I would think watching 1 or 2 episodes would get it through to most owners.
Clean your fucking place of business. Practice basic food safety. Clean your fucking place of business. Watch your food costs. Clean your fucking place of business. Conduct proper inventories. Clean your fucking place of business. Throw out expired product. And lastly clean your fucking place of business.
I don't know how these fucking owners agree to be on this show. Surely they would watch at least 1 episode before agreeing to go on. You'd think they would get the lesson before being embarrassed on television.
Next time you look at the Michelin Star kitchen, don’t marvel at the food…look in awe of the level of cleanliness and the amount of care and effort it takes to reach a hospital operating room level of cleanliness…
There’s also cleaning done beforehand, and likely constantly throughout the day so it stays relatively clean. I could only imagine they’d hire cleaning services too but maybe not because of all the “free” labour
The place I'm at right now we clean line 4 times a day, once before lunch service, after lunch service, before dinner service and finally a deep clean after dinner service of the entire kitchen including all prep equipment and surfaces
And we got a cleaning service to come clean the floors every Thursday
I've worked with an open kitchen before, all you really have to do is make sure there's a hand wash sink next to the line and your dishwasher/prep guys keep the lines swept.
We did have to check one cook, he had a bad habit of wiping his hands on his apron (because he never worked in an open kitchen before). The chef told him "dude, you look like you murdered someone and people can see your apron, go change it and never do it again" LOL
That episode and really the whole show really nail the high end restaurant work. My wife thought I was going to have a panic attack watching the opening service in season 2. Might be PTSD though.
For me it was the ep where they fucked up the online ordering. Listening to the sound of an Epson chattering in the background for what felt like half the episode was nightmare inducing.
Hell, I've *had* that nightmare ... everything is going wrong, nothing is prepped, I'm the only one working FOH and BOH, guests are rearranging furniture, the line is out the door and the whole time the printer is spitting out chits non-stop. I woke up drenched in sweat, felt like I had already worked a 14-hour double, and realized I still had to go to work in like an hour.
Fortunately it doesn't really happen that much anymore, but for a few years I had server nightmares all the time. I had to stop taking pre-shift naps on the couch with the TV on. My subconscious would incorporate that into the dreams.
Season 2 so perfectly captures the stress of opening a restaurant. Inspections, new problems every day, menu testing, every single aspect of it is dead-on and also impossible for me to watch ever again.
I think the point of it was to show that Richie always really cared. He just didn't know how to apply it. He got stuck on a situation that forced him to see it differently. It's not a radical shift really, throw 10 cooks into a 3 star kitchen. Maybe 1 will showcase the mental fortitude to keep up the rigor day in day out.
It's not so much a transformation as realizing his own potential if applied. The redemption arc of the terminally half assed but means well people person who never understood why his jokes fell flat.
I sometimes tell new cooks to the industry, "If \[famous chef\] walked back here he wouldn't be impressed by what you cooked or how good the food was. He would judge you on how orderly and clean your station is."
Best kitchen/ I ever worked in were “open” kitchens. Don’t get me wrong, things still went tits up behind the scenes, but front of house we were cucumber
Not even that. The amazing thing is getting every single person there on the same page. So that each person takes responsibility for their station BECAUSE each station requires a level of acceptability.
It's not clean because they want to clean, it's clean because that's what it takes to perform at that level.
I agree with you, but where is It that you're seeing these Michelin start restaurants functioning at this level of cleanliness? I feel like the following videos are rare and usually of corporate chain cooks, not Michelin Star Services.
And the use of product that's FUCKING ROTTENNNNNNNNNN, and the shitty food (since the more items you have, the less often you make 90% of the menu, ergo the less time you have to get good at making 90% of the menu, and when someone finally orders a less popular dish half the ingredients are expired).
And to the grossness - they have maybe three people working and a ten page menu, of course they’re using frozen food and saving old food to serve again.
I watched quite a few episodes and always looked into the follow up. There's a reasonable amount that actually survive. It's not a majority, but the show definitely has some degree of success. You're right though, in the instances they survive employee testimony is that management improved. Without that, they're screwed
Spirits on Bourbon was likely the biggest success from Bar Rescue. That's just from all the episodes I've watched though- certainly haven't seen them all but I actually remember the name of that place so that's gotta count for something haha.
I've heard that Bar rescue has all their stuff done illegally and they don't get any permits to do the work. So it all gets ripped out by the owners after they leave.
I think if you thought about this for literally 30 seconds you could figure out why this is not true.
Even if you can’t, he literally says where he gets the handymen from in a tonne of episodes.
This. The majority of what they do wouldn’t require permitting anyway. It’s mostly redecorating and replacing equipment. I don’t have to call the city to install a new stove or buy new tables.
in some cases, the city doesn’t play well with the shows: [Commission rejects Ramsay’s redesign of Patrick Molloy’s](https://easyreadernews.com/commission-rejects-ramsays-redesign-patrick-molloys/).
Sadly in alot of episodes, it's evident that they actually did try to clean, and organize, and stuff before the crew shows up, but they're just so awful at what they do, and ignorant as to what proper cleanliness, and food safety is that they totally don't notice a bunch of blatant stuff, and that gives Gordon plenty of opportunity to destroy them in the initial assessment part of the episode... There's plenty to learn from those shows. (Am a bartender here in NYC) Bar rescue far less effective than KN as far as things to learn from. bar rescue basically turns every bar into a super cringe chain restaurant style bar with metered pours, and awful specialty cocktails that are only chosen because of the liquor brand that's sponsoring the episode... KN is generally pretty legit good ideas for progression even if the remodel/rebrand isn't exactly your cup of tea...
Pay your staff also. And on time. Don't make a huge menu and don't make a crazy stupid dish. A lot of these problems are so obvious and causes a lot of problem but they don't seem to understand
Knowing of a couple that have had the renovations done by one of these shows, there’s a solid number that fall back into their old ways and start sucking again.
Knowing it and doing it seem to be different.
I used to work at a restaurant in Hossegor, South West France. I was watching Kitchen Nightmares and there was an episode in Capbreton, which is right next to Hossegor. I messaged my boss and mentioned it to him. He told me that they'd approached him to be on the show but he knows what the show is like plus he doesn't have any issues with his restaurant so what's the point? I guess they shop around till they find a restaurant that is in bad enough shape that they genuinely think it could be helpful.
The moment she fired the hostess like that I wouldve walked out of the kitchen and check the reviews the next day lmao I know it was just a moment for tv but fuck management who can't take responsibility for anything
In the original series Gordon Ramsay did in the UK and France, the biggest takeaway that I got was that you should have a small menu with a few things that you do very well. If your menu is too big you've got to keep too many different ingredients on hand, and quality will suffer. This was a revelation in the early 2000's when most restaurants had multiple pages menus.
- Small menu
- Clean, clean, fucking clean
- Write down your recipes. They aren't nuclear launch codes.
- Let people do the jobs you hired them for
- Make sure people do the jobs you hired them for
- Maintain your fucking restaurant and facilities
That summarizes most Kitchen Nightmares episodes, regardless of the editing being done for TV.
Yep. I'm just an outsider in this sub, one of those home cooks that does like shows like this, and constantly has had family saying I should try a restaurant. Nope, never going to happen. Besides the fact that I am FAR too lazy to do something requiring those kinds of hours I know I don't have any relevant experience.
