S01.E06: Sweet Investment

[Tara Ariano]

Two specialized candy shops pitch their concepts: The Sticky Pig, which features gourmet chocolate treats made with bacon; and Sugar Knife, which boasts marshmallows and brittle with alcohol as a special ingredient.

[Thistle]

I was sure they would go w/ the other concept- the Sticky Pig folks seemed to have a better product, packaging, & growth potential. I'm not a sweets person, so neither one sounds like something I'd really be interested in, but I could see buying sweets w/ bacon as a gift, alcohol-laced s'mores? Not so much (they sound pretty gross).

I could not believe the ending either, w/ both Tim & Joe willing to throw a substantial investment at them, & they didn't like the terms. Those must have been some amazing marshmallows...

Edited August 13, 2014 by Thistle

[Primetimer]

The s'mores bar idea is solid, but Sarah has questions about the execution.

Read the story

[Thistle]

I agree with all of the questions you raised- I think they absolutely picked sugar knife because it wasn't a well thought out concept, the female partner seemed quite inflexible, & thus, it would provide a lot more drama. & I also can't believe she turned down Joe's offer-it would have funded their business, she wouldn't have to deal w/ retail (no way are they going to flood the country w/ DIY alcohol infused s'mores "bars"), & she could do her crafty, mail order booze s'mores on the side.

[Josiah Bounderby]

Bunting was right. This was a deeply odd episode. Particularly the negotiation segment.

 

I'm now at a point with Restaurant Startup where I don't watch the episode as an episode. I watch it is a gateway through which I can see the producers at work.

 

Seems to me that they had a tough time casting this thing. Fishing for cast at food truck events, I'm guessing. Grafting on last-minute "partners." Combining wholesale food product roll-outs with restaurants. It all has a hue of desperation.

 

And they have yet to cast a single memorable reality tv character! I keep waiting for the hostile person with a personality disorder, or the unhinged visionary, or the relatable person who melts me with their sincerity. The closest they have come was that weepy Filipino line cook (and he was more annoying than memorable.)

Edited August 13, 2014 by Josiah Bounderby

[Thistle]

I think combining the restaurant vs. wholesale food product concepts is their biggest problem- face it, you're never going to make large scale, wholesale production sexy or interesting for tv viewers (ooh, drama on the packaging line! & you can't do a small scale re-design of space/logo/uniforms (how random is some of that crap?). I didn't really watch the garbanzo pasta episode for that reason (also, I don't like pasta or garbanzo beans)-they may have a solid business concept, but not something I'd want to watch.

Edited August 13, 2014 by Thistle

[cooksdelight]

Seems to me that they had a tough time casting this thing. Fishing for cast at food truck events, I'm guessing. Grafting on last-minute "partners." Combining wholesale food product roll-outs with restaurants. It all has a hue of desperation.

One of the brothers in the last episode posted that they recruited him. Then he disappeared from our forum....

For the record, I started watching this and fell asleep listening to the woman drone on and on like she was the expert. Glad to know she turned down a deal from Joe, sad to know Joe is as stupid as I have always thought.

[Thistle]

Hey, Joe was ready to spend all kinds of money to make her a marshmallow mogul.

[LittleIggy]

I nodded off several times during the episode. What did Joe offer?

[jennylauren123]

I found the woman very unlikable. Somewhere, someone (or everyone) has convinced her that she is a princess or a special snowflake. 

 

The couple was pretty idiotic not knowing the alcohol laws. Unless that was just a producer-driven twist, which seems likely.

 

The male part of the couple was hilarious with his insights. We see his girlfriend stamping her feet, crying, rubbing her eyes, and saying how pissed and done she is, followed by a talking head of her boyfriend, letting us all in on his insight that his girlfriend is upset.

 

Gee, thanks. Incredible insight there. You know her so well!

[mikeyc]

So, I've watched all the episodes of RESTAURANT STARTUP and I just don't understand whether they are actually investing in these businesses (not this specific episode, but overall). Basically, I don't buy it.

For example, Tim Love is a chef. A very successful chef with a few restaurants but that does not make you RICH. Not rich enough to be dropping a quarter of a million dollars on second-rate restaurants which are likely to lose all your money. How in the world does he have, say, $250,000 to blow on some random restaurant idea that is not even that great an idea. And, he's made 3 or 4 different offers like that. I assure you, he just does not have that money (it is true he could be representing a group of investors who combined have that money).

On SHARK TANK, it makes sense because Mark Cuban is a BILLIONAIRE so if he wants to blow some money on a business it makes more sense. And also, on that show, there are 5 investors and so any individual investor is not necessarily making offers on that many businesses.

But on this show, it just seems like most of the ideas are not necessarily that great. Like the cone idea. I don't buy that he would actually invest in that (where he is very likely to lose all his money). It seems in the real world, you would get 100 different restaurant ideas, and maybe one would be worth investing. Versus on this show where they are choosing applicants for a lot of other reasons than whether they are actually good business ideas.

Now, I know there are gonna be all sorts of guidelines where they don't have to invest once they do due diligence and stuff after the show. But, still, I just do not believe they are actually investing/interested in investing in virtually all of these businesses. It's like, "hey, let me make four different $250,000 investments in some not particularly great business ideas that just randomly were presented to us). "

On the spectrum of real to fake, I just am sensing this show is falling on the fak-ish side...

