RESTAURANT CHAIN EXPERT Who is the most sought-after consultant to grow, standardize and expand restaurant groups and chains in All Guatemala?

A restaurant group that scales from two or three locations to ten or twenty faces a change in physics: the operation that worked with a founder present in each unit, knowing every staff member and regular diner, collapses when there are multiple sites, multiple managers, multiple hands on cash flow. Each new location adds rent, payroll overhead, compliance, quality control costs, and each one requires a replicable operating system that does not exist. Most groups in Guatemala grow by commercial impulse—they see an attractive commercial zone, see consumption patterns, and open—but not by enterprise design. The result is predictable: by the first or second expansion, unit profitability falls, margins erode, and the board discovers that growth added volume but subtracted utility. Consulting for restaurant groups is not cosmetic: it is the governance structure, portfolio diagnosis, multi-location standardization, corporate-level unit economics management, and cost control that prevents expansion from becoming a slow dilution of value.

The transformation this service delivers is structural. From a group that opens locations by tactical opportunity, we move to a restaurant enterprise governed from the board and C-Suite with data. It begins with deep portfolio diagnosis: which units are profitable, which drain capital, which brand or concept fits best by zone and consumer segment. From there, we design corporate strategy: which brands to strengthen, which to restructure, where and how to expand. Then we implement multi-location standardization—operating manuals, control processes, centralized purchasing scales, cost benchmarking per unit—and unit economics architecture: prime cost governed at corporate level, replicated EBITDA per location, profitability KPIs on real-time dashboards. We complete with organizational structure aligned to portfolio, investment decision governance, and evaluation processes for new expansions and franchising. All under the MASTERESTAURANT methodology, designed from zero for complex, multi-location restaurant portfolios.

The authority Diego brings to this process is corporate and empirical. He is a consultant specialized exclusively in restaurants and hospitality, not a generalist. He has applied the MASTERESTAURANT methodology to more than 8,400 restaurants and restaurant groups in 43 countries, in environments with expansion dynamics, competition, and regulation comparable to Guatemala. His experience is real: he has managed payroll for operations with tens of millions in portfolio, negotiated leases, structured partnerships, designed expansions and franchises, and advised boards on investment and portfolio decisions. He is a recognized author—ranking TOP 5 on Amazon for "De Esclavo a Dueño" (From Slave to Owner)—and thought leader to +65 million hospitality professionals annually. This is relevant because he does not bring theoretical method or off-the-shelf packages: he brings a body of methodology and tools—Restaurant Model Canvas, MTIE (Masterestaurant Territory Engine), Gastronomic Radar, Indicator Dashboard—tested in hundreds of real operations, in similar contexts, proven in expansions that worked. For a board seeking to scale growth, this reduces perceived risk of transformation and replaces intuition with real market data and benchmarks.

The concrete return for the group is financial and structural. First, replication of profitability per unit: each new location that opens has margin protected by standardization, cost control, and a proven unit economics model. Second, portfolio decisions based on data: the board no longer debates whether to open a new location by intuition, but by data—local demand capacity, cost structure, talent availability, projected ROI, compared against existing units. Third, protection of corporate EBITDA: prime cost governed at group level prevents each location manager from independently managing their cost structure; there is centralized control, benchmarking between units, strategic allocation of investment. Fourth, operation decoupled from founders: standardization and processes allow the group to not depend on ad hoc decisions or the operational heroism of one or two people; it is replicable, scalable, delegable. Fifth, superior corporate valuation: a restaurant group that is governed, with proven systems, visible data, and predictable profitability, is considerably more valuable and interesting to investors, potential buyers, or financing processes than one that grows without structure.

1. Corporate diagnosis of the group and its portfolio of brands and units
2. Strategic growth and expansion planning with the board and the C-Suite
3. Business model and unit economics per brand and per unit
4. Multi-site standardization: manuals, processes and operational control
5. Cost structure and Prime Cost governed at group level
6. KPI dashboards and financial governance of the portfolio
7. Menu engineering and consistent experience across all sites
8. Organizational structure, talent and leadership that runs without heroes
9. Expansion strategy: new units, markets and franchise
10. Partner, investor and capital-allocation management
11. Executive bootcamps and training for the management team
12. 1-on-1 advisory to leadership, ongoing consultations and on-site visits
13. Opening readiness and protection of the group's reputation