Gordon Ramsay Confronts a Stubborn Restaurant Owner in Kitchen Nightmares

First of all, how you feeling? Well, like I don't know how to cook, but yeah, it's a little overwhelming the whole cooking. I'm going to say this. Uhhuh. I appreciate you didn't throw the towel in. I'm not a quitter. I can see that. And today we hit rock bottom. But the test for me was the fact that you took a medicine. Yes. And you decided not to quit. Okay. Thank you, Sh. Seriously, I know how painful this is. I've experienced failure. I just haven't made the same mistake twice.

Right. This restaurant is dysfunctional. Yes. And you're tiptoeing over the issues as opposed to addressing with a solution. Yes. Now, I want to help you build this, but I want you to be an integral part. I want you to lead like a proper leader. Stop taking shortcuts. Yes. bond with your staff. Okay, I need to tell you something really important. They all have a plan B. Quit and to go and get a new job. But if that happens now, yes, time is running out.

It is. I'd like you to give your staff an apology. Just I'm sorry for what I put you through cuz you may own this place, but on today's performance, you're not running it. Yeah. and you need to run your business. I'm not proud of me and the way I operate the business. Moving forward, we're going to have a lot of changes that will make their workflow easier. Well, guys, grab some water, please. Yeah, the penny dropped. She finally understands it's time to get off the high horse, stop acting like a princess and bedding with her team. This woman's calling all the shots and has no real experience.

I want to go set a table. She needs to be part of the solution because it's clear over the last 12 months she's been the biggest problem. Um, I'm sweaty. Sorry. Okay. I just written a few notes to keep myself on track. But, um, I just completed my first service and after doing that, I want to apologize for putting you all in that position. I have a clear understanding of what it takes. And I'm not going to do any more shortcuts. We've heard it before, but nothing ever changes. I just don't know what to believe. What did it feel like to have Chef Ramsey nitpick every little thing you did?

Very difficult. Uh especially if you don't have the experience. It was beyond challenging. That's how this is every single day. And I don't think you would want to do that every single day. No, I couldn't do that every day. It's not easy back there, especially to have to prep everything. We need more people. We're taking shortcuts. We need fresh food. Like people are coming here for shrimp. They're coming here for fish, but we're serving them frozen that tastes like we're trying to make it cheap and make it cheap. And you're

going to make it so cheap we're going to close down because we were so cheap. It's like you hired us, but you don't listen to us. I'm hoping you start listening. I understand. I want you to know I've learned how difficult it is in the kitchen and I'm going to be back there and helping y'all and giving you all those resources. We hope so. We want to see y'all succeed. We don't want to see y'all fail. And we're here to help y'all succeed. Oh Lord, he was giving me too much and I'm trying. Chef Ramsey, you need to go home.

Goodbye. When I'm not here, you can't function like this anymore. She needs to be accountable. She needs to understand that with your mama, though. As her daughter, it's hurtful. You know, that's my mama at the end of the day. But as the owner of the verdict in the restaurant, I'm praying that Chef Ramsay is able to get through to her cuz she sure hell don't listen to me. Are you coming in or not? Oh, Lord. Darling, I'm here to help. I know you are here to help, but it's a lot. My darling, we're in trouble.

I know we're in trouble, but you Oh, you focusing on me, me, me, me. Why are you focusing on me? You're the foundation. Try to understand what we're doing wrong. I'm not questioning your effort. I want you working smarter. Now, will you let me help you? Okay, I'm stubborn. I'm setting my ways, but I'm going try to push it down for Malikica, for my child. Because if I don't change, we lose everything. The verdict goes away. All right, I got you. With Mitico on board, I can finally put systems in place to get the kitchen on track. These are the houses where the rich black folks live. That's not a house. That's a mansion.

Look at the size of that thing. These are the people that I'm trying to attract. Gotcha. But for the verdict to succeed, I need to give Malikica advice from personal experience about how to overcome the challenges of working with family. I made a massive mistake years ago, my wife and I, involving family in my business. I employed her father and then other members of the family and all of a sudden they weren't doing what they should have been doing or paid to be done and I could never say anything because it was for fear of upsetting the family and I'm seeing a similar situation with you. You're too kind and your kindness has been mistaken for weakness. But you are being taken advantage of.

