• simple@lemm.ee
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    4 months ago

    How many restaurants in general have closed in the last decade though? 20% surviving might not be that bad considering how expensive restaurant biz is, not to mention covid causing massive waves of failed businesses.

    • snooggums
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      4 months ago

      Plus the restaurants on the show were frequently months away from closing due to fundamental issues like owner burnout that aren’t going to be fixed on a week or two.

      I am surprised it isn’t over 85%

    • fishos@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      You also have to remember that these restaurants were failing largely by their own owners hands. Not keeping kitchens clean, not having a clear vision of the restaurant(too big a menu without a consistent theme), infighting amongst staff/owners, etc.

      You don’t appear in the show if you’re doing well. Even with the facelifts Ramsey provides, it’s on the owners and staff to maintain the changes. If they fall back into old habits, then of course they will fail.

      I think it’s more impressive that 20% actually listened and succeeded during the pandemic.

    • Codex@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I mean, if 80% fail in 5 years anyway, it sounds like KN has essentially no effect, good or bad.

      • Serialchemist@ttrpg.network
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        4 months ago

        No effect would be if the restaurant was “average” to begin with. This is Kitchen Nightmares, these restaurants are already failing.

        We could say he takes restaurants that have a 100% chance of failure and moves them back to the industry average 80% chance of failure.

      • fishos@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        That’s 80% of ALL RESTURANTS that fail.

        Not 80% of resturants that already had one foot in the grave.

        He was working with that 80% failure group and got 20% of THOSE not to fail.

      • Brainsploosh@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        The 20% survive at least twice as long, it seems KN has some positive effect.

        It’s not like there’s no attrition after the first 5 years. Also, the show started 15 years ago, so the stats are even better.

  • JJROKCZ@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Most of the owners were fucked in the head, they weren’t going to make it even if he gave every one of them lessons for 6 months and a million dollar investment

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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    4 months ago

    does not seem surprising given their criteria for being on the show was something that was going to 100% close and then of course there is the track record in general on restaurants.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I can’t remember what sketch show it was, but one of them made that joke.

      The end of the episode is always a packed restaurant, but that’s just because Gordan Ramsey is cooking the food, and if the restaurant could have made food like that in the beginning, they wouldn’t be on the show in the first place.

      Maybe it was Mitchell and Webb?

      • ArkhamNightshift@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        It was Mitchell and Webb! 😁 “Good, simple food, cooked simply! It’s easy” “It’s easy because you did it, I’m clearly not very good at this if I’m on your show, and you’ve done things on your plate that might be simple to you, but may as well be magic to me! The only reason we have people in there now is because you’re here!”

        Edit to add link: https://youtu.be/i1NfWIaYed8?si=0Ra3oDK9TpT9Ixfr

      • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
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        4 months ago

        I have not watched one in awhile but I don’t recall ramsey cooking in the end he just “convinced” (quotes because maybe behind the scenese insisted) them to have a new look and menu that the show paid for but the staff was the same outside of soemtimes having someone fired.

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I might be misremembering, but I think there was a similar show with the tall body builder guy who is a chef, and they would come in with a decorator and revamp struggling restaurants.

    But the guy would sit down with the books and go through salaries, food costs, budgeting, and show them what they should be charging. They would look at the area restaurants to see what the competition was doing, and they would reset the flow of the floorspace to make room for enough guests to make it make sense.

    Making good food isn’t enough (although making bad food is enough to fail). Restaurants are a business, and while it’s probably not good TV, most of them just need a financial review.

  • JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I have a customer like this. The problem is rarely the Ferrari. The problem is the monkey behind the wheel.

  • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I think a lot of them still wanted to close even after he left. They got a nice influx of cash and equipment at the end to help with debts.