Michele's - Restaurant Impossible Update - Open or Closed?

In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visited Michele's Restaurant in Corry, Western Pennsylvania.

Michele’s restaurant is owned by Andrew and Michele Sventek.

The couple purchased the restaurant three years ago at an auction and named the restaurant after Michele.

Neither of them had previously run a restaurant and the lack of experience has stopped them turning a profit.

They haven’t made any money at all since opening the restaurant despite putting their all into the restaurant.

Michele does everything, the finance, the ordering and she preps and cooks in the kitchen despite no formal training.

They don't want to give up but the pressure of the restaurant is starting to get on top of Michele.

Robert arrives and finds the interior dated and gloomy.

He hates the wood paneling and the floral tablecloths.

He upsets Michele when he says that the previous owners must have thought they had sucker on their foreheads for buying the restaurant.

Andy reveals that he thought his two-decade wealth of experience as a business contractor was sufficient to take them through the restaurant business.

Although Michelle hasn’t had any formal kitchen training she considered herself suitable for cooking at the restaurant.

When she became overwhelmed with he kitchen she hired a cook but they performed worse than she had and only made things worse.

The restaurant has affected their relationship and the couple confess that they are arguing more often than they used to.

Robert asks to observe a dinner service at the restaurant.

The food that was served is some of the worst that Robert has seen so far since he started the show.

Everything is pre-prepared and reheated and the steak Robert receives is awful.

Michele is too picky to hire a chef but Robert tells her as nice as she is that she can't cook.

Robert knows that he needs to find someone who has passion, knowledge and the will to put out good food and run her kitchen so that she can start to make money.

Robert thinks Andy isn't giving Michelle the support she needs.

Their relationship seems to be tense but he promised to fix it before the end of the day.

Robert meets with the servers to see what they think is wrong with the restaurant.

They think that Michele is overwhelmed as she has taken on everything and doesn’t delegate tasks to others.

They also tell Robert that Andy criticizes her too much and makes things worse.

They have heard him scolding her and he uses vulgar language in front of staff and customers.

Robert meets with his designer Taniya to discuss the restaurant and changes that need to be made.

The staff help to clear the dining room ready for the design team to be able to get to work.

Roberts next task is to work with Andy to stop the pressure he is putting on Michele with the language he is using.

He gives him some bricks and tasks him with building whilst he uses the phrases and words that he uses towards Michele and the staff.

As he builds he feels the pressure and struggles and realizes that it doesn’t help at all and apologizes to Michele for his behavior.

Robert knows that the kitchen needs a qualified cook and gives the owners some homework to put out an ad for cooks for the restaurant.

The next day, Robert has many tasks to complete including finding a new cook and teaching them a new menu.

He also needs to make sure that the design team are finished on time.

Robert checks in with the designer to see the progress overnight.

He is impressed with their progress and asks them to keep on at their current pace.

Robert checks in with the owners to see what came of their homework of an advert for a cook.

He is pleased that there were three applications for the role.

Robert sets up a cooking test to judge their skills and to find out who is the right fit for the restaurant.

All of the cooks make mistakes under the pressure.

Jessica is chosen as the new cook for the restaurant due to her passion.

She will be cooking for up to two hundred people that evening when the restaurant reopens.

Robert leaves to check on the designers, they are a little behind.

Robert is sure that they can pull it together in time for the relaunch.

Andy and Michelle now know what to do to make the ball roll in the right direction.

Back in the kitchen Jessica is a quick study.

She has learnt the dishes in record time ready for the relaunch and is working on prep.

She is ready for the challenge of the relaunch.

The design team finish with the finishing touches and the new dining area is revealed to Andy and Michele.

They are shocked to see the new extreme makeover of the restaurant and it looks like a different restaurant.

On relaunch night, the customers are amazed by the new look of the restaurant.

They brand the atmosphere as refreshing and the new menu as delicious.

What Happened Next at Michele's?

When Robert revisits a few months later, sales have increased 40%.

They are working towards hitting Robert's set target for sales.

The new brighter decor has been popular with customers.

The menu is now a mix of the original items and Robert's new dishes.

Jessie is no longer working at the restaurant.

They have a new Head Chef with 15 years of kitchen experience.

Michele's closed in November 2013.

It closed suddenly with no announcement and diners arrived to find the restaurant closed.

Michele's was Restaurant Impossible season 4 episode 9 and aired on September 19 2012.

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