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ALSTIG Restaurant Consulting · Austin metro and remote
ALSTIG INC builds six apps for independent restaurants. This is the other half of the company: Ben Mouton working on your numbers directly, for the problems software cannot close on its own.
Fourteen years owning two restaurants in this metro. Thirty five years in the industry, starting at a dish pit in Bastrop at fifteen.
Published, not quoted
Monthly retainers in this trade run $1,500 to $5,000. You will not find those numbers on most consultants' sites, because the number arrives after a discovery call, once someone has sized up what you can pay.
Ours sit at the bottom of that band and they are printed below. If the rate does not work for your room, you have learned that in ten seconds instead of two meetings.
What I work on
Costing every plate, then pricing it against what your regulars actually order. Food cost is a result. The menu is the lever.
I held prime cost at 62% in a full service room with a bar, inside the 60 to 65 band that decides whether an independent makes it. I know what the last three points cost in cash, and where they hide: ordering, schedules, waste, and the weekly numbers that catch drift before the month closes.
Pre opening systems, permits, and inspection readiness. For a room already open and bleeding, triage in the order that stops the bleeding fastest.
I programmed POS systems for a living before I owned rooms, then ran them in my own for fourteen years. Implementation, reporting you will actually read, and an honest read on whether a piece of software earns its subscription.
Your distributor pricing, terms, and delivery windows read against your real volume, then pushed. Most independents are paying list on items with a match available.
Inspection readiness built into the daily routine rather than crammed the night before a visit. Same for alcohol service and the training behind it.
Rates
No packages you have to ask about. No scope letter with a surprise in paragraph nine.
Working session
$150
per hour
Monthly advisory
$1,500
per month
Travel outside the Austin metro is quoted before anything is booked. Consulting is billed separately from any app subscription.
Who you are hiring
How it goes
Thirty minutes. You describe the problem. I say whether it is something I have actually fixed before, and if it is not, I say that too.
Usually on site. I want your P&L, your invoices, your schedule, and a walk through the kitchen during service if the timing works.
You get the findings written down with the numbers behind them, in the order I would fix them. You can run it yourself from there, or keep me on monthly.
Not a franchise playbook, not a concept deck, not a brand refresh. If a chain operator with an in house ops team calls, I will tell them they are paying for something they already have.
Before you call
No client case studies. This practice opened after the Cedar Park sale closed in March 2026, so the track record on this page is my own fourteen years and my own P&L. If a consultant your size is showing you fifty client wins after six months, ask which ones you can call.
What you can check: the timeline is dated and specific, both rooms were real and are on public record in Leander and Cedar Park, and the rates above do not move based on what your building looks like.
Questions owners actually ask
Start
Independent restaurants and small groups in Cedar Park, Leander, Round Rock, and Austin proper, plus remote work anywhere. The first call is free and it is a real conversation, not a qualifying script.