CULINARYFRED PUGLISI · EXECUTIVE CHEF & DIRECTOR
Culinary and operational consultancy informed by more than 20 years in hospitality leadership. Supporting restaurants, pub groups and hotels with menu development, procurement and kitchen operations, with a focus on quality, consistency and commercial performance.
Discuss your projectMenus. Operations. Commercial performance.
Thoughtful food. Practical support.
RestaurantsPub groupsHotelsIndependent hospitality01 / EXPERTISE
From seasonal menus and supplier agreements to EPOS procurement and costing systems: practical support that connects your food, people and commercial information.
Develop a food offer that suits your guests, your venue and the team delivering it. Review sales, seasonality, dish popularity and kitchen capacity, then build a clear menu direction and launch calendar. Connect creative development with portion standards, ingredient availability and commercial targets.
Practical support includes menu reviews, seasonal planning, dish development, tasting feedback and launch preparation.
Translate dishes into clear, usable specifications with ingredient quantities, preparation methods, yields and portion sizes. Review purchase prices and selling prices together to understand the contribution of each dish and identify where a recipe, portion or purchasing decision needs attention.
Deliverables can include costed recipe books, preparation specifications and a repeatable process for keeping costs current as menus and supplier prices change.
Build purchasing around the quality, consistency and service your kitchens need. Review suppliers, product specifications, pack sizes, prices and delivery arrangements; compare quotations on a like-for-like basis and negotiate suitable terms. Align purchasing decisions with menu cycles so teams can order the agreed products with confidence.
Support covers supplier reviews, tender briefs, product comparisons, ordering routines and follow-up on delivery or purchase-order issues.
Choose an electronic point-of-sale system around the way your business operates. Define requirements for menus, modifiers, kitchen tickets or displays, reporting and control across venues. Compare supplier proposals, demonstrations, hardware, support and ongoing costs against those requirements.
Assess how sales information will connect with stock, procurement and recipe costing. Confirm integration responsibilities with suppliers and plan practical acceptance checks before committing to rollout.
Turn the selected costing platform into a working tool for chefs and managers. Structure supplier products, units, pack sizes, recipes and portions so the information is consistent and usable. Plan data preparation, setup, price updates and the checks needed before teams rely on the figures.
Drawing on practical experience of Jelly and procurement workflows, support team training, stock-control routines and the review of sales and purchasing data, with integrations verified for the chosen systems.
Bring a consistent operational framework to several kitchens while respecting each venue’s identity. Review preparation, service flow, ordering, staffing responsibilities and communication between sites. Agree which standards need to be shared and where a local approach is appropriate.
Experience overseeing 40 kitchen operations and more than 100 chefs informs practical site reviews, group recipe standards, menu rollout plans and clear follow-up with kitchen leaders.
Build teams around the needs of the food offer and the operation. Support role definition, chef selection and practical skills assessment, then identify the training needed for consistent delivery. Help head chefs communicate expectations clearly and give their teams useful tools for daily service.
Support includes onboarding, hands-on menu training, recipe-book handovers and coaching around preparation, portions, ordering and kitchen routines.
Make improvements part of everyday kitchen practice. Review existing procedures, clarify responsibilities and agree manageable actions for the team. Connect operational standards with usable records, regular reviews and a clear process for raising and resolving issues.
Follow-up can cover menu performance, supplier service, costing accuracy, stock routines and system adoption, with priorities adjusted as the business and its teams develop.
Experience across my group leadership roles.
degree in Future Food & Culinary Management
University of West London
02 / MEET FRED PUGLISI
I’m Fred Puglisi, Executive Chef & Director of Culinary Consultancy. With more than 20 years of culinary and hospitality experience, I bring a practical problem-solving mindset to the challenges operators face, combining senior kitchen leadership with menu development, procurement, systems and team support.
I have worked as Group Executive Chef at Urban Pubs & Bars in London, Senior Group Executive Chef at Market Taverns in London, and Senior Group Executive Chef at RedCat Independent Pubs in a national role. Across my group leadership roles, I have overseen 40 kitchen operations and led more than 100 chefs. That scale of responsibility sits behind the way I approach consultancy: considering the food, the people and the operation together.
Solving problems is one of the parts of this industry I enjoy most. I’m at my best when a business needs someone to understand a difficult situation, get to the root of it and turn that understanding into practical action. More than two decades of experience help me see how a challenge in one area can affect the whole operation, whether it starts with a menu, a supplier, a system or the way a team works.
My approach is to listen, ask the right questions and work alongside the people closest to the problem. I bring structure to the decisions ahead, agree clear priorities and follow through on implementation. The aim is a solution that works in everyday service and gives the team the confidence to keep it working.
Over the years, I have also built a strong network of hospitality professionals. Those relationships give me a wider pool of experience and specialist perspectives to draw on when a challenge needs additional expertise. Combined with my own operational background, that network helps me connect people, ideas and practical support around the needs of each business.
Multi-site leadership means understanding how a menu will work beyond the development kitchen. My focus is on the details that make it deliverable: preparation, clear specifications, consistent portions, purchasing and the confidence of the chefs cooking it. I look for practical standards that can work across a group while respecting the identity and capabilities of each venue.
Menu development, supplier management and operational delivery are central to my background. My consultancy process starts with reviewing the existing food offer: what is working, what needs to change and how the menu should develop through the seasons. From there, I connect menu cycles with recipe specifications, food costing and supply-chain tendering, so the culinary direction is supported by a clear purchasing plan.
I bring practical experience of Jelly to the choice and implementation of costing systems. For me, a recipe book needs to be useful in service: clear quantities, portion standards and instructions that help the team reproduce the dish consistently. I also support chef recruitment, practical skills assessment and menu training, helping turn the agreed food offer into everyday kitchen practice.
My consultancy also covers EPOS procurement and costing system implementation. I help operators define what they need, assess supplier proposals and connect the requirements of the kitchen with purchasing, stock control and reporting. The detail matters: product units, recipe quantities, menu items, ordering routines and the information teams need to make decisions.
Alongside my professional experience, I hold a degree in Future Food & Culinary Management from the University of West London. That academic foundation complements my operational background and informs my interest in how food businesses develop, organise their kitchens and prepare for change.
Through Culinary Consultancy, I bring this experience to restaurants, pub groups and hotels that need focused support, whether they are reviewing a menu, strengthening a supply chain or improving consistency across several kitchens. My approach carries through from assessment and planning to staff training, launch support and follow-up review, with the aim of leaving the business with systems its team can use.
03 / PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
Experience across these roles brings together menu launches, supplier procurement, food costing, stock control and chef development, alongside EPOS selection and the implementation of kitchen and commercial systems. The common focus is making food quality, operational delivery and business information work together.
Group Executive Chef · London
Senior Group Executive Chef · National
Senior Group Executive Chef · London
degree in Future Food & Culinary Management
04 / HOW WE WORK
Review the food offer, kitchen operation, supplier arrangements and existing systems. Speak with the people using them, identify gaps in recipes or commercial information, and agree the priorities that will guide the project.
Build an agreed plan for menus, recipe specifications, purchasing and team development. Where technology is involved, define requirements, compare suppliers and prepare the data, responsibilities and rollout sequence.
Support implementation with recipe books, practical training and checks before launch. Help teams adopt new menus, purchasing routines or systems, then review performance and resolve the issues that appear in everyday use.
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