Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Join online discussion groups targeted to food and beverage consulting firms

Find out what are the major concerns that restaurant owners and food service professionals have when it comes to running their businesses. These concerns usually focus on negotiating for lease space, how to budget for marketing and how to increase a client's profit margin.

I recommend: Join conversations with restaurant owners and other leaders in the food service industry at O'Dell Restaurant Consulting Blog. FohBoh is a large online community of restaurateurs who engage in dialogue that restaurant consultants find useful in following food industry trends.

Subscribe to online trade magazines written for food and beverage consulting firms

Your clients will expect you to advise them on how travel costs and economic downturns may affect their business, what trends can be detected from consumer satisfaction research and even which geographic areas are likely to see a growth in new markets.

I recommend: Check out the newsletters reporting news and trends for the food and beverage industry at Hospitality Trends. This website gathers together market research reports and timely news articles on events affecting food and beverage manufacturers. Sign up to receive the periodic newsletters from Food Sense, a Minnesota-based consulting firm that has been providing marketing and operations services to restaurants since 1995.

Identify the consumer trends that leading food and beverage consultants are responding to

Food consulting companies will expect you to tell them which ingredients are in demand and how food manufacturers and products around the world are attempting to meet that demand.

I recommend: Decision News Media sponsors the website Nutraingredients-USA.com, which collects news articles, market research and product news that helps food consulting companies effectively monitor consumer trends. SmartBrief provides daily market updates on news and trends for beverage consultants. Restaurants and Institutions keeps you tuned in to the latest issues affecting menu development, consumer satisfaction and food service management.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Most news services providing food and beverage consultants news and trends allow you to sign up for the latest news letters that get emailed to you as soon as they are published.

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Design your menu and concept with food consultants

Food consulting is essential for new or soon-to-be restaurant owners with little or no experience in opening a new restaurant. From the initial concept and planning to final implementation, food and beverage consulting services provide step-by-step details and instructions on how to proceed. They can design your menu, keep you up-to-date on the latest trends and establish a purchasing and product inventory system that will help you manage profit and loss smoothly.

I recommend: Restaurant Solutions has a team of expert food and beverage consultants to help you with short and long term goals for your food business. Chef LaLa will evaluate your existing menu and develop a strategy for you to increase your profits.

Enhance your marketing initiatives with restaurant consulting firms

Not everybody is a marketing whiz. It takes specialized training and experience to be able to understand and capitalize on a target market. Working with a food and beverage consultant to promote your restaurant is wise in two ways: first, you hire a professional food and beverage consulting firm to do what they do best; second, you are left with the necessary time to handle the day-to-day operations of your establishment.

I recommend: Qualified Solutions Consulting explains that a successful restaurant promotion doesn't need to be groundbreaking or innovative, but instead has to convey a specific message to the right target group. Many restaurant consulting firms, like RestaurantPR, believe that including featured recipes in your marketing material will go a long way in branding your establishment.

Maximize profits using food and beverage consultants

Perhaps the most important thing food consulting firms bring to the table are ways to make more money. By streamlining existing systems, or implementing new, innovative tracking tools, your food and beverage consultant can help you optimize your profit by cutting down on loss. Whether it be a more streamlined inventory roster, introducing spill sheets to your kitchen, or advising the set-up of security cameras, most food industry consulting firms can help you keep profits from slipping through the cracks.

I recommend: Synergy Consulting Group offers an excellent tutorial on utilizing proper purchasing practices to control food cost, allowing you to get the most for your product. The Restaurant Group, Inc. offers an online tool that calculates your Prime cost and rates your efficiency standing. They also offer tips on the ten most frequent mistakes restaurant owners make.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Hiring a food and beverage consultant to train your existing staff is very effective. Having a fresh new face on board offers your team a break from the norm and often proves to be more useful. Employees have a harder time tuning out a voice they've never heard before.

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Know how food consulting professionals have trained for their positions

Professionals at most food consulting companies have obtained degrees in sociology and business, with particular focus on statistics, methodology, survey implementation, marketing research and research into customer satisfaction and brand recognition. Professionals at restaurant consulting firms have trained in hospitality, food service staffing, menu development and advertising.

I recommend: Read the team biographies of professional consultants at Frost & Sullivan, a global leader among industry consultants with more than 40 years' experience. Consultants at Restaurant Solutions advise restaurant owners on how to start a new business and effectively manage daily operations.

Train at an accredited school or pursue online courses in food consulting

You can find business colleges everywhere. However, you need to find colleges with classes that spotlight consumer satisfaction research and brand promotion if you aim to become a beverage consultant. Restaurant consultants need restaurant management training.

I recommend: George Washington University offers courses that focus on consumer marketing research. Home Study Courses.net and Stratford Career Institute both offer online classes and distance learning programs in restaurant management which are necessary for prospective restaurant consultants.

Stay current by attending seminars and monitoring market research reports on food consulting

Food and beverage consultant seminars and webinars help you keep track of developments in food trends, consumer confidence and provide skills on how you can help your clients grow in the industry.

I recommend: Check the list of upcoming seminars on the website for The Food Institute and Global West Hospitality Solutions. Search for timely food and beverage consulting market research reports on the extensive database that Manta.com makes available online.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Not all of your training has to come from a college or restaurant. Some leading consulting firms offer continuing education and training for food and beverage consultants they hire.

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Marketing research

Marketing research involves learning about the entire marketing process of a company. It includes current trends, new products, ways to reach the consumer and company processes. It can also involve research for an industry, such as the food and beverage. Consultants have to be aware of how to best market a company's product or service.

I recommend: PTM Consulting has an annual trend report as well as articles, case studies and current trends for the food and beverage industry posted on their website. See examples of food and beverage market research reports at MarketResearch.com.

Purchasing system

A purchasing system, practiced by the procurement organization or purchasing organization, is the method a company uses to make decisions about purchasing as well as the actual purchase of food and beverages. It also consists of how inventory is tracked and how warehousing and storage is addressed. Consultants need to look at how a company acquires and tracks their products to ensure that they are using the most effective and economically efficient system.

I recommend: The Reed Business Information website hosts up-to-date trends and discussions revolved around purchasing. There is also a general overview of what someone dealing with food and beverage purchasing needs to consider.

Quality assurance

Quality assurance is composed of specific steps used to determine whether or not goods and services meet customer expectations. The steps are planning, doing, checking and acting. Consultants ensure that a business is providing the best quality service and products to the consumers so that there is a positive reputation and the maximum amount of profit for the company.

I recommend: For a great overview of quality assurance including background on regulations, software to manage quality assurance as well as information on inspections look to the MetricStream website.

Shelf life

For a consultant, it is important to know the laws around shelf life, as they will be responsible for ensuring that those laws are followed. The law requires packaged food to have dates to help the consumer determine when the product must be used by. This is shelf life. Products must be labeled with either, display until, use by date, or best before dates.

I recommend: Store-It Foods has an extensive list of the shelf-life for common products. As a consultant for the food and beverage industry, it is vital to know shelf-life for common products.

Prime cost

Consultants always need to be focused on the prime cost. This is the combined cost of the labor, the cost of materials and the cost of production.

I recommend: White Hutchinson Leisure and Learning provide a helpful overview of prime cost, including how to determine it, how prime costs relate to menu prices and suggestions of how to approach tracking prime costs. For a sample of a prime cost projection worksheet, visit Resterauntowner.com.

Work ergonomics

Work ergonomics is ensuring that employee performed tasks are able to be done comfortably and efficiently. Consultants study a company's work ergonomics to ensure that employees can perform their tasks easily and without injury.

I recommend: University of Colorado has some useful information about work ergonomics.