Restaurant Consulting

[chefmcone76]

So I am a private chef with a great deal of hotel/restaurant experience who has recently been approached by an old server from one of my restaurants to consult on the opening of a new restaurant. Fortunately I have yet to deal with consultants so I am unaware of a fair price to charge her. Basically she wants a menu written, recipes, food cost, etc to be passed on to her investors. Anyone have experience with this and thoughts on what to charge?

[Baggy]

The formula we use as consultants (not in food service arena) is a compromise between:

a) A rate based on the market salary and benefits for an employee doing the same job, e.g. executive chef (but adding on all costs, such as rent, legal fees etc, etc), factored up for the amount of time spent not being paid when you're marketing but not working on projects (usually 30+% of your time), and

b) What the market will support.

Obviously the better your profile, the higher the rate the market will pay.

Frankly, the best method is a see what fee is reasonable given the size of job. If your potential client is going to open a restaurant with a projected turnover of $1 million, it’s not unreasonable (from a business perspective) to charge upwards of $50k – a cut of 5% (which is comparable to investment banker fees).

On the other hand, a smaller fee and a good working relationship often leads to a more 'family' relationship with repeat business over a number of years. Given the high failure rate of restaurants, I really couldn't suggest that you take this route.

[Timh]

I've worked with people on an hourly rate even(albeit a small place), they clocked in and did their work at the restaurant. Granted, they charged upwards of 50.00/hour but all in all, they delivered as promised, and didn't break the restaurants back.