Deciding to start a restaurant business can be a fruitful endeavor. But there are considerations to be aware of. Without careful planning, your restaurant can be a financial drain before it becomes a success.
As a restauranteur, or even food blogger, you may know your way around food. But a restaurant isn’t just about food. It’s about location, inventory management, guest experiences, marketing, and much more.
Many new restaurant owners turn to the internet, reading how-to guides, deep dives, and opinion pieces. But there’s only so much you can do on your own. It’s why it’s important to consider working with a food and beverage or restaurant consulting firm.
A restaurant consulting services company can help you manage various aspects of your F&B business before and while you launch.
In this article, we’ll look at why restaurants fail and what food and beverage consulting is. We’ll also highlight the top restaurant consulting firms in the UAE and the Middle East.
Why work with F&B consulting companies?
Often when a restaurant owner decides to launch their business or expand, they realize there are a few hurdles to overcome. These obstacles can vary from determining the location of their restaurant, creating the layout and interior design, among others.
Restaurant consulting firms usually offer pre-opening services such as feasibility studies and business plans, and post-opening services such as employee guidelines, manpower planning and recruitment, among others.
A food and beverage consulting firm can help you
Create an efficient business plan
A business plan isn’t a long, detailed plan that you throw in a drawer and never look at again. It’s a plan that comes with financial projections, revenue targets, a SWOT analysis, and opportunities for the future.
You can try to create your own business plan. However, working with a restaurant consultancy not only speeds up this process, but also ensures you benefit from years of expertise in the industry and your local market.
Open your first restaurant
You’ve decided to open your first restaurant. Congratulations! Now, what?
There’s a lot that goes on in launching a restaurant that many restaurateurs don’t consider. It’s not just about the food. There’s the décor, the flow of the restaurant, table management and seating arrangements, how you’ll manage operations between front-of-house staff and back-of-house staff.
Not to mention how you’ll create and manage guest experiences, create restaurant marketing plans,…etc.
A restaurant business and management consultancy can help you manage those various aspects, including pre-opening and post-opening needs.
Expand your restaurant business
You have a successful restaurant and you want to replicate the experience in new locations. Do you follow the same process as the first time you opened your restaurant? That’s up to you.
However, a restaurant consulting services company can help you decide which location is best, where you can stand out, where your guests are, among others.
Rebranding your F&B concept
Your business has been in operation for years or maybe you started out with limited branding and now it’s time for an overhaul.
A restaurant business consultant can guide you through the rebranding process, ensuring your branding and design resonate with your guests.
Improve efficiency
Restaurant consulting firms can help you increase the efficiency of your restaurant so you can boost your profits. This often includes an analysis of your business and an operational audit to see where money is leaking.
Top restaurant consulting firms in the UAE
The following food and beverage consultants operate out of the United Arab Emirates but may have operations in other parts of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Gates Hospitality
Another leading food and beverage consulting firm is Gates Hospitality. As their name suggests, they specialize in various hospitality projects from spas to new restaurant and hotel launches to new concept development.
It’s no surprise Gates Hospitality is a must-follow food and beverage consultant. The company was founded by leading F&B consultant and hospitality expert Naim Maadad, who alone boasts 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry in Australia, Asia, and the Middle East.
Since its establishment in 2010, Gates Hospitality has expanded from a single-unit venture to having six venues in the UAE alone. The company also boasts an international presence with an office in London.
In addition, the company has contributed to the launch of 23 restaurants, 11 hotels-and-resorts, 28 spas, and 26 new concept developments.
Gates Hospitality offers a variety of advisory services for restaurant and hospitality establishments across the Middle East and the world. Their services include asset management and brand guidance, including revenue benchmarking, concept definition and positioning, profit-and-loss analysis.
The company also offers advisory services such as food and beverage consulting, F&B Gap analysis, and market surveys, and pre-opening foundation including talent management, PR and marketing, among other services.
Learn more about Gates Hospitality via their website and by following them on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Food Forward
Dubai-based Food Forward is one of the top restaurant consulting firms in the Middle East. With a clientele spanning the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Lebanon, and Egypt, Food Forward boasts an array of successful F&B projects.
Food Forward’s services include branding and concept creation, menu development, restaurant training, market research and feasibility studies, dark kitchen development, and restaurant management.
From small projects like food trucks to cloud kitchens to mixed-use developments to large restaurant operations, Food Forward has covered them all.
Learn more about Food Forward by visiting their website and by following them on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
Glee Hospitality
Established in 2010, Glee Hospitality Solutions is an F&B consultancy and management solutions company offering pre-opening and post-opening management services.
This Dubai-based F&B consultancy’s services include: F&B strategy, business planning, concept development and refinement, market research, financial feasibility analysis, among other services. They also offer pre-launch project management services along with ‘day-to-day operational management and business audits of existing F&B’ businesses.