You're the coach, the owner, the manager. You run them. They don't run you. Promise. Please. I got this. I'm that chief. I adore my family and I would not want to experience this with nobody else. But everybody wants to be the leader. Nobody wants to follow. We got to fix it. We doing it. With Malikica ready to take charge, my team is heading to the verdict. There he'll stock the fridges with fresh produce, revamp the layout, and transform the decor into a stylish neighborhood hotspot. I'm shocked. The cameras again. This is nothing to do with TV. This has nothing to do with Can you guys give me some space, please?

This is real and I take this situation very, very seriously. We're living in the past and we're stuck in a rut. It doesn't need to be this hard. Right. When I first arrived here, the biggest problem from all of you was the neighborhood. Yeah. I had a meeting the town hall. Do you have any idea how much they want you to succeed? So, we have to stop blaming the community. No. Something wrong. Right. And there's no succession planning for Janet David Junior. There is zero. You're one stubborn guy that won't let go. But I've been making it happen for a while now.

The solution is sat in front of you, right? Yes, we can't do it without you. But you need to embrace change. Tell him, David. You know, we got to switch things around, make it work better, get rid of that frozen. You want to do fresh? Thank you. All right, sir. He got his passion from somewhere. Right. We can start to see it. But let him go. That's why I do all this for them. And Ashley, listen. Janet, how desperate are you to have a chance to take this place to the next generation?

We want to be successful and take care of you. But I need to be in the kitchen. They have to get a shot. And you need to embrace change and you need to empower. Are you ready to let them in? I'm going stubbornly let go, man. I want you guys out of here to get some rest. All right, man. Moving, man. That's a tough nut to crack. He's very proud, but I think more than anything, he's more embarrassed on what he's done. And it's down to his son and his daughter to grab those reigns. And this is going to be a tough release from Vio, but I'm not stopping until he stops controlling everything and everybody.

It's a new day in West and my team have been hard at work overnight. Today, before I reveal the renovation, I need to sit down with Volio, chef the chef, to see if he's truly ready to change. There it is, the Mississippi. Yeah. I mean, it's calm now, isn't it? But man, that thing can turn. It gets wicked. Um, nearly 4 years ago now since that horrific hurricane. Yeah. Wiped you out. Yep. Being the captain of your own ship, having that uh family sort of legacy on your shoulders, who did you turn to?

Nobody. Uh they was all looking at me. I think the most important thing for you now is to almost let go, embrace change. Uh the future's the kids, right? Right. And will you let go? I don't know. This relaunch tonight is a way of establishing them with you behind the scenes, right? Pushing them. But I don't want you fronting the whole thing, right? That's the difference. Oh, yeah. Lift the rest of the family now, right?

Take some weight off your shoulders. Caroline has been enabling Frank and babying him and making excuses for him. And I think that she needs to really come to terms with the fact that Frank is dead weight and not really helpful to the team. Like, is it more important that you keep Frank or you keep your restaurant? I hear you. I'm willing to do what needs to get done. It would be a damn shame to take this opportunity for granted if Chef Ramsey is willing to come back. I'm going to listen to Chef Ramsey and I'm going to make all the changes.

Hello, Chef Ramsey. This is Caroline from Kindred. I'm ready and willing and want to do what needs to get done. Would you come back and help me? Let me just pull over, please, Caroline. Yes. And I just don't know if you are up for change. I don't think you know how to change. I'm so sorry. I'm ready. I'm up for the change. I'm up to do whatever needs to get done. Do you understand how far we've slipped?

Yes, I do. Can you change? Yes, chef. I'll make my way back. Thank you, chef. See you in a bit. Oh, Chef, you're back. Yeah. Can I just have a 30 seconds with Caroline, please? Thank you. Honestly, I was halfway home. You are on the verge of losing everything if we don't get this right. Yes, it's going to be hard. I can't just wave a magic wand. You need to raise the bar. Start looking for success. I'm ready. I'm ready to do what it takes.

This is a once- ina-lifetime opportunity. I'm the captain of the ship. We just need to make some crew changes. I'm going to turn things around with and I'm going to make my restaurant a successful restaurant. I um I think I should send Frank home now. Send him home permanently. That guy's given up. I'm glad you realized it. Frank, can we talk up front? Yeah. Um, I'm sorry. It's not going to work. That's going to be better for you, though. I know. But best of luck to you. Yes, ma'am. This is a very difficult decision because I care about my staff, but like in order for the restaurant to survive, Frank has to go.

