Restaurant Consulting in Tempe & Phoenix

A Phoenix-metro restaurant does not have one operating year. It has two. Six months of full patios and winter visitors, then a summer where covers fall off, the patio is unusable by four in the afternoon, and part of your staff leaves town. Averaging those halves together is how operators end up overstaffed in July and caught short in February. We work on-site with independent restaurants and small groups across Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler.

Building for two seasons, not one

Snowbird season and the summer drop need separate plans — separate schedules, separate par levels, and separate menus where the numbers justify it — plus the trigger points that tell you when to switch between them.

The wage math is its own piece of that. Arizona’s minimum wage is $15.15 an hour in 2026, and the state permits a tip credit of up to $3.00, so tipped roles can run at $12.15 in cash. That only holds if you can document, week by week, that tips closed the gap. Plenty of operators are carrying that exposure without the records to support it.

What we go after first

Menu and pricing. Every item scored on contribution margin in dollars rather than food-cost percentage, with summer and winter versions costed separately.

Distributor terms. A line-by-line read of invoices against contract pricing, delivery minimums and drop schedules, including whether your summer volume still clears the minimums you agreed to in January.

POS and technology. Whether the system you are already paying for is earning its keep, and what the contract actually costs you across its full term.

Openings and rescues. Getting a new room to profitability before its first summer, or stabilizing one that did not come through the last one well. If you are opening here, start with our Phoenix pre-opening guide and the Tempe and Scottsdale permits and timeline.

Start with a conversation

50+ years of combined restaurant industry experience. Phoenix metro: 480-462-6067.

Book a free 20-minute consult. Bring your P&L and a recent schedule if you have them, and we will tell you what we see.