How to Choose a Catering Consultant in Wales

8 Questions You Must Ask Before You Hire

By On The Pass Consultancy | Newport, South Wales | Updated March 2026

Choosing the right catering consultant for your hospitality business is one of the most important decisions you can make — and one of the easiest to get wrong. The right consultant will save you time, money, and a significant amount of operational frustration. The wrong one will cost you all three.

The problem is that the catering consultancy market in Wales — and across the UK — is not well regulated. Anyone can call themselves a catering consultant. Some have decades of real-world experience across multiple sectors. Others have a background in equipment sales and are primarily interested in what they can sell you. The difference in outcomes for your business is enormous.

This guide gives you 8 specific questions to ask any catering consultant before you engage them — and explains exactly what the right answers look like. Use it as your checklist before making any commitment.

Why Getting This Decision Right Matters

Hospitality businesses in Wales face a specific set of challenges that make independent, locally-grounded consultancy particularly valuable. Rising food costs, ongoing staffing pressures, tightening margins, and the pace of change in kitchen technology all create genuine operational complexity — and the consequences of bad advice compound quickly.

A good catering consultant pays for themselves many times over. A poor one — or worse, one whose advice is shaped by supplier relationships rather than your best interests — can set your operation back significantly. The 8 questions below are designed to help you tell the difference before you commit.

The 8 Questions to Ask Any Catering Consultant in Wales

Question 1: Are you truly independent — or do you have supplier relationships that influence your recommendations?

This is the single most important question you can ask, and the answer will tell you almost everything you need to know about whether the advice you receive will genuinely serve your interests.

A genuinely independent consultant has no financial relationship with equipment manufacturers or suppliers that could influence what they recommend to you. Their income comes entirely from the fees you pay them — which means their recommendations are based purely on what is right for your operation.

Many consultants in the market work alongside equipment suppliers or receive referral fees — which isn't inherently wrong, but it does create a potential conflict of interest you should be aware of. Always ask directly, and listen carefully to the answer.

What a good answer looks like:

"We work with leading equipment manufacturers as brand partners — meaning we can supply their products — but our consultancy advice is always based on what is right for your operation first. We will recommend a competitor's product if it is better suited to your needs."

Question 2: What sectors have you worked in, and do you have experience relevant to my type of operation?

A consultant who has only ever worked in one type of hospitality operation — say, contract catering — will bring a narrow perspective to a hotel kitchen or an independent restaurant. The most effective consultants bring experience across multiple sectors, because challenges solved in one environment often apply directly to another.

Ask specifically about their experience in operations similar to yours. If you run a care home, ask whether they have worked in care settings and understand IDDSI nutritional standards, CIW compliance, and the specific budget pressures of that sector. If you are opening a new restaurant, ask about new opening projects they have supported.

What a good answer looks like:

A consultant who can point to specific, relevant experience across multiple sectors — hotels, restaurants, care homes, contract catering, education — and who asks detailed questions about your specific operation before claiming they can help.

Question 3: Can you provide references or examples of similar projects you have completed?

Any experienced consultant should be able to point to specific examples of work they have completed — ideally in operations similar to yours. Be wary of consultants who speak in broad generalities about their experience without being able to reference specific projects, outcomes, or clients.

You do not necessarily need a formal case study — many consultants work under confidentiality agreements with clients. But a good consultant should be able to describe the nature of projects they have completed, the challenges they addressed, and the measurable outcomes achieved, even without naming the specific client.

What a good answer looks like:

Specific, credible examples with clear outcomes — "we redesigned a hotel kitchen in Cardiff that reduced service time by 20%" or "we developed a new menu for a care home group that improved GP by 8 percentage points" — not vague claims about years of experience.

Question 4: Do you have genuine knowledge of the Welsh hospitality market and local supply chain?

This question is particularly important for Welsh hospitality businesses. Most of the larger, more established catering consultancies in the UK are based in London or Manchester. They are perfectly capable of delivering quality consultancy — but they come with significant travel costs, inflated day rates, and a limited understanding of the Welsh market.

The Welsh hospitality landscape has its own distinct characteristics — the supply chain, the regulatory environment, the planning and licensing landscape, and the specific dynamics of the Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, and Bristol markets all have nuances that a locally-based consultant will understand far better than one flying in from London.

What a good answer looks like:

A consultant based in Wales or the Bristol/Gloucester region who can demonstrate genuine knowledge of the local market, local suppliers, and Welsh-specific regulatory requirements — without charging London-level travel costs on top of their day rate.

Question 5: What is included in your service, and what would be charged as an extra?

Scope creep is one of the most common sources of disappointment in consultancy engagements. What appears to be a straightforward project at the outset can quickly expand in ways that generate additional charges if the initial scope is not clearly defined.