Did you just let him go? I did just let him go. Well, that's the start of a very important cleansing period. But for me, the most important thing, Caroline's made a big decision to cut Frank. And honestly, this is going to be a hard enough turnaround. But to work in a restaurant that's got more rats than customers, man, it's going to be a tough one. Me, if you don't want it and you don't trust this process, I'll go. I will leave. We got other restaurants to fix. So, if you're out, I'm out. this dialogue and this story like I just don't like the route that he's like Nelson is not financially supporting this business like how y'all is portraying it's like he's not breaking

the bank like I'm not dragging him on his leg or nothing like that's not the case can I answer I went for a drive listening to the way he works and helping you financially I was blown away I'm leaving the building I asked what's in that container I was shocked all those products you're paying to store in that container that's And that's just one example of something affecting your business. But I want to help you. There's going to be bits you don't like. It's not all smooth plain sailing. If you don't want the process, tell me. I'm in it. Right now, the restaurant is at stake. If I walk away from this process, then it'll be me walking away from the restaurant.

I want the real Blake. Vulnerable, honest. Give me that and you've got me 100%. Are we in? Yeah. Come here. I did think about walking away, but I also know that I came too far to give up. Let's start again. I think some things that we can agree to disagree on. I'm just ready for the next steps. Man, finally the real Blake has started to emerge. But let's get the food right and the rest right. Do that, everything else will fall into place. And now, a new day is dawning for Blake's place. What do you want from three something girls? I would like to see this succeed cuz it is the first thing that has been just for me.

Sure. I know you've been through a lot. Watching you work this hard for very little is just it's not what it's all about. No. You seem to be doing everything and anything for everybody by yourself. I do. This whole place revolves around you. Part of this is letting go and trusting. Trust is the hardest thing. Yeah. That takes time. Do you struggle letting go? I do. Right. I do. How are you keeping all this up in the air?

I'm a mom. That's what we do. because I chose the path that I did in life. It's like I dropped out in 8th grade, worked at McDonald's, teenage mom. Like, you learn to survive. So, I learned to do what was necessary rather than what I wanted. If that makes sense. It does. I grew up watching my mom handle three jobs trying to keep the house together. When you make your road hard, you kind of learn to live in it and get through it. How are you managing that? The weight of the restaurant, business, financial worries, the accidents. That must have shook you beyond. When I got the call, the guy says, "This a state trooper.

Your son's bleeding a lot. The car is immersed in flames. We've called the ambulance. We got to send him to a trauma center. We can't treat him here." I just kept going back to God saying, "You know me, God. Like, I can't bury a child." Bless him. I know I'm not the exception. I'm not better than anybody else, but I just I can't do this. And um you stayed by his bedside. I never left the hospital. Yeah. Shutting this place down, driving to that hospital. It's a lot to take on. It was a lot. Yeah. to hold your child's hand while somebody's trying to put their face back together.

It was a lot. In that moment, you do what you have to do. You know, you put yourself aside and you stand for your child. When life happens, you close your doors. You think nothing of it. But this time, it happened at the beginning of the month. So, I had just paid all of my bills and I got to go into my savings now because we made nothing. Sure. And you've got no business to back up or any cash flow. Mai's accident put life in perspective for me. I went back to my own fundamentals. Like if it's not getting done, I'm just going to step over you and do it. I do that a lot. I've never really wanted to be a boss. I'm just bossing.

But you can't do it on your own. You can't do it all. And you need help. That is absolutely obvious. Give me your strengths. What are you really good at? I don't give up. There's no such thing as not going to work. I'm going to figure it out. It's a blessing and a curse to be that way. Cuz when it's time to seek help or hand it over to somebody else, you don't recognize that because you think you're capable, right? You could do it all. I am not living up to my full potential because I'm tired. I am tired. I'm sick of my inability to be able to step back and let others help in a way that it actually helped me.

What worries me, Gabby, is that, you know, in business, you control it or it controls you. And right now, it's controlling you. And God forbid, you're a powerful, strong, amazing young woman. But one more issue, this whole thing is going to come tumbling down. Oh, I'm going to lose everything trying to keep it from coming back. It's time for a serious chat with Justin and Connie. Take a seat, both of you, please. The dire state of the relationship is deeply troubling. Do you know what pains me is how fragmented you two are. You're like strangers. It's hard to believe that you are mother and daughter. You guys are enemies. It's

hard to understand how much love we've lost through this business. And then what Justin's been through, what she's wanted to do, and how she's been derailed, and now she's embroiled in your doing. So, we have to fix you first. Connie, what do you want from this business? I want to be able to serve good food and give something back that I grew up with. But everyone's victims of your dream, right? Everyone is in disarray. Everyone's confused. Everyone's at their wit's end. And we're in over $600,000 of debt. Yes. Everything you've worked the last four decades for is draining through your hands on a daily basis. And we are desperate.

