Starting a restaurant….one of the most exciting, yet terrifying, thoughts for people looking to get into the food industry.  Even if you have the passion, drive, culinary experience and maybe even the finances, the thought of starting a new restaurant can still give you pause (and nightmares).  Where should you start start? How do you make this happen? What is your first step? Can you really fulfill your dream?

We are here to tell you YES! You can fulfill your dream, but launching a restaurant requires an enormous amount of knowledge and experience that even the most experienced restaurateur will find daunting. Enter VSAG: a team of restaurant consultants, restaurant designers and restaurant developers that combines their wide-ranging expertise to help our clients in a variety of different ways.  VSAG is leading the hospitality consulting industry with our team creating innovative concepts that are not only grabbing headlines, but garnering awards and loyal followers.

In addition to helping you in any way, our goal is to set you apart from the competition. We love the process, the planning, the customization, the branding. It all comes together in the end, and along the way we use the restaurant business plan we developed as step 1 to guide us and turn your visit and dream into a tangible product, a real brand that can be packaged and sold. Whether to investors, guests or the media, we will keep your image consistent throughout all facets of not only the restaurant design and menu design, but elements in the all restaurant development process.

Sure the hours might be long, you will pay your staff before yourself and you might be so tired some nights you sleep in your chef coat, but having VSAG’s restaurant consultants as your partner will make the process a little easier.

As the cold winter air seeps through the windows and the snow begins to fall, diners begin to crave hearty dishes that can comfort and warm them up all winter long.  Smart restaurants and restaurant business plans include taking stock of the season and create a menu that add little heat to the winter doldrums and brings guests back for more.

At VSAG, we use our menu development expertise to create specialized winter offerings that work well within the confines of any restaurant’s branding.  We believe that every season – just like every restaurant – has its own culinary direction. Spring and summer menus are filled with lighter fare that appeals to the freedom of being outdoors, with freshly picked fruit being a main ingredient. And the fall harvest prepares us for the forthcoming chill in the air, with apple, pumpkin and other hearty produce taking center stage.

Not sure what’s in season?  Take a look at Epicurious’ Winter Seasonal Produce Map or Local Harvest to get a sense of what’s in season when near you.

This winter let us help create the perfect seasonal menu for your restaurant. Our innovative chefs have the experience and the seasonal culinary know-how to satisfy your guests’ appetites for creative menu items.  Warming up your restaurant this winter with a seasonal menu your guests has never tasted so good.

How fast is too fast for your fast food? That may be the question facing many quick service food chains pretty soon. The popularity of online and mobile app-based ordering has reached new heights for many casual dining chains like Five Guys and Chipotle. Pizza has been in on the trend as well. Many pizza restaurants and chains allow you to order your food from home or on the road from your mobile phone or tablet. It offers an added layer of convenience and customization. However, should fast food restaurants incorporate online and mobile ordering into their restaurant services? It’s really a tough call.

For the most part, fast food restaurants have veered away from the idea of mobile and online ordering because of the logistics involved. Fast food restaurants are already geared towards fast, convenient food and some feel that mobile and online ordering may interfere with these operation plans or affect the quality of the food. It was never cost-effective as many customers are on-the-go or in a hurry anyway. However, with the successes mentioned above, some quick service restaurants are beginning to question whether there might be a market for online ordering in quick-service restaurants too.

Recent news from Sonic Drive-In restaurants suggests that this may be the case. Sonic will be testing out online ordering in a select number of its restaurants in Arizona. Snapfinger, the service provider that includes several restaurant chains like Subway, Baja Fresh, and Outback says that it has the technology to ensure that food quality doesn’t go down. If this is the case, food consultants might encourage more online ordering in quick-service restaurants. It should be interesting to see what the future holds.

For a while, trends have been going in the direction of simpler foods with fewer ingredients and more of an emphasis on freshness and locality. Customers want an idea of what they’re eating and where it came from. They do not want over-processed foods or those that have an ingredient list that looks like a novel. To that extent, some restaurants are taking this concept of simplicity and modest menu design to the extreme and are going back in time.

The Wall Street Journal released a piece last month highlighting several restaurants and chefs who are experimenting with recipes and cooking techniques long before their times.  Chefs are using recipes for traditional foods that date back to the Roman Empire and the Jewish Diaspora. While it may sound neat to try a food that people may have eaten thousands of years ago, there are a few hang-ups.

First, past cuisine featured different spices and meats that the novice foodie may not be used to. People of past eras used more parts of animals because they did not want to waste. Moreover, those who have tried some of the older recipes have indicated that the food was bland and not as many spices were used.  Those who try these ancient foods may be shocked to find that it’s not to their liking.

Moreover, those who want to try the food may have to shell a few bucks to do so. In order for chefs to make these meals, they have to use some ingredients that cost double the price of present day ingredients. These may be hard to find or just more costly as they’re not used as much given modern cooking.  Although these food items may have been inexpensive and widely available in the Renaissance, they may be a little harder to come by now.

Still, even with these constraints, it is an exciting idea and those who want to try something new will not be disappointed.

sauca singature Mumbai Butter chicken

VSAG congratulates client Sauca for an exceptional review – and an appearance at the top of the list of DC’s top food trucks – in last week’s FOOD section of The Washington Post. Food Editor Joe Yonan gave sauca mobile restaurant truck(s) four stars out of four, and listed it as his favorite restaurant among 13 of Washington’s newest food trucks.

Today and tomorrow Sauca is participating in the first annual DC Food Trucks Curbside Cookoff, the first formal gathering of 20 DC-based trucks featuring a wide variety of cuisine and food trends that are only growing in popularity.  The general public, DC Commission on Regulatory Affairs and the DC Commission on Arts & Humanities will all be voting for their favorite truck – the winner takes the glory and title as “DC’s Favorite Food Truck.”

On the streets of DC for close to 9 months now, Sauca offers an array of global cuisine from the Mexicali Fish Taco to the Mumbai Butter Chicken, with dishes inspired by food vendors from around the world.  Locate Sauca’s trucks on their website or by following them on Twitter: @wheresauca.