A chef's eye on your restaurant business.
Salt & Scaffold is a chef-led consultancy for first-time restaurant owners in India. I build your menu, systems, hiring plan and kitchen training, so the restaurant runs well long after opening week.
Book a free consultation call For QSRs, multi-cuisine restaurants and fine dining. Online or on-site.Restaurant consulting services that fix what the menu doesn't show
Hire one, or let me run all six as a single plan.
Restaurant audits
A review of hygiene, workflow, service and compliance, online or on-site. You receive a detailed report, a gap analysis and a prioritised 90-day action plan.
Food safety analysis and training
An assessment of your kitchen's hygiene and food safety practices, plus hands-on team training so good practice becomes daily routine.
Menu engineering
Every dish costed, every margin understood. I redesign the menu so your most profitable dishes stand out, and I finalise the dishes myself.
SOPs
Written standard operating procedures so your kitchen runs consistently, with or without you there.
Staff training
Structured onboarding and skills training, so your own team can cook and serve the menu exactly as designed.
Food cost control
Recipe costing and waste-reduction systems that protect your margins as you scale.
How restaurant consulting works: three phases, each built on the one before
Scope and investment are tailored to your concept. Start online, and bring me on site when you're ready.
Foundation
We start by understanding exactly where your business stands.
- Restaurant audit
- Market research on your concept, cuisine and location
Scaffold
With a clear picture, we build the systems around the business.
- Profitability and workflow mapping
- Menu engineering, with your final menu locked in
- First draft of your SOPs
- Hiring blueprint: the kitchen and service roles you need
Structure
I come to your kitchen and train your team to deliver the menu themselves.
- Food trial checklist and food trials
- Plating guidance and staff training
- Owner tasting and approval
- Food safety, cost control and SOP rollout
Free tools and resources for restaurant owners
Two calculators, a checklist and a sample plan. The calculators need no sign-up.
Food cost calculator
Cost per portion, food cost % and the price you need for your target margin.
Menu matrix quiz
See which dishes are Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles or Dogs, and what to do about each.
First restaurant checklist
Seven areas first-time owners often miss, from numbers and licences to menu, team and launch.
Sample 90-day action plan
A one-page example of what a Foundation-phase audit delivers (fictional restaurant).
Your consultant is a working chef
Ayush Kasare is the founder of Salt & Scaffold. He is a chef first, with a BA in Culinary Arts from Sheila Raheja Institute of Hotel Management and hands-on kitchen and hospitality training.
His early career spanned restaurant projects across the North, South, East and West of India, working closely with senior chefs of 25+ years' experience and with the owners of multi-cuisine restaurant chains.
He cooks the food he consults on. That means your menu is tested in a real kitchen, not just on a spreadsheet, and your team is trained by someone who has stood on the line.
Why the name? Salt is the expertise, taste and judgment brought to every project. Scaffold is the support structure of systems, SOPs and processes that holds a business up while it's being built.
Questions owners ask first
Can this be done online?
Yes. Foundation and Scaffold can be delivered online, with on-site visits available. Structure is delivered on site.
What does a restaurant audit include?
A review of hygiene, workflow, service and compliance, a detailed report, a gap analysis against best practice and a prioritised 90-day action plan.
Do you help with hiring?
Yes. In the Scaffold phase you receive a hiring blueprint of the kitchen and service roles your concept needs.
How much does a restaurant consultant cost in India?
It depends on your concept, the phases you choose and whether the work is online or on-site. The first consultation call is free, and after it we agree a scope and fee that fits your concept.
I'm opening my first restaurant in India. Where do I start?
Start with a clear picture of your concept, cuisine, location and budget. The Foundation phase audits where you stand and researches your market, then Scaffold builds your menu, systems and hiring plan.
What is menu engineering?
Costing every dish, finding what earns and what loses money, and redesigning the menu so profitable dishes stand out.
Tell me about your restaurant
This short brief helps me prepare before we speak. Answer what you can, and skip what you don't know yet.