Hiring a Restaurant General Contractor: 9 Questions to Ask

A practical checklist for hiring a restaurant general contractor — kitchen MEP experience, health-department fluency, schedule certainty, and the nine questions that surface a real partner.

Hiring the wrong general contractor on a restaurant project costs more than money — it costs your opening date, your equipment warranty start, your first 90 days of revenue, and often your relationship with your franchisor. Below are the nine questions that separate restaurant-experienced GCs from generalists chasing the work.

Why Restaurants Are Different

Restaurants combine the MEP density of a small hospital with the schedule pressure of a retail rollout and the health-code prescription of a regulated facility. A GC who delivers great office TI does not automatically deliver great restaurants. Restaurant-specific fluency is the entire qualification.

The 9 Questions

1. How many restaurants have you delivered in the last 24 months, by brand and type?

You want recent, repeat experience in your category — QSR, fast-casual, full-service, bar-forward, ghost kitchen. "We've done restaurants" is not an answer. "We delivered 14 fast-casual locations across three brands in the last 24 months" is.

2. Who on your team has direct restaurant kitchen MEP experience?

Ask for the named PM, superintendent, and MEP coordinator. References to "we have people" without names is a flag. The kitchen is where projects are won or lost.

3. What is your hood / make-up air / grease management coordination process?

A real restaurant GC walks you through a process: hood sizing review at SD, make-up air strategy at DD, grease interceptor coordination with civil and AHJ, fire suppression integration with the kitchen package. A generalist GC will hand-wave.

4. How do you handle health-department plan review in our jurisdiction?

The right answer names the AHJ, names the typical reviewer concerns, and describes the pre-submittal meeting. The wrong answer is "we have a consultant for that."

5. What is your approach to long-lead equipment?

Hoods, walk-in coolers, custom millwork, and brand-specific equipment can be 12–24 week lead times. A restaurant GC orders against equipment lists at DD — not at CDs. Ask for an example procurement schedule from a recent project.

6. Can you commit to a Guaranteed Maximum Price before mobilization?

Cost certainty before construction starts protects the brand pro forma. GMP delivery means the GC has done the preconstruction work to defend the number. "We bid against final CDs" is design-bid-build — fine for some projects, riskier for restaurants on tight calendars.

7. How do you handle utility coordination — gas service, electrical service, water?

Restaurant utility needs frequently exceed what the building delivers. The GC's relationship with the utility, the lead time on service upgrades, and how that drives the schedule are direct, answerable questions.

8. What is your schedule track record across recent restaurant projects?

Ask for opening-date accuracy on the last 5–10 restaurants — committed vs. actual. Not "we usually hit our dates." Numbers.

9. What does closeout look like — and how does it protect my opening?

The right answer is a closeout plan that runs in parallel with finishes, not after them. Final inspections, health-department sign-off, equipment commissioning, and owner training mapped against the opening date. The wrong answer is "we'll handle it."

Red Flags

Cannot name the PM and superintendent who will run your project
Has not delivered a comparable restaurant in the last 12–24 months
Wants to mobilize without a GMP or with a low-design CD set
Treats kitchen equipment as "owner's responsibility" without coordination
Lacks AHJ relationships in your market
Quotes a number on the kickoff call

Green Flags

Walks the prototype with you and asks about brand variations
Brings up long-lead equipment in the first meeting
Knows the AHJ reviewers by name in your market
Documents the GMP process and contingency strategy
Shows you their last 5 restaurant schedules — committed vs. delivered
Self-performs critical scope to control the calendar

Talk to a Restaurant-Experienced GC

We deliver QSR, fast-casual, and full-service restaurant projects across the Western U.S. for national brands and franchise operators — with GMP cost certainty and committed opening dates. Request a preconstruction conversation — we will respond within five business days with project-specific approach and references.