If you are typing the phrase “Restaurant Consultants” in to Google or another search engine, you are likely a restaurant consultant checking your search result rankings, or you’re a restaurant owner in need of help.  If you are the former, you may be insulted by what I have to say as I plan to debunk shady marketing and expose wannabe restaurant consultants.  If you are the latter – an actual restaurant company seeking a consultant – I think you will find the below an informative guide for avoiding the quacks.

•    Restaurant Consultants – Aren’t Created Equal – There are so many quack restaurant consultants on the Internet today that it makes my head spin.  Actually, it makes my stomach turn.  I’ve given serious consideration to getting out of the profession all together; or at a minimum, inventing a new terminology.  Abe Lincoln once said, “Associate yourself with men of good quality, for it’s better to be seen alone than in bad company.”  It seems these days there are fewer and fewer restaurant consultants showing up high in the search rankings that I want to be associated with.  Seems there are plenty with just enough knowledge of search marketing to show up high in the rankings but then not sure what do for the prospective clients they actually get to call them.

•    “International” – I’ve seen “wherever there’s a need” as the stated place of business for a couple of restaurant consultants.  It made me chuckle because when you look at their client list, they don’t show any international clients.  Check their passport.  Are their clients paid clients or just website visitors?  You’d be surprised how many “global restaurant consultants” have never even left the country (at least not on assignment – maybe a cruise or something).  Having worked abroad on actually feet-on-the-street restaurant consulting assignments isn’t necessarily a prerequisite of consulting, but it is an indicator of smoke and mirror approaches when someone claims vast international knowledge and experience but doesn’t actually have any.  It should be a red flag.

•    Consultant Versus Employee – Check to see if the experience they reference is actually restaurant consulting experience or if it’s past employment.  One consultant claims to be the “operational mind behind The Cheesecake Factory”.  I’ve consulted at an executive level for The Cheesecake Factory (the entire senior staff of The Cheesecake Factory) and can tell you first hand they aren’t the kind of company to turn over the reins to Johnny-come-lately restaurant consultants.  It’s more likely this “consultant” worked as an employee for The Cheesecake Factory in an operations capacity, which is far different than working in an executive consulting capacity.  Being good at your job doesn’t make you a good consultant.  There is a technical skill required to be great in restaurant operations, but you need that requisite knowledge and an additional skill set in executive-level consulting to be considered top of class in the world of restaurant consultants.  It’s like the difference between being a good waiter and being a professional wait-staff trainer.

•    Portfolio – Ask to see a portfolio of completed restaurant consulting projects.  It’s one thing to drop names of big restaurant companies; it’s another to show the actual completed work.  Sure, there may be restrictions on showing some work due to confidentiality agreements with the client, but I am surprised how often restaurant consultants show off big company logos as clients but didn’t actually complete meaningful work for them.  You’d be surprised how often the logo they use and experience they have was working as a waiter for that big company, not serving as an executive-level consultant to them.

•    Full-Service or Limited-Service – There are many restaurant consultants on the web that have niche experience, but not exposure to a wide range of complex restaurant industry issues.  There are restaurant operations consultants, and restaurant marketing consultants, restaurant social media consultants and restaurant franchise consultants – it goes on and on.  There are a lot of types of restaurant consultants.  Not only are there distinct disciplines, there is the exposure to different cuisine types and boots-on-the-ground exposure in different markets and geographies.  Even if your restaurant chain is regional, restaurant consultants with a global perspective can be worth their weight in gold; especially for the aspiring restaurant chain.

•    Quality – Another thing that cracks me up and is a sure giveaway of wannabe restaurant consultants is poor website design.  There are more than a few groups out to claiming to be top restaurant marketing consultants and design advisors, but with websites that look like it was created their nephew.  Common sense says that if the corporate website and professional marketing materials are less than quality, so too might be the firms advice and capabilities.  If a restaurant marketing consultant isn’t able to produce a WOW website for themselves, how can they produce wow results for your restaurant marketing efforts?

•    Not all Restaurant Consultants are Quacks – Admittedly, I am venting some frustrations I have with the shady practices of some unqualified restaurant consultants; quacks can give a bad impression of an entire industry.  Does that mean me or my firm are the only ones qualified?  Absolutely not.  In fact, there are some restaurant consultants in the field that I highly admire.  They don’t market themselves too much though.  They are good enough that they have robust consulting practices through word of mouth alone.  When they are not consulting, they are probably CEO of a major restaurant chain.  Actually, they probably don’t even want to be called “restaurant consultants”, even if they do provide the service.  Who are a few of the ones I admire?  Lane Cardwell is one.  Phil Romano is another.  Brad Blum is high on my list.  These are the guys with credentials and track records.  There are several more.  Credentials matter, but also important is to have a personality and philosophical match.  First you have to cut through the clutter of who is for real and who is out there just because they thought it would be fun to be a ‘restaurant consultant’ after getting canned from another job.  Once you weed through that though, you have to make sure you’re going to enjoy working together and see eye to eye (for more on bringing out the best in restaurant consultants, see: http://aaronallen.com/articles/great-clients-are-made-not-born).

Bottom line…

You’ve worked too hard for your money to blow it on quack restaurant consultants.  Don’t be “sold”.  Ask to speak to the person that will be working directly on your account; the day-to-day person, not the CEO or figurehead.  Ask for their credentials.  Interview them.  If you feel warm and fuzzy about it, that’s a big part of the decision-making process.  If it doesn’t feel right, no matter what their credentials, don’t do it.  You have to really trust in the consultant you choose to get the most out of them and the engagement.  It becomes a bit intimate and you want to be sure you’re partnered up with someone that’s not only sharp, qualified and experienced, but also someone that you want to bring out the best in and have them bring out the best in you.

Personally, I refuse work that doesn’t inspire me and pass on anything that doesn’t feel right.  You should do the same.  Don’t get lured in to working with someone just because they showed up high in Google.  Ask the tough questions too though.  Make sure you’re not dealing with a quack.  The signs are there if you look for them.

Oh, and please leave a reply on your experiences and thoughts regarding the above.  I’d love to hear from you.

Best of luck!