Service 01
Restaurant
Consulting
For operators building something new or rethinking something that isn't working. Karuna brings the full arc — concept to kitchen, menu to margin, soft open to steady repeat — drawn from three restaurants built from the ground up in North Carolina.
Who It's For
New concepts and turnarounds
New operators who have the passion and the capital but need an experienced guide through concept, kitchen, and launch — without learning every lesson the hard way.
Established restaurants where something isn't landing — the menu isn't working, the margins are wrong, the kitchen can't execute consistently, or the concept has drifted from what it set out to be.
Bay Area and Los Angeles operators who want to build serious Indian food — regionally specific, culinarily ambitious — for a market that is ready for it but hasn't been served it properly.
How It Works
The engagement
Discovery
We start with the market, the location, and the operator. Who is the guest? What does the neighbourhood need that it doesn't have? What is your kitchen's realistic capability? Good restaurants are built on honest answers to these questions.
Concept & Positioning
A concept is not a cuisine — it is a specific point of view about who you are for and why. Karuna works with you to define a position that is genuinely differentiated, operationally achievable, and built to last beyond the opening.
Menu Architecture
The menu is designed to tell a story, hit the right margins, and match your kitchen's capacity. Every section, every dish has a reason to be there. Karuna draws on the full breadth of regional Indian cuisine — and knows which dishes work for which markets.
Operations & Launch
Staffing frameworks, supplier relationships, kitchen layout input, service design, and a launch strategy that builds early momentum. Karuna has done this three times from scratch — she knows what breaks in week two and how to prevent it.
What's Included
Deliverables
Engagements are scoped individually. Some projects need the full arc from concept to launch; others need a focused review of a specific problem. Karuna will propose a scope after an initial conversation.
Start the conversation.
Describe your project — where it is, what stage it's at, what you need. Karuna responds within two business days.