Glee Hospitality also provides restaurant consulting services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where they opened an office in 2019. Their work in the kingdom has included standalone restaurants, hotel F&B concepts, and mixed-use developments.
The company also provides F&B consultancy services to restaurants in Oman.
Learn more about Glee Hospitality by checking out their website and blog, and by following them on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Swissknife Co
Swissknife is another leading food and beverage consulting firm. Though the majority of their operations are Dubai restaurants, the company has provided its services to F&B concepts in Lebanon and Switzerland.
This Dubai-based restaurant consulting firm offers feasibility studies, creates restaurant business plans, concept design and branding, interior design and kitchen layout, and “menu engineering.”
They also provide supporting services such as business development, F&B project management, and financial services.
Learn more about Swissknife Co via their website and by following them on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Restaurant Secrets Inc
This restaurant management consulting firm offers an array of services to new and existing businesses.
For current F&B concepts, Restaurant Secrets Inc (RSI) offers F&B recruitment and KPI setting, staff training, and menu engineering. For new restaurant businesses, RSI offers feasibility studies, interior design services, menu development, among others.
Learn more about Restaurant Secrets Inc by visiting their website and following them on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Lincoln Hospitality
Led by one of the UAE’s top F&B entrepreneurs, Ralph L. Homer, Lincoln Hospitality is an award-winning F&B consulting company with operations spanning the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
Lincoln Hospitality specializes in finding prime locations for restaurants, kitchen design, branding, menu engineering, and talent acquisition for F&B concepts.
Learn more about Lincoln Hospitality by visiting their website and following them on Instagram.
M Management Company
Founded by hospitality experts Alexander and Fay Economides, The M Management Company is a hospitality group with 5 award-winning F&B destinations.
Established in Dubai in 2013, the M Management Company offers F&B consultancy services to hotels, restaurants, and nightlife and event management establishments in the MENA region.
The company's top services include: concept planning, pre-opening set up, daily running and operations set up, PR and marketing strategy services, and market research and analysis. The M Management Company also offers HR management, recruitment, and training for F&B concepts, as well as consulting for finance, IT, and operations.
Learn more about M Management Company by following them on LinkedIn and checking out their website.
Restaurant consulting firms in the MENA region
Melon Minds
Describing themselves as a “different kind of F&B universe,” Melon Minds offers various food and beverage consulting services to restaurants in the Middle East.
The company has offices spread across Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE. That said, Melon Minds offers F&B management consulting to concepts in Lebanon, Egypt, and Sydney, Australia.
Melon Minds offers services varying from business plan creation to interior design, drawing and elevations, to tendering and procurement. This restaurant consulting firm’s services also include franchising services, branding, marketing, PR, and social media, as well as recruitment.
Learn more about Melon Minds via their website and by following them on LinkedIn and Instagram.
Morison Qatar
Morison Qatar is a financial advisory firm with an F&B consulting arm. Primarily operating out of Qatar, this company is on a mission to “empower aspiring restaurateurs in Qatar to launch and sustain profitable food ventures.”
Morison Qatar supports F&B concepts with services varying from restaurant setup to menu development to continued guidance.
Their clients include quick service restaurants (QSRs), fine dining establishments, as well as cloud kitchens and food chains.
With services such as financial modeling, concept and brand design, and F&B consulting, Morison Qatar supports restaurateurs who want to launch a standalone restaurant or scale to a multi-location restaurant.
Learn more about Morison Qatar by visiting their website.
KAZA Consult
This Saudi-based restaurant management consultancy offers a wide range of hospitality consulting services, from concept creation to pre- and post- opening operations.
They also offer interior and kitchen design, menu development, F&B recruitment services, food safety training, and franchising services.
KAZA Consult’s clients vary from food stands to catering service providers to dine-in concepts, quick-service restaurants, to virtual food brands. They’ve also helped brands including a donut shop, coffee shops, and fine-dining establishments.
Learn more about KAZA Consult via their website and LinkedIn.
Final words
You don’t have to do everything on your own. In fact, doing everything yourself means more hurdles and more time before you can launch your restaurant and begin generating revenues.
Working with F&B consulting firms helps you overcome many of those getting-started challenges. They can also support your business when you want to expand by adding new locations or new services.
Are you a leading F&B consultant but can’t find your name on this list? Email us at marketing@servmeco.com and we’ll add you to this list.
Further reading
Your Go-to Guide for the Top Food Influencers & Bloggers in Dubai & the Middle East
How to Create a Restaurant No-Show Policy [Templates Included]
Restaurant CRM Software: What Is It? And Why Do You Need It?
Reserve with Google for Restaurants: What Is It & How It Works
How to Make the Most of SerVme’s Restaurant Table Management Software
How to Create Hyper-Personalization in Your Restaurant with SerVme’s Auto-Tagging Feature
10+ Restaurant Email Marketing Campaign Ideas for Better Sales & Retention
Mohammed Rafy
Marketing