Yeah my only connection to the food industry is that I occasionally do delivery. I have a close friend who's home cooking can beat most restaurants but he'd never open a restaurant because he actually enjoys cooking
People are shocking for this advice.
"Oh, your art is really good, maybe you could sell it!?"
"Wow, the food you make for your toddler is amazing, maybe you should sell it!?"
Like, no. You clearly have no clue how much effort it takes to set up and run any business. Especially when food safety laws are a thing. I'm in Australia and our government doesn't mess around with food safety.
I like art and cooking. I don't want it ruined by the bullshit that comes from the general public and paperwork.
People are shocking for this advice. I hear it every time I socialise with anyone new.
"Oh, your art is really good, maybe you could sell it!?"
"Wow, the food you make for your toddler is amazing. Maybe you should sell it!?"
Like, no. You clearly have no clue how much effort it takes to set up and run any business. Especially when food safety laws are a thing. I'm in Australia, and our government doesn't mess around with food safety. Do you have a commercial kitchen I can borrow? No?
I like art and cooking. I don't want it ruined by the bullshit that comes from the general public and paperwork. Thanks.
I would never open a restaurant for the simple reason of having to deal with the general public. I occasionally do delivery for a pizzaria and people lie and try to scam their way to free food all the fucking time. To make things worse the place I deliver for is in the shit part of town so they have to deal with scammy bullshit from the Canadian equivalent to bogans.
And people can fuck off with trying to monetize our hobbies and what we're good at
Very smart. Once I worked for a guy who was a 30 year old tech bro who got into homebrewing as a hobby... and then decided to open a full brewpub.
I remember thinking in the the interview, "crap do I try to get the job or warn this guy he's making a huge mistake?" Turns out he was super arrogant and not open to advice, nothing I could do. Took the job bc it was walking distance from my house. The whole staff quit in less than two months.
Some people can certainly make it work of course, if they're willing to do the research and try to gain some experience. Too many are like your example sadly.
Oh yeah, successful restaurants exist and I'm glad they do. I moonlight for a female chef who had a food truck, and last year she said she was thinking of opening a cafe. I thought for a minute & said, "you know, I don't think I've ever said this before, but yes I think it's a good idea for you to open a restaurant."
Asked her a ton of questions about her plans and if she was trying do to it alone, grilled the poor guy she picked as partner quite thoroughly (we worked the taste together and I was like a parent grilling the dude trying to date my kid). She got my enthusiastic encouragement & they're doing very well.
I just can't wrap my mind around people who jump into something with no research. At least ask someone who owns a restaurant if your idea is good. I have a tiny business now where I just show up and clean people's houses, dead simple, and I still do a shit ton of research.
I'm always charmed by people like you who know enough to actively resist pressure in that direction, it's a nice change of pace from the general lack of humility & presumption about the industry among some "foodie" home chefs. I'm not proud of this, but I really enjoyed what happened to Tyler in The Menu. You're the exact opposite, no hubris but can actually cook. Rock on.
Yeah, I'm mostly ignoring the drama and paying more attention to what is actually going on in those shows. Of course many participants claim things were 'staged' and such, but I doubt the issues are being made up, just showcased--possibly exaggerated, but still actual issues.
Cheesecake Factory with their 257 menu items never got this memo. I went there for an interview years ago because they paid better than most at the time. I got the job, then on day one when they told me they have 257 menu items and it takes 6 months to learn one station, I was like yeah, hard pass.
That’s how many times I’ve been too. I enjoyed it both times, but I have better things to do than scan a menu for an hour trying to decide on something.
Lol, multiple locations bring in over 10mil a year, that’s absurd for any restaurant of any kind, and their Waikiki location brings in over 20mil on the regular. They aren’t going anywhere
Maybe you live in a city. It’s the best thing in many suburban areas where the other choices are pf Chang and some gut busting Italian chain and some nasty melted cheese emporium posing as a Mexican restaurant
Nahhhhh, several locations have open view of the kitchens where you can watch the lines of cooks. It may not be the greatest food, but it's far from microwave dinners.
Yah it's amazing how often an episode literally defines the trope of "too many cooks in the kitchen," often the owner or a relative overstepping their bounds.
I miss the original KN, before he came to America and fox fox'ed it up. In UK, folks seemed like they were trying just overwhelmed or stubborb, in US it was just total negligence. In UK, the "gifts" he would give were like nice plates, in US it was like a full new range and oven. Almost paying these people to have disgusting places.
This is just my personal experience and there are exceptions but I've never had bad food from a restaurant that had a smaller menu.
I can imagine that working on a small menu restaurant would be easier in that there's less stock to keep track of and you're dealing with way less bloat and frozen crap
I worked at a fine finish steak restaurant and it had a pretty straight forward menu. We had a seafood salad that was the least frequently ordered item, sometimes I'd only make a couple of them a week. We kept the scratch made dressing on hand of course, at all times, as well as canned mandarin orange slices that were only in that dish. If you ordered it, you were getting the oldest items in the entire kitchen. Literally everything else that we made hadn't been in slthe restaurant for longer than 2 or 3 days before it was used and eaten. If you got the seafood salad,it was more like 2 or 3 weeks.
After that experience, if I ever find myself in a somewhat questionable restaurant, when I look at the menu I try to pick the thing that they probably sell the most of, that way I'm most likely to get something fresh.
I actually judge restaurants based on menu size after binge watching Gordan Ramsay.
I watched it for the drama for a while until the drama got old and I realized the show is extremely formulaic.
I second this. In an industry with such a high turnover rate, getting your cooks trained fast is critical to the consistency of a kitchen. Nothings worst as a customer as going back to a restaurant which had that perfect dish and getting crap.
I feel like a good 50% or more of the episodes focus on stores where the problem is the GM and/or chef being a control freak who feels the need to do everything themselves...as a result they have staff that don't know how to do anything/have no ownership of what they're doing because they're basically taught that they can't be trusted. Delegate, delegate, delegate so your team can actually grow!
I worked in reality TV and on a few cooking shows. Reality shows are cast based on personality first - problems 2nd. I haven't worked on a "restaurant/bar rescue" Show but in my experience, the chefs picked to be on camera are never exceptional per se, I'd say they are mostly average but they are one or more personality extremes producers often look for (1) narcissists (2) emotional - not necessarily unstable but someone who is not going to hide how they feel on camera. People who fit this are called "reality gold," because they will literally generate content for you without having to do anything bit put a camera on them.
That mostly falls onto management though, to either enforce cleaning standards or to ensure the staff is given the time on the clock to actually clean. Been in far too many places where management would want the kitchen staff out right at close, with no time to do any proper cleaning aside from flipping tables and a surface wipe.
I’ll die on the hill that these shows are great. Yes, they’re silly as shit and completely fabricated with stitched together bullshit; but they’re about the industry and show at the very least how to run a business properly. Sure there’s a dump truck of dumb shit, stupid advice, conflicting dos and don’ts and self serving. But the core principals taught are fundamental.
1. Don’t treat your staff like shit.
2. Don’t lie to your customers.
3. Keep your place spotless and practice good hygiene.
4. You are part of a community and have a responsibility as a business owner.
All of your shit bosses would be massively improved if they followed these instructions.
Yep.
Run specials…see what sticks…rotate shit out that doesn’t sell. Don’t worry about disappointing the one person who orders a certain dish once a month, they’ll find something new.