Yes, sir. Desperate people take desperate measures. And you are meddling. And you're taking everybody down with you. Yes. Stop. You're on the verge of losing your daughter. Whether you like it or not, she is the future. Not perfect, but you need to let go before you lose her. Justin, to go forward, you got to give mom a chance. And going forward, mom, you've got to stop underminiming. Is that clear?

It's clear. Justin, let's work together as family. Stop bickering. Let's not set that tone in front of the rest of the staff and start supporting before it's too late. Is that clear? That's clear. You have to actually want this. I've been telling you, you have to actually want this and be willing to change. I am Tomorrow we move forward together. Oh boy. Hardly. Connie understands what she's doing and she is not only destroying her business, but she is tearing her family apart.

Justin needs to trust her mother, but she also needs to stop being so disrespectful in the kitchen. If she can't do that, then there's no point in continuing. Man, let's see if you're willing to make a change and I am willing to go forward with that change with you. I appreciate that. Really do. I don't think you do. Cuz I'm going to tell you now whether I own this cafe and I don't own this cafe, it really doesn't matter. You're still going to be my daughter. And I'm sorry you have so much anger toward me for this. I'm sad. I really am. I'm upset.

than all the times that I've cried to you. All the times that I've told you when something was wrong. Yeah, sure. Okay, I'm done. You're just literally telling me. Okay, whatever. I love you, Justin. Don't I don't want to touch I don't want to. Do not touch me. I don't care if you love me. That's sad to say. That really is sad to It is sad to say at this point. You made it that way. Thank you. It is okay. All right. You do what your heart tells you to do. My heart told me to contact Gordon. Uhhuh. I had enough heart to say, "Let me save my mother's retirement." I didn't have enough.

I don't know. I don't want to hug you and you don't even want to give me a hug. No, I don't want to hug. Look at how you've been acting towards me. How do you think you're acting toward me? You think you're It's a two-way street, girl. And guess what? We may have to split off. You know, some of those tables tonight were 55 minutes behind. Customers should be waiting between six and seven minutes for the appetizers and then maximum eight to 10 minutes for their entree. When you think about going into a gastro pub, it's buzzing, it's exciting, but more importantly, my god,

the food is quick. It's not a scratch kitchen. Grumpy George. Yeah, grumpy customers. I'd feel like I let Chef Ramsey down. To me, it's a big deal, you know? He's like that person that you want to get to, you know, like at some point in life you want to be a chef Ramsey. You know it's not fine dining, right? Yeah. Why are you treating me like that? How embarrassing were those times tonight? It was rough. It was really rough. I can see where we're losing money big time. And I know we're down, but we're behaving like we're out.

Karen, this was your dream. Yeah. Turned into a nightmare. You gave them the menu, gave them the responsibility, and then we expected to push a button and work. Have you given up? Absolutely not. We wouldn't have asked for you to help us if we'd have given up. Given up's easy. This what we're doing now is not. But you're not even committed. There needs to be a presence. Man, can I just have 2 minutes with Karen, please, please? I'm not sure if my mom realized how bad things were and it kind of might have caught her off guard. Um, I think it kind of caught all of us off guard and it kind of opened all of our eyes.

I am lost for words. I'm going to be honest with you. If you function this place for six more months the way it is, you won't be retiring until you're your mid80s. Yeah. You've sandbagged yourself, your family, and it's dysfunctional. Yeah, absolutely. This is bad. This is really bad. It's so bad that I don't even know really if Gordon can fix it. I think it's just too late. I don't know what's going to happen. I can fix a restaurant. I can't fix you unless you're prepared to change. Can you change? I'm not going to give up on this place.

Is it solvable? No, we got a lot of work to do. I need you to be on your game. Need you to listen and more importantly, embrace the changes. But it starts with you and the staff. They need to be educated. And you're British for God's sake. You need to be giving them guidance on traditional British food. They need to understand that. That's not me showing you the fundamentals and then 2 weeks later you disappear and you start just dipping in here again, you know, once a week. You need to understand. You cannot for one second think that your staff are going

to do it when you're not here. Okay, I know what Gordon's saying. A restaurant takes energy and it takes focus and it's serious work and I need to understand that and own that and run with it. We're in trouble and we got to get out of trouble. Okay. Before it's too late. Okay. Thank you. I'll see you in the morning. All right. Man, Grumpy George is in dire straits, but at the helm is a woman that's got no experience. Karen wants to be a leader, but she's so overwhelmed she doesn't know where to start. And that's a big problem. When Buff died, a piece of him died,

too. Piece of all of us went with him. Uh, Leo. Yes, sir. Can you and I just get out of here for two seconds? Yeah. My hope for Leo is that he can recognize that maybe that's what the issue is and deal with that. I'm so sorry you lost your son. Awful. He was up here that night doing dishes, right? The next morning I found him. I had to do CPR. Yeah. So, you know, I mean, it's definitely been We didn't take any time off. I didn't take any time off. Of course. Yeah. No. Uh-uh. He died on Sunday.

