S03.E04: Fast, Cheap and Out of the Box

[cooksdelight]

Two teams looking to spin off fast-casual restaurants, one with sliders and one with South African flavors look to impress the investors.

Oxtail is not something I've ever had an urge to try, but after hearing their comments I think I might want to give it a whirl. I knew the slider women weren't going to get a shot, it's being done to death all across the country.

[The Solution]

Where was Joe last night? From the previews, it looks like Tim Love is missing next week.

[seacliffsal]

I thought the food looked really good, but these guys had some big egos. The marketing guy wanted a 'cool and hip' menu with its descriptions and they kept asking for clarity. I side with Tim, Elizabeth and Antonia on this one. When going to a completely unfamiliar restaurant, it's important to understand what the dishes are. They may think their staff will always be able to clarify the menu, but in fast casual there's going to be staff turnover and I wager that some staff will be less trained than others. The prawn descriptor that they mentioned was a disaster-pimp shrimp, barely legal? That's trying to hard and tells the customer nothing.

The chef also had too big of an ego-'for us to be successful I need to be out front.' Well, how does that work with more than 1 restaurant? Also, his personality didn't even seem to be all that welcoming to all of the customers. Also without his expertise I don't know how well the expansion will go in terms of food quality.

Having said all of that-I would totally try it!

[PepperMonkey]

I feel really bad for saying this, but I didn't like those guys at all. Well, I actually did like the guy with the 10 year old son; he seemed to be trying to FIX the menu issues, but at that point, it was already too late, so what was the point except to let crying guy know that his menu descriptors were not coherent. OMG, I H A T E D "pimp of shrimp... barely legal." Mostly, I hated that they seemed so OTT impressed with themselves, that they were originally only offering a stake of the FIRST (and only the first?) offshoot restaurant.

 

As sal said, marketing guy's ego was so big he didn't really seem to CARE if no one understood the food they were ordering, but for ME as a potential customer, that would be a huge problem. Especially in a fast casual setting. Also, if he had cried one more time about his parents being unhappy with him for leaving the practice of law, I was gonna have to hurl a shoe at my teevee.

 

I'm glad to see the food was delicious, but there is going to be a HUGE learning curve with this concept because yeah, I've never thought about South African cuisine and I'm thinking a lot of people haven't. I don't know Elizabeth Blau, but if I had been Fli Fli or whatever they were called, I probably would have gone with Tim Love. But maybe they were just thinking they needed more help with building the brand, who knows?

 

I was surprised that, for the second week in a row, we had a head chef who decided NOT to cook on an opening night where you're asking for multiple thousands of dollars from investors. What are these guys thinking, ffs???

[seacliffsal]

I think that somehow these chefs think that it's them that people are coming for, not the food. I don't get it. Maybe they think that they are celebrities? It's weird, but if I'm paying money for a specific food experience at a restaurant, I want the chef to be cooking my food, not telling me about it.

[KHenry14]

Isn't this the second week in a row that after the deal was made the restaurant people ended up not working with the celebrity? Sort of kills the show when deals are made and then falls apart after the show. 

 

IMO this restaurant concept will have a huge mountain to climb to become successful as a fast casual place. Nobody in the USA has any concept of what South African cuisine is, and you just can't pop up and expect people to come. The amount of marketing that would be needed to make this concept work would almost make the whole deal too expensive too pursue. I'd pass

[ae2]

Isn't this the second week in a row that after the deal was made the restaurant people ended up not working with the celebrity? Sort of kills the show when deals are made and then falls apart after the show. 

 

Last week Tim offered both guys a job, not an investment. Neither took him up on the job.

 

Some deals are always going to fall through, no way of avoiding that.

[anonymiss]

I am SO ready for some good South African cuisine after seeing this episode! I know just the place, too, but never made it a priority to try them till now. 

 

At first when I heard Joe wasn't there I was disappointed but Elizabeth was so good I'm going to miss her when she's gone. Can we have 3 of them full-time, please?

[DarkRaichu]

I was surprised that, for the second week in a row, we had a head chef who decided NOT to cook on an opening night where you're asking for multiple thousands of dollars from investors. What are these guys thinking, ffs???

For their fast casual concept it made sense for the chef not to be in the kitchen.  IRL he would be busy cooking at the flagship restaurants and would not be hands on at the fast casual locations.  I'd say this thing was a big FAIL precisely because the cooks that were personally hand picked and TRAINED by the chef could not execute the kitchen service seamlessly. 

[columbot]

Someone tell the short guy that walking around in a bicycle helmet is not cool. It has a certain connotation, and nobody knows you're a triathlete just from looking at you so they're not going to make that connection. Also, walking around the streets of LA with one guy in a chicken suit and another on a tricycle? That's a good way to make people avoid you, not come try your food samples.