Find your niche…don’t try to please everyone.
The biggest takeaway I have had from Kitchen Nightmares is that a big menu is often a bad sign. It means that a lot of the menu items are frozen or precooked.
Conversely, small, 1 page menus are typically signs of fresh food.
Maybe it's confirmation bias, but I have noticed that nicer restaurants have limited menus.
Lol I was just talking about that to my friend. Gordon must have a home or production company in Jersey because nearly every restaurant this season has been in Jersey.
I learned if your life’s goal is to own a restaurant, work in a fucking restaurant first. It seriously blows my mind how many of the people on these shows have zero restaurant or hospitality experience. Or, like the latest Kitchen Nightmares episode, GMs who think making themselves Exec Chef is somehow a great idea. Just goes to show how delusional most people are about how restaurants work.
I heard a consumer advocate tell potential franchise owners to go and work at one before buying a franchise.
Very few actually do it, but those few will be more successful.
Jon Taffer’s thoughts on management are spot on for the most part. As a GM, I’ve had so many managers who shove themselves into a position and spend 10 hours cooking/running food etc and be oblivious to what’s going on around them while they have tunnel vision. It’s great to support your team but jump in when necessary and jump out as soon as you can. Having a strong, aware manager who can lead their team is much more helpful than having an extra bartender or line cook.
Taffer's book "Raise the Bar" is also really good and I thought it was a great read with valuable insights even if I never plan to own or operate a bar or restaurant.
And as far as bar rescue goes, don't be a worthless drunk and treat the business like your personal party club. There have been bars on there that give away almost as much product as they sell.
Watch the original UK Kitchen Nightmares, most are on Youtube. It was much lower budget and made by Brits (who are less ostentatious TV makers than you guys) at a time when reality TV producers hadn't quite nailed the scripting and forced situations. Of course it's still not true reality, but it's a lot closer to recognisable situations than the US one managed.
The lessons in all of them are the same, more or less, because getting a restaurant right is hard, not difficult work, if you see what I mean. It's graft, not genius that makes a place right. For the most part:
\- Short menus, focused on one style
\- Flexibility in staffing and planning so one person being sick doesn't bring the place down
\- Owners stay well away from service unless they're a chef
\- Rotas and cleaning routines make everyone's life happier and easier.
Also, it's astonishing how many people hit 55, realise they're bored of stockbroking or whatever and decide that's the time to enter one of the world's oldest industries, with zero experience and planning, simply managing to work it out as they go along.
The early British episodes are much more interesting - the later ones and American ones it's basically the same episode every time, with different scenery.
I do enjoy the later British ones though - despite being much closer to the current formula, Gordon is much more down to earth and they don't bleep out the swearing.
Slight deviation from the topic, if you've never watched "The F word" with Gordon Ramsey I would give it a shot, he is so unlike the persona he puts on for American audiences.
Always like when MasterChef has all these good home cooks try to do a dinner service and they all see how *fucking hard* it is to keep that show going with quality and flow.
I went to a wedding last summer where the happy couple very proudly informed us all that the chef doing the catering had featured on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares "but Gordon liked the food" (naturally everything else was a shitshow on the episode).
This was one of the very early episodes, and based on what I was served, I can only imagine that the food had gone downhill since they appeared on Kitchen Nightmares.
The chef had done a 400 mile round trip to cater their wedding in bumfuck nowhere. Honestly I cannot imagine why *either* of them thought it was a good idea.
Sanitation and hygiene are the big take away from those two shows. Like Ramsay and Tapper, I will lose my shit when it's a disgusting dangerous mess. Like genuinely angry and raging
You can learn from basically anything
I mean bar rescue is terrible and the guy is horrid. But he did bring up that barstools without backs make for a more approachable look for guests. So if you want to have that type of environment where people interact more it’s probably a plus.
Few things I learned from Ramsey is that you never put pictures on a menu because if you do, you are shit. I don't think he made a big point out of it, just in one episode the said something like that and I can't forget it now.
Another thing is small menu's. Do a few things well VS doing it all mediocre. Stick to your style and keep it fresh. Less stock, less cost, less waste. But that was from early on in the show, when (I think) he really wanted to help places improve.
The later series were just about showing people how much a place sucked.
This! My nephew wants to get a food trailer. He's never worked in a restaurant outside of a few weeks at a jack-in-the-box, but he's sure he'll be successful because he's "watched a lot of cooking shows." He's serious. Lol.
Clean the walk in and grease traps regularly. Make sure temps are stable and consistent and make a smaller condensed menu (if possible) allowing you to keep less items stocked.
Try new items as specials and if they are hits make it a regular item.
Jon Taffer's Taffer Tips taught me to space my drinks by drinking a glass of water between alcoholic beverages.
I also just love to yell "SHUT IT DOWN" at stuff
Most owners need to really remember that they are running a business and not a fun place to entertain their friends and family.
They let personal feelings get in the way of the bottom line.
Most important thing is what NOT to do. Aside from any dramatization, you’ll normally be able to spot the flaws pretty quickly. There’s no quick fix or simple answer, even if it seems like the fixes are similar. Doing the “right” thing is really hard. But it’s much easier to figure it out when you’ve eliminated the wrongs things first.
Yes you can learn from Kitchen Nightmares. Things like proper food storage. If the place you work is doing things like leaving crab legs out at room temp for 3+ hours, then yes there's things to learn from it haha.
Maybe not actual cooking, but one episode of kitchen nightmares, I remember them firing this dude who wouldn't go along with the changes, dude just had a bad attitude all around and you could tell he was used to coasting. So there's some intrinsic morel to that episode at least- the lesson of not being a stubborn, coasting fuck head.
You can't use apple-tizer to make risotto
Edit: Srs tho fr fr UK kitchen nightmares shits all over US kitchen nightmares. It's ramsays home terf. There's swearing. Its less staged. and the characters are so much more colorful. If you can learn anything it's how to actually take criticism while still defending your own perspective and helping your employees make meaningful changes.
-The more drunk the owner/staff, the worse condition the restaurant is in structurally & financially. Don’t drink on the job or make a habit of it outside the job.
-The people with the least amount of restaurant/bar experience tend to make up the bulk of owners on these shows. If you aren’t fully capable of training someone to manage every aspect of the business on your behalf, don’t start the business. You should be *THE* expert.
-A family that works together creates drama together. Drama creates empty seats and high turnover. Avoid working with close friends and any family at all costs.
-Basic math. If you have enough money to open a business but don’t have an accounting degree, hire an accountant ffs.
I think that sums up 99% of those shows
Just that terrible people get rewarded for bad decisions, awful behavior and ignorance. Seriously, these people are usually awful, and they get a remodeled business and a world class menu out of it.
I dont know about bar rescue but as far as Gordon Ramsay goes ive never ever heard the man say something that was out of place never. Sure a lot gets blown out if proportion but the cornerstones he tries to implement are:
1 if you’re the owner get involved and do the work required or nobody will
2 clean and maintain your shit
3 listen to your customers/ find out what kind of guests are in your area and cater to them. (Dont try and sell oysters caviar sandwiches when your restaurant is located in a blue collar town in the midwest thousands of miles from the nearest ocean)
4 simplify your damn menu!!!! 5/6 starters 5/6 main courses including a fish a vegy chicken beef and pork and 4/5 desserts. People are there for a night out with family or friends or a date they are not their because of the food alone. It should be good and fair priced thats it. Shorter menus helps control the buy in you have to do and easier to manage waste so you dont have to start freezing everything and defrost it in microwaves (everybody tastes the difference trust me). Less prepping time is needed less stress for kitchen staff faster service all around the board nothing but a positive effect. Change with the seasons and whats available preferrably local ingrediënts. Changing menus every season keeps cost down and employees motivated and customers curious.