We're closed on Sunday. I was here Monday morning. Leo, stop. Come on, man. Yeah, I was the last one to talk to him, last one to give him a hug, tell him I loved him before he went. Yeah, I was here the next morning at work. That's how I dealt with it. You didn't seek any help? No. I don't show my feelings very much and just kind of I can see that. And what kind of toll did that put on, Jason? He's about like me. He kind of keeps things to himself. But I don't know what was harder, doing the CPR stuff and or having to go tell Jason that his brother died cuz they were tight. They were real close. So putting your hands up and asking for

help, support, it's not a sign of weakness, you know, it's strength. I've always been the rock. But rocks crumble. They do from time to time. They do. You can't continue like this. You're going to put yourself six foot under the practices and what you're doing. This business is not going to survive much longer. Do you want to do this? I definitely do. We need to change direction for the better. You got to find that flame. Do it for family and show bum why you open this place. So, shut that place down. It needs a good clean. You don't need me to tell

you that, okay? Cuz we're going to start again. Let's go. Come on. All right. We're done with service. We got to get this place cleaned up. All right. Today was a an eye openener. Since Bump's passing, obviously, it's affected my drive here at the restaurant. I guess I just haven't learned how to live again yet. Thank you. It's almost feels like ripping off a band-aid. And maybe that's what needs to happen, you know, so that the wound can heal.

Can we take a break? Yeah. I'm hoping that he recognizes that. There's a light in your eye, babe, that hasn't been there. I understand why. But this place right here is your passion. Bump was your passion. You know what I mean? We've already lost one and we can't lose another. Agree. We can't move forward if we don't have the hard conversations. I'm ready to open my eyes and just try to, you know, push this thing forward. I think if Bump was here, he'd say, "You got this, Dad."

I love you, baby. We got this. Out of Mash, no crab cakes, no onion rings. Yeah. Disaster. But sit down quickly. I'm here to help. I don't like to see a man putting himself through everything he's doing cuz he's taken everybody down. He's taken his family down. He's taken the Russian down. He's taking you down. That's what I've been talking to. You're going to have to trust the people around you. I need you to be strong. I need you to be honest. Okay, let's stop him now.

I'll do whatever I can. Let's go. I've spoken to Bert and now I need to sit down with Chris. He clearly needs help and I need to talk to him. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to take this opportunity just to apologize. I'm not going to allow anything else to come out of that kitchen cuz we have some serious issues. Can you help the guests out, please? Thank you. Hey, stop. We're done. Enough. Stop right there. Chris, we need to talk.

Thank y'all. Sorry about that. You two come and sit down. Cameras out. Staff out. What is going on? I don't know what Come on, Chris. I don't know what's happening. Come on, Chris. You're not right. I can't for one more minute just see you performing like this. And we can blame staff. We can blame customers, senior homes. And the first person I'm starting with is you, my friend. It's not the restaurant that needs fixing. I need to help fix you first. What do you want out of this, Chris? Time off would be nice. Mhm. But man, this is a monster. My wife Terry and I started this place happy and it pretty much tore us apart. It's uh hard coming in every day.

A lot of time that should have been spent at home wasn't. It was all spent here. Let's get a system in place. Let's get you out of here. It's doable. I've never seen you so angry and so torn apart, but your health is bad. There's no structure here, man. Your life is a show around you, man. Your family is important, how much? It's so important. He told me to walk away from this thing if he can just get his family back. But I told him he can have both.

This thing is taking you down. And before we lose anything else, we're stopping. Deep down inside, you are way better than this. Are you willing to change? Yeah. Then you've got me. Okay. It's going to be a tough couple of days, but you need to embrace the change. Yeah. I'll I'll do whatever you tell me. Come on. Thank you, sir. Thank you. I thought that this whole thing was just going to be him tearing me a new and it's not that. It's kind of like getting to the root of the problem and figuring

it out. And I want to be uh happy again. Come on.