Restaurant Consulting in Los Angeles & Burbank

Los Angeles is one of the most expensive places in the country to run a restaurant, and most of that cost is structural rather than sloppy. Labor is set by ordinance, rent charges you for every square foot whether it earns or not, and demand moves with production calendars and tourism instead of the seasons. We work on-site with independent restaurants and small groups across Los Angeles, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Monica and Long Beach.

The labor math here is its own problem

Inside Los Angeles city limits the minimum wage is $18.42 an hour as of July 1, 2026, against a California floor of $16.90 — and it re-prices every July on a CPI formula, so the number you budgeted in spring is not the number you pay in fall. Several cities in the basin set their own rate on top of the state floor, which means the correct labor figure can change depending on which side of a city line your dining room sits on.

California also allows no tip credit at all. A tipped server costs you the full hourly rate before a dollar of tips changes hands, so national labor-percentage benchmarks will be wrong here, and wrong in the same direction every week. We rebuild your schedule against real sales patterns and the rate you are actually required to pay. Missed meal and rest breaks are the other half of that bill, and the premium pay they trigger is rarely caught until someone adds it up.

Where we usually find the money

Menu pricing. Every item scored on contribution margin in dollars rather than food-cost percentage, so the high-cost dish that quietly pays your rent stops looking like the problem.

Vendor and distributor terms. A line-by-line audit of invoices against contract pricing, delivery minimums and drop schedules. The gap between what you agreed to and what you are billed is rarely small.

Technology and POS. What to buy, what to skip, and what the agreement really costs across three years once processing, hardware and per-terminal fees are added up.

Openings and turnarounds. From lease negotiation to first profitable quarter, or from bleeding to break-even on a build you have already paid for.

Talk to someone who has run the room

50+ years of combined restaurant industry experience. Los Angeles metro: 747-271-4205.

Book a free 20-minute consult. No pitch — just a conversation about where your restaurant is losing time, money, or both.