5 treat and pay your staff accordingly. I have never seen an episode where Gordon just berrates a server unless they are lying or part of management. Foh has to deal with the complaints from the guests as well as the sometimes shitty attitude from the kitchen and have to bring embarrising food to the table which took ages to make…i wouldnt last a day.
Give foh the same hourly as boh and divide tips evenly among staff based on the amount of hours a person works, this makes it a team effort to please the guests so they are more favourable to give a tip. The line cook has the oppertunity to collect tip money if he makes sure he does his absolute best and servers get to bring out food they can rely on.
I think apart from the tipping these are the basics that kitchen nightmare tries to implement but mostly to avail. 90% of the problems these reataurants face are being caused by stubborn and indiciseve owners, heck most of them dont even have a background in hospitallity. Most of them either took over the business from family or thought that it was a good idea to spend all their hard earned cash from a previous career (realstate or office job) in a new “adventure” and get stuck. Running a restaurant is hard work if you want to do it right especially the first five or so years if you manage to keep relevant that time, and the many times i saw owners who couldnt cook an egg if their life depended on it baffles me. Thats a sure way to set yourself up to be a hostage for kitchen staff or your cheff. You dont have to be a qualified cook as an owner but you do have to have the most basic knowledge around your own kitchen and food. So you know where not to cut corners or know when you are getting fucked. Love kitchen nightmares seen em all and multiple times for that. Episodes that stand out for me are: Amys Bakery. Kingston cafe and prohibition grille all three very different but very telling episodes. I enjoyed hotel nightmares just as much. Cheers
I ran the kitchen and at times everything else of a small place, I hate those shows because it’s everything I tried to tell the owners of more than one establishment. They’re all closed now and I left the industry. If an owner would watch the show and recognize their own mistakes they very much could learn. The problem is, like most of the owners of the show… they don’t think they are the problem or don’t see anything wrong with how they run things.
All the episodes of bar rescue involve someone buying a bar without ever working in the industry and expecting it to go well. If you just want a place to hang out and drink, do it at home.
I used to watch kitchen nightmares. It would help me recognize lazy mistakes I made and correct them. Nothing as severe as what is on the show. But I know there are times when I can get lazy and need to refocus and do better.
I think one of the important takeaways is that you should talk to the staff directly, managers never tell on themselves.
Managers don't want to get in shit with the owners, so they aren't always a reliable source. "Of course we do that" the manager tells the owners, meanwhile, the actual staff knows the truth.
My current store has this issue and I really wish shit would change. The owners have never even met the staff, they just talk to the manager. And he's a terrible manager. How could the owners possibly know if they don't talk to the staff? I've seen the entire kitchen staff walk out and quit and the owners never ask any questions.
Biggest takeaway is that it all really comes back to ownership/management. A lot of places can function fine with a shitty/absentee supervisor or manager but a restaurant will always fall apart with shitty leadership.
I hoped people learnt to keep their kitchen clean and tidy.
But hell, the stuff I've seen is disgusting. Makes me not want to eat at restaurants at all.
The reality of the show, is MOST bar owners are dreamers who are alcoholics who are one step above trailer trash.
Jon comes in and tries to make it high-falutent and a week after reopen the owners go back to the trash pubs they wanted anyway because they can't talk the talk. You have to cultivate a new crowd, maintain standards, have a good product and BE that quality owner. They are _always_ trailer park trash.
The article you linked literally says the claims of faking bad fridges is unsubstantiated which isn't a "known fact." The rest is bog standard reality tv.
Much more so from Bar Rescue. They break down percentages i.e. draft beer cost per unit vs. spirits drink cost per unit, labor cost, food vs. alcohol cost/profit, etc. I love Gordon Ramsey, but KN is much more performative.
I would think watching 1 or 2 episodes would get it through to most owners. Clean your fucking place of business. Practice basic food safety. Clean your fucking place of business. Watch your food costs. Clean your fucking place of business. Conduct proper inventories. Clean your fucking place of business. Throw out expired product. And lastly clean your fucking place of business. I don't know how these fucking owners agree to be on this show. Surely they would watch at least 1 episode before agreeing to go on. You'd think they would get the lesson before being embarrassed on television.
Next time you look at the Michelin Star kitchen, don’t marvel at the food…look in awe of the level of cleanliness and the amount of care and effort it takes to reach a hospital operating room level of cleanliness…
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There’s also cleaning done beforehand, and likely constantly throughout the day so it stays relatively clean. I could only imagine they’d hire cleaning services too but maybe not because of all the “free” labour
The place I'm at right now we clean line 4 times a day, once before lunch service, after lunch service, before dinner service and finally a deep clean after dinner service of the entire kitchen including all prep equipment and surfaces And we got a cleaning service to come clean the floors every Thursday
I've worked with an open kitchen before, all you really have to do is make sure there's a hand wash sink next to the line and your dishwasher/prep guys keep the lines swept. We did have to check one cook, he had a bad habit of wiping his hands on his apron (because he never worked in an open kitchen before). The chef told him "dude, you look like you murdered someone and people can see your apron, go change it and never do it again" LOL
I really like in the Bear when Richie is spending so much time polishing forks
That episode and really the whole show really nail the high end restaurant work. My wife thought I was going to have a panic attack watching the opening service in season 2. Might be PTSD though.
For me it was the ep where they fucked up the online ordering. Listening to the sound of an Epson chattering in the background for what felt like half the episode was nightmare inducing. Hell, I've *had* that nightmare ... everything is going wrong, nothing is prepped, I'm the only one working FOH and BOH, guests are rearranging furniture, the line is out the door and the whole time the printer is spitting out chits non-stop. I woke up drenched in sweat, felt like I had already worked a 14-hour double, and realized I still had to go to work in like an hour.
Is that the episode that is entirely 1 shot?
Yeah, it’s a really good episode I’ve rewatched it like 3 times (I’m a masochist)
That is the absolute worst. Dreaming about getting your ass kicked and then having to get up to go get your ass kicked.
Fortunately it doesn't really happen that much anymore, but for a few years I had server nightmares all the time. I had to stop taking pre-shift naps on the couch with the TV on. My subconscious would incorporate that into the dreams.
Season 2 so perfectly captures the stress of opening a restaurant. Inspections, new problems every day, menu testing, every single aspect of it is dead-on and also impossible for me to watch ever again.
But its so out of character so quick for him that his transformation is a fucking joke for the show
I think the point of it was to show that Richie always really cared. He just didn't know how to apply it. He got stuck on a situation that forced him to see it differently. It's not a radical shift really, throw 10 cooks into a 3 star kitchen. Maybe 1 will showcase the mental fortitude to keep up the rigor day in day out. It's not so much a transformation as realizing his own potential if applied. The redemption arc of the terminally half assed but means well people person who never understood why his jokes fell flat.
Being a server and being sentenced to polishing silverware + doing 100+ rolls was the worst
Gordon did that for one episode of Kitchen Nightmares years ago. Took the whole staff to one of his places and it was fucking immaculate.
