What Does a Hospitality Consultant Actually Do?

At Tallow and Shun, we are often asked — particularly by independent operators and food entrepreneurs who have never worked with one before — what a hospitality consultant actually does, and whether engaging one is really necessary or worthwhile. It is a fair question, and it deserves a straight answer.

1. What a Hospitality Consultant Is Not

A hospitality consultant is not someone who produces a glossy report you will never look at again. A good consultant is not a critic — they are a problem-solver. The goal is to create lasting change that your team can maintain independently once the engagement is complete.

2. What the Work Actually Looks Like

Concept and Menu Development

Menu development involves understanding your kitchen's capabilities, your target customer, your cost structure and your competitive environment — and building a menu that performs across all of those dimensions.

Operational Review and Process Improvement

Operational consultancy involves a detailed assessment of how your business runs day to day — kitchen flow, ordering processes, prep routines, service sequencing, supplier relationships and stock management.

Financial Performance

Food and beverage margins, labour cost as a percentage of revenue, covers per hour, average spend per head — we work with clients to benchmark their performance against industry standards and identify where margin is being lost.

Staff Training and Development

Consultancy support in this area might include front-of-house training programmes, kitchen skills development, management coaching or the development of onboarding processes that reduce early turnover.

New Openings and Pre-Launch Support

Opening a restaurant is one of the most complex operational projects a person can undertake. Pre-launch support typically covers concept validation, menu testing, recruitment strategy, supplier set-up and the operational readiness review before doors open.

3. When Should You Hire a Hospitality Consultant?

You are planning to open a new venue. You cannot work out why the numbers are not adding up. Your kitchen team keeps turning over. Your food offer needs to evolve. You are scaling from one site to two. In each of these scenarios, an experienced external perspective has a concrete, practical value.

4. What to Look for in a Hospitality Consultant

Look for demonstrable, hands-on operational experience — not just in a corporate setting, but in the kind of businesses that resemble yours. Ask for specific examples of previous projects and what outcomes were achieved. Chemistry matters too — a consultant who cannot communicate clearly with your team is unlikely to create lasting change.

5. What Results Should You Expect?

A focused operational review might surface two or three specific changes that meaningfully improve your food cost percentage or reduce kitchen labour hours. What you should not expect is overnight transformation. The best consultancy work is collaborative and cumulative.

At Tallow and Shun, we work with independent restaurants, food entrepreneurs and hospitality operators across London, Bromley and the South East. If you are considering bringing in external expertise, contact us today. The first conversation is always free.