Can I Afford Consulting?
This nightmare of a year is seemingly never ending. The restaurant and hospitality industries have been torn apart by COVID (and some ridiculous rules and regulations along the way) and now more than ever it is imperative that business owners in these sectors are looking to the future, especially new stakeholders.
It’s hard enough starting a new business. It takes courage, determination, a relentless need to succeed and probably a little bit of madness, the good kind of course. For those who took the plunge this year you might already be thinking how could this happen to me and how typical is it that you take this risk and the year plays out how it did. So, what do you do now? You are relatively inexperienced, haven’t faced any huge challenges (like this at least) and you’re not sure whether to shut up shop or continue blind through the tunnel.
You do have another option though, consultancy. I won’t lie, consultancy can be expensive, or it should be at least. The thing with consultancy is that is must be looked at as an investment. With that being said, read through the rest of this post to learn about the types of people you should be investing into consultancy with and what sort of things you might learn more about through consultancy.
Who to trust?
Say about going with someone you can trust with clear experience that is evident (brands etc.)
As we mentioned above, consultancy can be expensive yes but just think, is this investment worthwhile? If you ignore the face cost of the service and look at it in terms of value for money, do you honestly believe that spending this amount could help your business survive and thrive going into the future? This often comes down to the person you’re getting consultancy services from.
There are a lot of people who sell “consultancy” services who will sit back, take your money and tell you things that you already know and leave you wanting more. This is when consultancy becomes expensive. If you go with the right person, who can guide you and draw on their own personal experiences you will get the most out of investing in consultancy. There is no shame in seeking help from people more experienced than you, if anything it could be short sited not to.
When seeking these types of services, you must be smart. You wouldn’t ask a pilot to fix the plane or ask a chef to change your tyres so why would you pay for advice from someone not qualified to give it? You should be seeking out somebody with many years’ experience consulting individuals, somebody who can provide “references” to successful clients and who has their own portfolio they can show you to prove their own personal success. This is where I can come in to help. With over 10 years of consulting experience and a whole host of restaurants and concepts of my own that have prospered over the years and even continuously now through this difficult period, there aren’t many better you could seek consulting services from.
What services can I expect?
So now you know what you should be looking for it’s time to check out some of the things you should expect from a consulting service agreement. Check out a few of these points below to see some of the things you can look forward too.
1. Company Turnaround and Building Equity Value
- There is nothing worse than when a business fails. You feel awful, your staff are in a bad predicament and overall, it is just a down feeling. A lot of this can come down to the very first day of operating. So often entrepreneurs underestimate the costs involved with a business and this can lead to under-funding and then months of trying to catch up and losing the quality of your business along the way. With proper strategic planning based on many years’ experience, I can help turn your business around, so you get a second chance of a first impression.
2. Operations Planning
- Operations are the key to everything. You could have the most imaginative marketing team, staff that makes every customer feel at home and the most beautiful restaurant but if your operations team and strategy isn’t up to scratch you will not make any progress. With a team of experts who take on every project as if it’s their own, we have developed a model to streamline operations where people get the maximum without having to burn themselves out to do it.
3. Menu Engineering
- Nowadays more than ever, people want the glitz and glamor, something a little different. Whether that’s a burger on a wooden slab or fish and chips in a Ferris wheel (look it up, amazing) people want something that can be posted on Instagram and this is where a lot of restaurants go wrong. Yes, definitely you do need to be “Instagrammable” but what’s the main attraction to a restaurant? The food, obviously! Getting the food right gets you a long way, this has to come first and sometimes your menu could do with a little tweak to really get the most out of it.
4. Dark Kitchens
- It amazes me that more restaurants don’t make the most of dark kitchens (of ghost kitchens or virtual concepts or whatever you want to call them). The easiest way of optimising your space, which you’re paying for, your staff, which you’re paying for and your stock, you see where I am going with this. Maximise the downtimes in your restaurant by taking on board these concepts. At Pheby Food Concepts Group we have many dark kitchens you can adopt into your restaurant, convenient hey!?
Where to find out more?
Whatever your business needs I have you covered. Check out our website for more on consulting services or if you’re interested in a dark kitchen and need more info check out our dark kitchen concepts.