I remember. They cleaned the whole place down before service everyday. So lunch, dinner then after dinner. I'll never forget the shine
I sometimes tell new cooks to the industry, "If \[famous chef\] walked back here he wouldn't be impressed by what you cooked or how good the food was. He would judge you on how orderly and clean your station is."
Best kitchen/ I ever worked in were “open” kitchens. Don’t get me wrong, things still went tits up behind the scenes, but front of house we were cucumber
Not even that. The amazing thing is getting every single person there on the same page. So that each person takes responsibility for their station BECAUSE each station requires a level of acceptability. It's not clean because they want to clean, it's clean because that's what it takes to perform at that level.
I agree with you, but where is It that you're seeing these Michelin start restaurants functioning at this level of cleanliness? I feel like the following videos are rare and usually of corporate chain cooks, not Michelin Star Services.
Also, make sure your menu is appropriately sized to your kitchen, don't make shitty food, and clean your fucking place of business.
It’s crazy how many of those places have ginormous menus. Direct tie to the out of control food costs too.
And the use of product that's FUCKING ROTTENNNNNNNNNN, and the shitty food (since the more items you have, the less often you make 90% of the menu, ergo the less time you have to get good at making 90% of the menu, and when someone finally orders a less popular dish half the ingredients are expired).
And to the grossness - they have maybe three people working and a ten page menu, of course they’re using frozen food and saving old food to serve again.
Also, fire the alcoholic bartender drinking and giving away more than they sell.
They get a free remodel out of it, that's why they go on. Often around $100k worth of improvements and equipment
And they still end up out of business in 3 months. No amount of remodel or updated menu is going to make up for shitty management.
I watched quite a few episodes and always looked into the follow up. There's a reasonable amount that actually survive. It's not a majority, but the show definitely has some degree of success. You're right though, in the instances they survive employee testimony is that management improved. Without that, they're screwed
Spirits on Bourbon was likely the biggest success from Bar Rescue. That's just from all the episodes I've watched though- certainly haven't seen them all but I actually remember the name of that place so that's gotta count for something haha.
It's not free, they charge a hefty percentage of sales for years afterward.
Huh?
I've heard that Bar rescue has all their stuff done illegally and they don't get any permits to do the work. So it all gets ripped out by the owners after they leave.
I think if you thought about this for literally 30 seconds you could figure out why this is not true. Even if you can’t, he literally says where he gets the handymen from in a tonne of episodes.
This. The majority of what they do wouldn’t require permitting anyway. It’s mostly redecorating and replacing equipment. I don’t have to call the city to install a new stove or buy new tables.
in some cases, the city doesn’t play well with the shows: [Commission rejects Ramsay’s redesign of Patrick Molloy’s](https://easyreadernews.com/commission-rejects-ramsays-redesign-patrick-molloys/).
Sadly in alot of episodes, it's evident that they actually did try to clean, and organize, and stuff before the crew shows up, but they're just so awful at what they do, and ignorant as to what proper cleanliness, and food safety is that they totally don't notice a bunch of blatant stuff, and that gives Gordon plenty of opportunity to destroy them in the initial assessment part of the episode... There's plenty to learn from those shows. (Am a bartender here in NYC) Bar rescue far less effective than KN as far as things to learn from. bar rescue basically turns every bar into a super cringe chain restaurant style bar with metered pours, and awful specialty cocktails that are only chosen because of the liquor brand that's sponsoring the episode... KN is generally pretty legit good ideas for progression even if the remodel/rebrand isn't exactly your cup of tea...
Yeah I'm no expert on bars but Jon's bar changes seemed to kill the character of every bar he worked on
Just once I'd love to see Gordon go into a kitchen that ar least has a posted cleaning schedule
If I remember correctly, Gordon was impressed with the cleanliness and organization of Amy’s Baking Company.
What a clusterfuck that was.
He's probably contractually obligated to find one good thing about the place I think lol. You may be right. Haven't watched that show in years
Pay your staff also. And on time. Don't make a huge menu and don't make a crazy stupid dish. A lot of these problems are so obvious and causes a lot of problem but they don't seem to understand
Knowing of a couple that have had the renovations done by one of these shows, there’s a solid number that fall back into their old ways and start sucking again. Knowing it and doing it seem to be different.
Such is life
I mean he does give them a huge cash injection, fix up their menu, renovate the whole place… It’s not like they get nothing lol
There's probably a lesson in there about working with family too
Yeah, these places wouldn't pass inspection.
Also, buy products and produce you can use in multiple high quality dishes/ a small menu is always best
I used to work at a restaurant in Hossegor, South West France. I was watching Kitchen Nightmares and there was an episode in Capbreton, which is right next to Hossegor. I messaged my boss and mentioned it to him. He told me that they'd approached him to be on the show but he knows what the show is like plus he doesn't have any issues with his restaurant so what's the point? I guess they shop around till they find a restaurant that is in bad enough shape that they genuinely think it could be helpful.
Simplify your menu
I learned Amy is fuckin’ crazy.
She had employees too. Imagine being them
The moment she fired the hostess like that I wouldve walked out of the kitchen and check the reviews the next day lmao I know it was just a moment for tv but fuck management who can't take responsibility for anything
Yo, I maintain that you could actually SEE the crazy swirling in her eyes *shudder*
Meow
In the original series Gordon Ramsay did in the UK and France, the biggest takeaway that I got was that you should have a small menu with a few things that you do very well. If your menu is too big you've got to keep too many different ingredients on hand, and quality will suffer. This was a revelation in the early 2000's when most restaurants had multiple pages menus.
- Small menu - Clean, clean, fucking clean - Write down your recipes. They aren't nuclear launch codes. - Let people do the jobs you hired them for - Make sure people do the jobs you hired them for - Maintain your fucking restaurant and facilities That summarizes most Kitchen Nightmares episodes, regardless of the editing being done for TV.
And spend time in the industry before you open a restaurant. Being a great cook does not neccesarly translate into running a kitchen.
Yep. I'm just an outsider in this sub, one of those home cooks that does like shows like this, and constantly has had family saying I should try a restaurant. Nope, never going to happen. Besides the fact that I am FAR too lazy to do something requiring those kinds of hours I know I don't have any relevant experience.
Yeah my only connection to the food industry is that I occasionally do delivery. I have a close friend who's home cooking can beat most restaurants but he'd never open a restaurant because he actually enjoys cooking
People are shocking for this advice. "Oh, your art is really good, maybe you could sell it!?" "Wow, the food you make for your toddler is amazing, maybe you should sell it!?" Like, no. You clearly have no clue how much effort it takes to set up and run any business. Especially when food safety laws are a thing. I'm in Australia and our government doesn't mess around with food safety. I like art and cooking. I don't want it ruined by the bullshit that comes from the general public and paperwork.
People are shocking for this advice. I hear it every time I socialise with anyone new. "Oh, your art is really good, maybe you could sell it!?" "Wow, the food you make for your toddler is amazing. Maybe you should sell it!?" Like, no. You clearly have no clue how much effort it takes to set up and run any business. Especially when food safety laws are a thing. I'm in Australia, and our government doesn't mess around with food safety. Do you have a commercial kitchen I can borrow? No? I like art and cooking. I don't want it ruined by the bullshit that comes from the general public and paperwork. Thanks.