Ask specifically what is included in the quoted fee, what would trigger additional charges, and how changes to the project scope are handled. A transparent consultant will be happy to answer these questions clearly and in writing before any engagement begins.

Things to clarify upfront include:

• Whether site visits are included or charged separately
• How travel costs are handled for a Wales-based business
• Whether follow-up support after project completion is included
• How many revision rounds are included in design or menu development work
• Whether equipment specification includes procurement support or just recommendations

What a good answer looks like:

A clear, written scope of work before any money changes hands, with explicit statements about what is and is not included. No surprises.

Question 6: How do you approach the initial consultation, and is there any cost or obligation involved?

The initial consultation is your opportunity to assess whether the consultant genuinely understands your business and whether you can work with them. It should feel like a conversation between two professionals, not a sales pitch.

A good consultant will use the initial meeting to ask detailed questions about your operation, your challenges, and your goals — before suggesting any solutions. A consultant who arrives with a ready-made proposal before they have listened carefully is one to be cautious of.

Most reputable consultancies offer a free initial consultation with no obligation. This is standard practice and reflects confidence in their ability to demonstrate value through the conversation itself.

What a good answer looks like:

"Our initial consultation is completely free and carries no obligation. We use it to understand your business properly before we discuss whether and how we can help."

Question 7: How do you measure and demonstrate the impact of your work?

Good consultancy should produce measurable results — improved gross profit margins, reduced food cost, faster service, better staff retention, lower equipment running costs, or more efficient kitchen workflow. A consultant who cannot describe how they will measure the impact of their work is one who has not thought carefully about accountability.

This doesn't mean every engagement needs a rigid KPI framework — some projects, like kitchen design, have qualitative outcomes as well as quantitative ones. But a good consultant should be able to describe, at least in broad terms, how you will both know whether the work has been successful.

What a good answer looks like:

A consultant who discusses specific metrics relevant to your project — GP percentage improvement, reduction in food waste, service time benchmarks, staff turnover rates — and who is willing to revisit those metrics after the engagement to assess impact.

Question 8: What does your full service offering cover, and can you support us across multiple areas if needed?

Some catering consultants specialise in a single area — kitchen design only, or menu development only. This is fine if you have a single, well-defined need. But many hospitality businesses have interconnected challenges that benefit from a joined-up approach.

A kitchen design, for example, is most effective when it is designed around a specific menu and service model — which requires input from someone with menu development expertise as well as kitchen design knowledge. Staff training is most impactful when it is built around the actual equipment and processes in your kitchen — which requires knowledge of both.

If your business is likely to need support across multiple areas — now or in the future — a full-service consultancy that can cover kitchen design, menu development, staff training, equipment supply, and profitability consulting will serve you far better than a series of disconnected specialists.

What a good answer looks like:

A consultant who can demonstrate genuine expertise across the full range of services — kitchen design, menu development, staff training, equipment consultancy, profitability analysis, and technology — and who understands how these areas connect in practice.

How On The Pass Consultancy Answers These Questions

We recognise that this guide reads like a checklist that On The Pass Consultancy happens to pass. That is intentional — because we built our consultancy specifically to address the gaps we saw in the market for hospitality businesses in Wales.

Genuinely independent

Our consultancy fees are our income. We work with leading equipment manufacturers as brand partners — meaning we can supply their products — but our advice is always based on what is right for your operation, not on what earns us a referral fee.

Broad sector experience

With over 30 years in professional catering — including a decade as a Development Chef for Rational UK working across hotels, care homes, contract caterers, restaurants, and event venues across the UK — we bring genuine cross-sector experience to every engagement.

Based in Wales

We are based in Newport, South Wales, and work across Cardiff, Bristol, Gloucester, Swansea, and the wider region. We know the Welsh market, the local supply chain, and the specific challenges facing hospitality businesses in this part of the UK.

Full service

We offer kitchen design, menu development, staff training, kitchen process audits, equipment supply, profitability consulting, and AI technology advice — and we understand how all of these areas connect in a real-world hospitality operation.

Free initial consultation

Every engagement begins with a free, no-obligation consultation. No sales pitch, no pressure — just an honest conversation about your business and whether we can genuinely help.

Ready to Talk? Start with a Free Consultation

If you are looking for a catering consultant in Wales, we would love to hear from you. Our initial consultation is completely free — no obligation, no hard sell, just an honest conversation about your business and how we might be able to help.

We work with hospitality businesses across South Wales, Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, Bristol, and Gloucester.

Contact us: info@onthepassconsultancy.com | +44 (0)7967 736372 | www.onthepassconsultancy.com