cooksdelight January 26, 2015 Share January 26, 2015 An edgy Moroccan food catering company with dreams of conquering Manhattan. Link to comment
cooksdelight January 29, 2015 Author Share January 29, 2015 I heard from Andrew Hunter yesterday (food guy who appeared on Supermarket Superstar, and other shows) and he said the Dawgs are absolutely delicious. I'm going to start keeping an eye out for them in stores. Link to comment
Bella January 29, 2015 Share January 29, 2015 I'm curious, too. I have a mild soy allergy that keeps me away from a lot of vegan meat substitutes, but this is supposed to be soy-free. I was disappointed that they didn't go further with the Moroccan restaurant concept, however. I wish they'd have call-backs a year later to see if any of the rejected concepts now warrant investment. 1 Link to comment
AyeshaTheGreat January 29, 2015 Share January 29, 2015 This is the first episode where I wanted to see both concepts. I am definitely a carnivore but even I'm interested in the Yeah Dawg and beet balls. And I did find it interesting that the ladies wanted to go the retail route for now. I think that's a good idea since running a restaurant is not really their interest. And I think some of their products can really sell with the right amount of marketing. One thing I never paid attention to about this show is the expectation that these people have real experience running restaurants. I wonder how much detailed knowledge they are truly expecting. And how much mentoring/advising they are doing. I mean, of course, since they are investing their money, they are going to be involved. However, when it comes to hiring and building the restaurant, I wonder how far they go with rounding out the staff/participants in this venture. 1 Link to comment
anonymiss January 30, 2015 Share January 30, 2015 I'm vegan, gf, and stuck in Canada, so this episode made me one delighted but envious viewer. I always saw something I liked in Joe and this takes it over the top. I hope they realize their dreams and I'm so glad they were able to showcase vegan/gf fare so well on such a large platform. 2 Link to comment
GaT January 31, 2015 Share January 31, 2015 I thought both concepts were interesting, but I don't want a fake hot dog, I'm a meat eater. I also don't understand how she didn't realize what it took to run a restaurant. She worked as a line cook, so must have seen what things were like in a professional kitchen. Link to comment
Bella January 31, 2015 Share January 31, 2015 I thought both concepts were interesting, but I don't want a fake hot dog, I'm a meat eater. I also don't understand how she didn't realize what it took to run a restaurant. She worked as a line cook, so must have seen what things were like in a professional kitchen. I'm also omnivorous, but the reaction to this hot dog was so overwhelmingly positive that I'd like to try it just to see. You're right, they sisters were oddly unrealistic. Their concept was clearly much better than their ability to run a business. I think that's why the bids were contingent on Tim and Joe gaining a great deal of control. The sisters need someone who knows what they're doing to come in and take over the management. Let the cooking sister (forget her name) run the test kitchen and product development, pay her a ton of money for the concept, and get her out of the front office. I wonder if they came onto this show secretly knowing that they didn't want a restaurant and hoping that someone would help them make and distribute their product. Probably not, but I can't rule it out. 1 Link to comment
Kromm February 1, 2015 Share February 1, 2015 (edited) I'm truly confused what the ultimate fate of the deal was. Putting aside Tim's ridiculous offer, the way Joe left it at first was that he'd help them with contacts with no investment. THEN we got an end card on the episode that back in New York Joe DID give them some seed money (in return for what, it didn't say). But if you go to their website, like this very moment, it says: We were recently featured @ Eataly NYCbyJoe Bastianich!We have participated onRestaurant Startup! Our Episode aired JAN 27th on CNBC 10pm!WE NEED HELP WE DID NOT GET $ or an INVESTEMENT! Past tense on "aired", so it means that's not old text on the website--its been written in the past 4 days. So I don't get it. If Joe's seed money wasn't an investment, what was it? A loan? Confused! That's still "$" (which they say they didn't get). Edited February 1, 2015 by Kromm Link to comment
cooksdelight February 1, 2015 Author Share February 1, 2015 Maybe that's why they titled the episode "Young Hustlers? Link to comment
Bella February 1, 2015 Share February 1, 2015 They did themselves no service by appearing to not know how to run a business. IMO, to succeed on this show, a pair needs to be made up of a creative chef who's organized enough to run a kitchen, and a detail-oriented business person. There's no need for two of either type or for any other type. 2 Link to comment
GaT February 1, 2015 Share February 1, 2015 They did themselves no service by appearing to not know how to run a business. IMO, to succeed on this show, a pair needs to be made up of a creative chef who's organized enough to run a kitchen, and a detail-oriented business person. There's no need for two of either type or for any other type. I also think that the fact they were all gung ho about opening a restaurant until they actually had to open a restaurant & then they quickly changed their minds made them seem kind of flaky. They were suddenly all gung ho about selling retail, but what happens after they actually start trying to sell & find out that it's hard too? 2 Link to comment
cooksdelight February 1, 2015 Author Share February 1, 2015 Good question, GaT. It may have already happened if they are asking for money and saying they never got any. I've seen too many people think they can run a restaurant, open one and then it's closed within 6 months. Link to comment
Bella February 2, 2015 Share February 2, 2015 Good question, GaT. It may have already happened if they are asking for money and saying they never got any. I've seen too many people think they can run a restaurant, open one and then it's closed within 6 months. They don't even need to be new at it. A small company with four local restaurants closed one because it was "tired," remade it in a totally new direction, opened to great fanfare, and closed in 5 months. It is located on a prime piece of real estate, and it's possible that they were offered a lot of money for it, but I don't think that's what happened. We visited maybe every 6 weeks, and they had three different chefs and menus over that time. I'm sure the contracts that are actually signed differ from what we hear on the show. It could be that the sisters balked at some clause Joe insisted upon, or vice versa, and that led to changes in the structure of the deal. Joe's not going to throw his money away on a pair that can't manage a business. Also, FTR, I keep wanting to call them "girls." The feminist in me hates that and finds it disrespectful, but there was a naivete that I do find girlish and, under the circumstances, sad. I guess if they'd had been male, I'd have called them "boys" or even "kids." 1 Link to comment
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