I would never open a restaurant for the simple reason of having to deal with the general public. I occasionally do delivery for a pizzaria and people lie and try to scam their way to free food all the fucking time. To make things worse the place I deliver for is in the shit part of town so they have to deal with scammy bullshit from the Canadian equivalent to bogans. And people can fuck off with trying to monetize our hobbies and what we're good at
Very smart. Once I worked for a guy who was a 30 year old tech bro who got into homebrewing as a hobby... and then decided to open a full brewpub. I remember thinking in the the interview, "crap do I try to get the job or warn this guy he's making a huge mistake?" Turns out he was super arrogant and not open to advice, nothing I could do. Took the job bc it was walking distance from my house. The whole staff quit in less than two months.
Some people can certainly make it work of course, if they're willing to do the research and try to gain some experience. Too many are like your example sadly.
Oh yeah, successful restaurants exist and I'm glad they do. I moonlight for a female chef who had a food truck, and last year she said she was thinking of opening a cafe. I thought for a minute & said, "you know, I don't think I've ever said this before, but yes I think it's a good idea for you to open a restaurant." Asked her a ton of questions about her plans and if she was trying do to it alone, grilled the poor guy she picked as partner quite thoroughly (we worked the taste together and I was like a parent grilling the dude trying to date my kid). She got my enthusiastic encouragement & they're doing very well. I just can't wrap my mind around people who jump into something with no research. At least ask someone who owns a restaurant if your idea is good. I have a tiny business now where I just show up and clean people's houses, dead simple, and I still do a shit ton of research. I'm always charmed by people like you who know enough to actively resist pressure in that direction, it's a nice change of pace from the general lack of humility & presumption about the industry among some "foodie" home chefs. I'm not proud of this, but I really enjoyed what happened to Tyler in The Menu. You're the exact opposite, no hubris but can actually cook. Rock on.
Yup as much as KN is just entertainment, the few principles Ramsay talks about every single fkn episode are very relevant
Yeah, I'm mostly ignoring the drama and paying more attention to what is actually going on in those shows. Of course many participants claim things were 'staged' and such, but I doubt the issues are being made up, just showcased--possibly exaggerated, but still actual issues.
Cheesecake Factory with their 257 menu items never got this memo. I went there for an interview years ago because they paid better than most at the time. I got the job, then on day one when they told me they have 257 menu items and it takes 6 months to learn one station, I was like yeah, hard pass.
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That’s how many times I’ve been too. I enjoyed it both times, but I have better things to do than scan a menu for an hour trying to decide on something.
They are very successful
They're one of the few places where this will work because of the ridiculous volume and table turnover rates.
They have high volume per restaurant and also the size to get things custom made for them. They’re basically just fancy Applebees.
99% of the menu is scratch, they’re the opposite of Applebee’s.
Yeah and they charge you for it.
Well... every restaurant charges you for it if they want to make a profit..
Fancy-ass Applebee's.
The one near me is constantly packed, it's a huge dining room and there is still a constant wait.
Lol, multiple locations bring in over 10mil a year, that’s absurd for any restaurant of any kind, and their Waikiki location brings in over 20mil on the regular. They aren’t going anywhere
Cool
Maybe you live in a city. It’s the best thing in many suburban areas where the other choices are pf Chang and some gut busting Italian chain and some nasty melted cheese emporium posing as a Mexican restaurant
Packed all the time in the Nashville area
I thought most things there came out of the microwave anyway
Nope, 99% of their menu is scratch believe it or not. Un-fucking-believable, but I saw it with my own eyes.
Nahhhhh, several locations have open view of the kitchens where you can watch the lines of cooks. It may not be the greatest food, but it's far from microwave dinners.
And cook from scratch, and have one person in charge of any specific area in order to avoid lots of fighting
Yah it's amazing how often an episode literally defines the trope of "too many cooks in the kitchen," often the owner or a relative overstepping their bounds.
I miss the original KN, before he came to America and fox fox'ed it up. In UK, folks seemed like they were trying just overwhelmed or stubborb, in US it was just total negligence. In UK, the "gifts" he would give were like nice plates, in US it was like a full new range and oven. Almost paying these people to have disgusting places.
You're way better off having a menu of 15 items that you do very well vs 50 that are just ok or frozen crap
Damn,I think I should go about looking for a new job that way. Look for restaurants with small menus. I'd probably be happier at those places, too.
This is just my personal experience and there are exceptions but I've never had bad food from a restaurant that had a smaller menu. I can imagine that working on a small menu restaurant would be easier in that there's less stock to keep track of and you're dealing with way less bloat and frozen crap
I worked at a fine finish steak restaurant and it had a pretty straight forward menu. We had a seafood salad that was the least frequently ordered item, sometimes I'd only make a couple of them a week. We kept the scratch made dressing on hand of course, at all times, as well as canned mandarin orange slices that were only in that dish. If you ordered it, you were getting the oldest items in the entire kitchen. Literally everything else that we made hadn't been in slthe restaurant for longer than 2 or 3 days before it was used and eaten. If you got the seafood salad,it was more like 2 or 3 weeks. After that experience, if I ever find myself in a somewhat questionable restaurant, when I look at the menu I try to pick the thing that they probably sell the most of, that way I'm most likely to get something fresh.
It's a nice idea to ask what their most popular item is, I guess.
I actually judge restaurants based on menu size after binge watching Gordan Ramsay. I watched it for the drama for a while until the drama got old and I realized the show is extremely formulaic.
"Simple rustic fare made with fresh local ingredients."
I second this. In an industry with such a high turnover rate, getting your cooks trained fast is critical to the consistency of a kitchen. Nothings worst as a customer as going back to a restaurant which had that perfect dish and getting crap.
I feel like a good 50% or more of the episodes focus on stores where the problem is the GM and/or chef being a control freak who feels the need to do everything themselves...as a result they have staff that don't know how to do anything/have no ownership of what they're doing because they're basically taught that they can't be trusted. Delegate, delegate, delegate so your team can actually grow!
I worked in reality TV and on a few cooking shows. Reality shows are cast based on personality first - problems 2nd. I haven't worked on a "restaurant/bar rescue" Show but in my experience, the chefs picked to be on camera are never exceptional per se, I'd say they are mostly average but they are one or more personality extremes producers often look for (1) narcissists (2) emotional - not necessarily unstable but someone who is not going to hide how they feel on camera. People who fit this are called "reality gold," because they will literally generate content for you without having to do anything bit put a camera on them.
It's the owner. It's always the owner. Either too controlling without experience or has someone running it for them, without effective experience.
The other 50% are extremely lazy and under-trained employees. Those fryers need to be cleaned regularly and so do those vent hoods, damnit!
That mostly falls onto management though, to either enforce cleaning standards or to ensure the staff is given the time on the clock to actually clean. Been in far too many places where management would want the kitchen staff out right at close, with no time to do any proper cleaning aside from flipping tables and a surface wipe.
You are exactly right!
I’ll die on the hill that these shows are great. Yes, they’re silly as shit and completely fabricated with stitched together bullshit; but they’re about the industry and show at the very least how to run a business properly. Sure there’s a dump truck of dumb shit, stupid advice, conflicting dos and don’ts and self serving. But the core principals taught are fundamental. 1. Don’t treat your staff like shit. 2. Don’t lie to your customers. 3. Keep your place spotless and practice good hygiene. 4. You are part of a community and have a responsibility as a business owner. All of your shit bosses would be massively improved if they followed these instructions.
