their teams. From start-up help to full turn-key management solutions, this top-rated restaurant advisor can fit its services to your distinct needs.

Through its start-up checklists and restaurant development playbooks, VSAG provides restauranteurs with the tools they need to start a new business with a solid foundation or turn around an existing restaurant.

With a hands-on approach and passion for teaching others how to succeed in the industry, VSAG scores a 5-star rating and is one of the top restaurant management companies to consider working with this year.

Conclusion – Top 10 Best Restaurant Management Companies & Food Consultants

The restaurant business is one of the most competitive but can also be one of the most rewarding. There’s a certain sense of accomplishment that comes from watching others enjoy your food and creating a memorable experience.

The top food consulting services know the ingredients needed to make that happen and how to keep a restaurant reinventing itself to stay relevant and exciting.

When answering the question, “What is a food consultant,” many consulting firms would answer, “Anything you need them to be to make your restaurant a success.”

For many restauranteurs, a top Restaurant advisor is a trusted expert they can turn to when they need help from a professional in any number of areas, from branding to onsite management.

No matter what you need, one of these top food industry consultants on our list has the experience and expertise to help you succeed.

Read More: Top Hotel Management Companies for Hotel Consultants

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