I just don't buy it. What do y'all think is going on? (e.g., they never actually invest this money and the offer itself is just for the show or what)?

[cooksdelight]

I have no idea, but the British guy who got a restaurant has never opened one. And this show was filmed a while back. Another friend of mine is friends with him, and mum's the word on why he didn't get his promised deal.

[anonymiss]

I always see producer hijinks so I don't let that affect my enjoyment unless it's egregious and therefore impossible to disregard. I find this show pretty good in that respect in comparison to its ilk.

 

I agree the last few choices have been the ones most unprepared and therefore most exploitable for drama/ratings. Not liking that too much but still entertained.

 

I found myself noticing how fortunate Control Freak Jenna is to have found the most complementary partner for her weaknesses. He gets her and knows when and how to step up but is happy to let her wear the pants the remainder of the time. He also knows exactly how to comfort her and doesn't escalate or lose patience with her. Most impressed with him than anything else I saw on the episode.

Edited August 15, 2014 by anonymiss

[Bretley]

So many things I don't understand. Why are the participants absolutely unwavering on changing their branding? I get it, perhaps you currently have an established online presence which you don't want to alter, but guess what - if you get an investment from Tim or Joe, you are now playing in an entirely new arena to which your current customers will follow. If you don't get a deal, no biggie, you continue on with your original brand/logo. Also, this episode did not have any talk of how many "tickets" they could turn over per day at the retail location. How much money are they expecting each person who walks into the store to spend - a per table average so to speak - to justify paying the rent? And what are they estimating for online sales per day or week?

She was an idiot for turning down Joe's offer. That brick and mortar concept could work maybe in LA, NYC, Boston and Chicago. It's not going to be a viable nationwide franchise. The wholesale model, while not as "sexy", would have made loads of cash.

Edited August 16, 2014 by Bretley

[leighdear]

Jena was a very unpleasant woman.  And from the moment she came out, her entire concept was designed to serve her own ego, not the needs of potential customers.

 

Her reluctance to add any beverages said it all.  Was she just going to offer bottles of water for sale? Let the customers drink from the tap?   I could see her entire concept as a one-time, "Oh, it's cool" kinda place where people might go after a dinner somewhere else, but not be a regular desert stop.  Part of the appeal is the melted mallow that pulls the whole desert together, so they have to be eaten onsite.  Takeout seems silly, since they would be cold and solidified once you got them home. 

 

Plus, what about kids?  The amount of alcohol in the S'mores was negligible, so that's no big deal.  But kids will get impatient with waiting, slather themselves with over-priced molten marshmallow, then eat half of the over priced sticky stuff.  I'm not a slave to the need for every place to be kid-friendly, but why make it so complicated for the hipster California parents to buy their kids a treat?

 

She should have taken Joes offer to become a marshmallow mogul.  That would have been very smart. 

[sasha206]

So, I've watched all the episodes of RESTAURANT STARTUP and I just don't understand whether they are actually investing in these businesses (not this specific episode, but overall). Basically, I don't buy it.

For example, Tim Love is a chef. A very successful chef with a few restaurants but that does not make you RICH. Not rich enough to be dropping a quarter of a million dollars on second-rate restaurants which are likely to lose all your money. How in the world does he have, say, $250,000 to blow on some random restaurant idea that is not even that great an idea. And, he's made 3 or 4 different offers like that. I assure you, he just does not have that money (it is true he could be representing a group of investors who combined have that money).

On SHARK TANK, it makes sense because Mark Cuban is a BILLIONAIRE so if he wants to blow some money on a business it makes more sense. And also, on that show, there are 5 investors and so any individual investor is not necessarily making offers on that many businesses.

But on this show, it just seems like most of the ideas are not necessarily that great. Like the cone idea. I don't buy that he would actually invest in that (where he is very likely to lose all his money). It seems in the real world, you would get 100 different restaurant ideas, and maybe one would be worth investing. Versus on this show where they are choosing applicants for a lot of other reasons than whether they are actually good business ideas.

Now, I know there are gonna be all sorts of guidelines where they don't have to invest once they do due diligence and stuff after the show. But, still, I just do not believe they are actually investing/interested in investing in virtually all of these businesses. It's like, "hey, let me make four different $250,000 investments in some not particularly great business ideas that just randomly were presented to us). "

On the spectrum of real to fake, I just am sensing this show is falling on the fak-ish side...

I just don't buy it. What do y'all think is going on? (e.g., they never actually invest this money and the offer itself is just for the show or what)?

 

I also have suspect on whether they actually end up investing.  I'm sure most of the contestants are really happy to get the advertisement.

 

In this case, I think Jena was actually on target on the logo:  their logo was great, the graphic design job for the new one was really awful. In fact, a lot of these shows I'm amazed these people do graphic arts for a living.  Very few actually looked good to me.  I

[oceanchild3]

I know this is way late to this episode, but I am binge watching a few tonight. I just have to say that at about 35:00 Joe looks so ridiculous sucking on that lollipop. I rewound it a couple of times.