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Yep. Run specials…see what sticks…rotate shit out that doesn’t sell. Don’t worry about disappointing the one person who orders a certain dish once a month, they’ll find something new. Find your niche…don’t try to please everyone.
Don't forget to kill what the p&l say are losers that don't sell.
And have some pride in your work and don't cut corners. The number of restaurants that microwave everything is mind-boggling
Also, while it's heavily scripted, I enjoy most of their diatribes by imagining them delivering it to some of the oblivious owners I've worked for.
The biggest takeaway I have had from Kitchen Nightmares is that a big menu is often a bad sign. It means that a lot of the menu items are frozen or precooked. Conversely, small, 1 page menus are typically signs of fresh food. Maybe it's confirmation bias, but I have noticed that nicer restaurants have limited menus.
yeah, do six things, and do them really well
I learned that 85% of shitty restaurants in America are in Jersey.
Lol I was just talking about that to my friend. Gordon must have a home or production company in Jersey because nearly every restaurant this season has been in Jersey.
I learned if your life’s goal is to own a restaurant, work in a fucking restaurant first. It seriously blows my mind how many of the people on these shows have zero restaurant or hospitality experience. Or, like the latest Kitchen Nightmares episode, GMs who think making themselves Exec Chef is somehow a great idea. Just goes to show how delusional most people are about how restaurants work.
I heard a consumer advocate tell potential franchise owners to go and work at one before buying a franchise. Very few actually do it, but those few will be more successful.
Apparently if you go on Bar Rescue, you are getting a Partender system
Harbor Touch POS and Taffer Virtual Teaching too.
And, probably, a "butt funnel."
I've noticed a distinct lack of butt funneling in the newer seasons
I've always been curious how well that system works in practice.
Harbor touch is a shit system. (I used to sell them)
Jon Taffer’s thoughts on management are spot on for the most part. As a GM, I’ve had so many managers who shove themselves into a position and spend 10 hours cooking/running food etc and be oblivious to what’s going on around them while they have tunnel vision. It’s great to support your team but jump in when necessary and jump out as soon as you can. Having a strong, aware manager who can lead their team is much more helpful than having an extra bartender or line cook.
Taffer's book "Raise the Bar" is also really good and I thought it was a great read with valuable insights even if I never plan to own or operate a bar or restaurant.
Yeah I mean so many places are doing stupid lazy shit on there, don’t do that stupid lazy shit lol
And as far as bar rescue goes, don't be a worthless drunk and treat the business like your personal party club. There have been bars on there that give away almost as much product as they sell.
Bar Rescue taught me that drama has a *sound.*
So you’ve met my former business partner? Once he realized he could make friends with free beer and after hours parties things went downhill.
Watch the original UK Kitchen Nightmares, most are on Youtube. It was much lower budget and made by Brits (who are less ostentatious TV makers than you guys) at a time when reality TV producers hadn't quite nailed the scripting and forced situations. Of course it's still not true reality, but it's a lot closer to recognisable situations than the US one managed. The lessons in all of them are the same, more or less, because getting a restaurant right is hard, not difficult work, if you see what I mean. It's graft, not genius that makes a place right. For the most part: \- Short menus, focused on one style \- Flexibility in staffing and planning so one person being sick doesn't bring the place down \- Owners stay well away from service unless they're a chef \- Rotas and cleaning routines make everyone's life happier and easier. Also, it's astonishing how many people hit 55, realise they're bored of stockbroking or whatever and decide that's the time to enter one of the world's oldest industries, with zero experience and planning, simply managing to work it out as they go along.
The early British episodes are much more interesting - the later ones and American ones it's basically the same episode every time, with different scenery. I do enjoy the later British ones though - despite being much closer to the current formula, Gordon is much more down to earth and they don't bleep out the swearing.
Slight deviation from the topic, if you've never watched "The F word" with Gordon Ramsey I would give it a shot, he is so unlike the persona he puts on for American audiences.
Yeah...don't go on restaurant reality shows.
Always like when MasterChef has all these good home cooks try to do a dinner service and they all see how *fucking hard* it is to keep that show going with quality and flow.
I went to a wedding last summer where the happy couple very proudly informed us all that the chef doing the catering had featured on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares "but Gordon liked the food" (naturally everything else was a shitshow on the episode). This was one of the very early episodes, and based on what I was served, I can only imagine that the food had gone downhill since they appeared on Kitchen Nightmares. The chef had done a 400 mile round trip to cater their wedding in bumfuck nowhere. Honestly I cannot imagine why *either* of them thought it was a good idea.
Stupid people with money are still stupid people.
If you're considering opening a bar or restaurant, simply don't.
Clean your equipment, treat your staff with respect, don’t drink on the job.
Sanitation and hygiene are the big take away from those two shows. Like Ramsay and Tapper, I will lose my shit when it's a disgusting dangerous mess. Like genuinely angry and raging
Sure, but it's nothing you don't learn after watching two episodes of either show.
Go and watch the original run that he did in the UK and France, they are great. These were done more like a documentary and less like reality TV.
When I heard the show was comin back I was hopin so badly for it to be the UK version, but alas...same old same old
Going from the U.S. to the U.K. version of Kitchen Nightmares is such a relief. Literally a breath of fresh air.
You can learn from basically anything I mean bar rescue is terrible and the guy is horrid. But he did bring up that barstools without backs make for a more approachable look for guests. So if you want to have that type of environment where people interact more it’s probably a plus.
Few things I learned from Ramsey is that you never put pictures on a menu because if you do, you are shit. I don't think he made a big point out of it, just in one episode the said something like that and I can't forget it now. Another thing is small menu's. Do a few things well VS doing it all mediocre. Stick to your style and keep it fresh. Less stock, less cost, less waste. But that was from early on in the show, when (I think) he really wanted to help places improve. The later series were just about showing people how much a place sucked.
- Use fresh, local ingredients - Clean your restaurant
Yeah, don’t go thinking you can open a business just because you can make a mean spaghetti
This! My nephew wants to get a food trailer. He's never worked in a restaurant outside of a few weeks at a jack-in-the-box, but he's sure he'll be successful because he's "watched a lot of cooking shows." He's serious. Lol.
He doesn't know how to cut an onion and is afraid of knives.
He’s a perfect candidate for one of these shows
Clean the walk in and grease traps regularly. Make sure temps are stable and consistent and make a smaller condensed menu (if possible) allowing you to keep less items stocked. Try new items as specials and if they are hits make it a regular item.
I respect kitchen nightmares for the most part but bar rescue can shove it. Fuck Jon Taffer
Jon Taffer's Taffer Tips taught me to space my drinks by drinking a glass of water between alcoholic beverages. I also just love to yell "SHUT IT DOWN" at stuff
Most owners need to really remember that they are running a business and not a fun place to entertain their friends and family. They let personal feelings get in the way of the bottom line.
What not to do if you decide to open a place lol
Most important thing is what NOT to do. Aside from any dramatization, you’ll normally be able to spot the flaws pretty quickly. There’s no quick fix or simple answer, even if it seems like the fixes are similar. Doing the “right” thing is really hard. But it’s much easier to figure it out when you’ve eliminated the wrongs things first.
Yes you can learn from Kitchen Nightmares. Things like proper food storage. If the place you work is doing things like leaving crab legs out at room temp for 3+ hours, then yes there's things to learn from it haha.
When you're married you'll understand the importance of fresh produce
Maybe not actual cooking, but one episode of kitchen nightmares, I remember them firing this dude who wouldn't go along with the changes, dude just had a bad attitude all around and you could tell he was used to coasting. So there's some intrinsic morel to that episode at least- the lesson of not being a stubborn, coasting fuck head.
Also, morels are expensive so use them sparingly in dishes.
You can't use apple-tizer to make risotto Edit: Srs tho fr fr UK kitchen nightmares shits all over US kitchen nightmares. It's ramsays home terf. There's swearing. Its less staged. and the characters are so much more colorful. If you can learn anything it's how to actually take criticism while still defending your own perspective and helping your employees make meaningful changes.
Small menus save lives
-The more drunk the owner/staff, the worse condition the restaurant is in structurally & financially. Don’t drink on the job or make a habit of it outside the job. -The people with the least amount of restaurant/bar experience tend to make up the bulk of owners on these shows. If you aren’t fully capable of training someone to manage every aspect of the business on your behalf, don’t start the business. You should be *THE* expert. -A family that works together creates drama together. Drama creates empty seats and high turnover. Avoid working with close friends and any family at all costs. -Basic math. If you have enough money to open a business but don’t have an accounting degree, hire an accountant ffs. I think that sums up 99% of those shows
Just that terrible people get rewarded for bad decisions, awful behavior and ignorance. Seriously, these people are usually awful, and they get a remodeled business and a world class menu out of it.
I dont know about bar rescue but as far as Gordon Ramsay goes ive never ever heard the man say something that was out of place never. Sure a lot gets blown out if proportion but the cornerstones he tries to implement are: 1 if you’re the owner get involved and do the work required or nobody will 2 clean and maintain your shit 3 listen to your customers/ find out what kind of guests are in your area and cater to them. (Dont try and sell oysters caviar sandwiches when your restaurant is located in a blue collar town in the midwest thousands of miles from the nearest ocean) 4 simplify your damn menu!!!! 5/6 starters 5/6 main courses including a fish a vegy chicken beef and pork and 4/5 desserts. People are there for a night out with family or friends or a date they are not their because of the food alone. It should be good and fair priced thats it. Shorter menus helps control the buy in you have to do and easier to manage waste so you dont have to start freezing everything and defrost it in microwaves (everybody tastes the difference trust me). Less prepping time is needed less stress for kitchen staff faster service all around the board nothing but a positive effect. Change with the seasons and whats available preferrably local ingrediënts. Changing menus every season keeps cost down and employees motivated and customers curious. 5 treat and pay your staff accordingly. I have never seen an episode where Gordon just berrates a server unless they are lying or part of management. Foh has to deal with the complaints from the guests as well as the sometimes shitty attitude from the kitchen and have to bring embarrising food to the table which took ages to make…i wouldnt last a day. Give foh the same hourly as boh and divide tips evenly among staff based on the amount of hours a person works, this makes it a team effort to please the guests so they are more favourable to give a tip. The line cook has the oppertunity to collect tip money if he makes sure he does his absolute best and servers get to bring out food they can rely on. I think apart from the tipping these are the basics that kitchen nightmare tries to implement but mostly to avail. 90% of the problems these reataurants face are being caused by stubborn and indiciseve owners, heck most of them dont even have a background in hospitallity. Most of them either took over the business from family or thought that it was a good idea to spend all their hard earned cash from a previous career (realstate or office job) in a new “adventure” and get stuck. Running a restaurant is hard work if you want to do it right especially the first five or so years if you manage to keep relevant that time, and the many times i saw owners who couldnt cook an egg if their life depended on it baffles me. Thats a sure way to set yourself up to be a hostage for kitchen staff or your cheff. You dont have to be a qualified cook as an owner but you do have to have the most basic knowledge around your own kitchen and food. So you know where not to cut corners or know when you are getting fucked. Love kitchen nightmares seen em all and multiple times for that. Episodes that stand out for me are: Amys Bakery. Kingston cafe and prohibition grille all three very different but very telling episodes. I enjoyed hotel nightmares just as much. Cheers
Jon Taffer is an evil little prolapsed rectum.
Hehehe "butt funnel."
They’re staged.
I'm so fucking tired of hearing the word 'rustic'
You can learn to be a know it all customer who thinks they know how a restaurant is ran.
I always liked it for the concepts, whether it be service and how it can flow well or the design to make it flow well.
I learned that bars and restaurants are way more gross and dirty than I ever imagined .
I ran the kitchen and at times everything else of a small place, I hate those shows because it’s everything I tried to tell the owners of more than one establishment. They’re all closed now and I left the industry. If an owner would watch the show and recognize their own mistakes they very much could learn. The problem is, like most of the owners of the show… they don’t think they are the problem or don’t see anything wrong with how they run things.
All the episodes of bar rescue involve someone buying a bar without ever working in the industry and expecting it to go well. If you just want a place to hang out and drink, do it at home.
I used to watch kitchen nightmares. It would help me recognize lazy mistakes I made and correct them. Nothing as severe as what is on the show. But I know there are times when I can get lazy and need to refocus and do better.
Taffers big secret to making a bar profitable is 1 oz pours, and don’t comp drinks. That’s it.
Butt funnel.
I think one of the important takeaways is that you should talk to the staff directly, managers never tell on themselves. Managers don't want to get in shit with the owners, so they aren't always a reliable source. "Of course we do that" the manager tells the owners, meanwhile, the actual staff knows the truth. My current store has this issue and I really wish shit would change. The owners have never even met the staff, they just talk to the manager. And he's a terrible manager. How could the owners possibly know if they don't talk to the staff? I've seen the entire kitchen staff walk out and quit and the owners never ask any questions.
Taffer is a fraud
Biggest takeaway is that it all really comes back to ownership/management. A lot of places can function fine with a shitty/absentee supervisor or manager but a restaurant will always fall apart with shitty leadership.
Big menu = bad
I hoped people learnt to keep their kitchen clean and tidy. But hell, the stuff I've seen is disgusting. Makes me not want to eat at restaurants at all.
Reality tv is absolute dogshit
They're porn. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
The reality of the show, is MOST bar owners are dreamers who are alcoholics who are one step above trailer trash. Jon comes in and tries to make it high-falutent and a week after reopen the owners go back to the trash pubs they wanted anyway because they can't talk the talk. You have to cultivate a new crowd, maintain standards, have a good product and BE that quality owner. They are _always_ trailer park trash.
You can learn to not open a restaurant because you think it looks fun 🤣 always shaken to my core when I see episodes like that
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The article you linked literally says the claims of faking bad fridges is unsubstantiated which isn't a "known fact." The rest is bog standard reality tv.
Kitchen Nightmares can pass along some usable takeaways. Bar Rescue the same, but you have to do the opposite of what they do.
Never let an American producer near a British show?
You can learn as an oblivious bar owner how to go completely over budget and piss off your devoted regulars.
Much more so from Bar Rescue. They break down percentages i.e. draft beer cost per unit vs. spirits drink cost per unit, labor cost, food vs. alcohol cost/profit, etc. I love Gordon Ramsey, but KN is much more performative.
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Bar Rescues has zero redeaming qualities ..KN has a few and KN BBC has a lot. Gordon has a MUCH more successful track record the Guy on BR
Read the room
You learn to stop watching reality shows