In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Heather's Country Kitchen in Plains, Montana.
Heather's Country Kitchen is a home-style cooking restaurant owned and run by Heather and Bob Worrall.
They bought the restaurant three years ago as they saw the building was up for sale while driving by.
Bob has always seen Heather as a good cook and baker.
He then encouraged her to own a restaurant because of her ability in cooking and baking.
At the time in the plains of Montana, there was only one other restaurant in the area.
The decision to buy the restaurant changed Heather from a stay-at-home mom to a business owner in 24 hours.
Heather says that the stress of owning a business is having to deal with paying bills with her money.
The restaurant has been a factor in why her husband is yet to retire.
They need the income he generates to keep the restaurant afloat.
She claims the situation is hard on her as her husband has not been there for the kids
Heather is unsure how long she can keep the restaurant running and will be devastated if the business had to come a close.
Robert enters the restaurant and is disappointed with the look of the restaurant.
The restaurant was split into sections, the left side serving as a breakfast bar while the right side is the dining area.
The restaurant decor is odd and is very blue with hard floors on the booths.
Robert meets with Heather and Bob for a brief of the restaurant.
They reveal that they had no experience running a restaurant business before the one they currently manage.
They bought the restaurant for $250,000 with a loan using their house as collateral.
Heather says that her husband and children are the most important thing to her.
Robert wants to see a service to find out the issues at the restaurant.
The customers complain about the odd design and theme of the restaurant.
They generally find the decor overwhelming and are disappointed with the food that they receive.
Robert notices the uncoordinated servers who are all wearing different uniforms and the inefficiency of Heather's management.
In the kitchen there is a lack of professional equipment and a flawed storage system.
Robert asks one of the cooks, Jeff if he has ever made mac and cheese and he hasn’t made it before.
After evaluating the service, Robert decides to try the food.
Heather’s daughter Courtney brings Robert a menu.
Robert orders meatloaf, fried chicken, liver and onions, mac and cheese and their salad.
The food that he received was not good.
The eggs are overcooked, bacon is stale and there is preformed turkey.
The mac and cheese is frozen and reheated in the microwave before it was served.
The sandwich had rotten lettuce and the French fries were fresh but aren’t seasoned.
The swiss cheese was tasteless without ketchup.
The liver was too dry and overcooked and the meatloaf is cold in the middle.
The fried chicken was unseasoned, had a gravy textured like mud and the mashed potato had no flavor at all.
Robert calls Heather and tells her to taste the food.
He wants her to realize the poor quality of the food the restaurant delivers.
Robert asks why he should help them and Heather has no answer.
Robert meets with designer Lynn Kegan to discuss the changes needed for the dining room.
The whole staff empties the restaurant as a start for the renovation.
Robert states that Bob and Heather are great people with a dream.
However, he thinks that they lack hard work, money, expertise and leadership skills, all of which he'll have to teach them.
Roberts realizes that there's no order and no one is in charge.
To prove the point that the staff don’t know who is in charge he plans an exercise.
He will ask the staff questions on who is in charge of various tasks.
There will a column for Heather and a column for no one.
As he asks the questions many of the staff answer no one to the questions, leading Robert to conclude that the management is weak.
Courtney calls the restaurant a circus and Jackie claims she gets disciplined way more than anybody in the restaurant.
Robert realizes that the failing restaurant is run by three families depending on it.
Jackie cries because she feels attacked a lot in the restaurant by her mom Heather.
Robert calls Jackie and Heather aside to settle the tension between them.
Jackie says that she feels left out in the family and sees Courtney and Heather as buddies.
She says she gets punished for things that other members of staff get away with.
Robert asks Heather for clarity and Heather claims she expects more from her daughters than other members of staff.
Robert tells Heather her expectations were too high and makes her realize that she has been carrying out her frustrations on Jackie.
Robert leaves the two to make up while he goes ahead to seek Courtney's opinion on the matter.
Courtney tearfully claims that Heather has changed over the years and hasn't been a mom to her.
Robert asks her to repeat the statement in front of Jackie and Heather.
Courtney repeats the statement and Jackie agrees with her.
Courtney believes the restaurant is the cause of her mom's change in behaviour.
Robert explains that family is worth more than the restaurant.
He advised the trio to go home and declare to one other three things they want, both for the restaurant and personally.
They all hugged and went home to rediscover the bond they had lost.
Robert checks in with the design team and Lynn explains that country themes do not always have to be all blue.
He decides to redesign the restaurant to have a modern country look with bright colors.
Lynn has chosen yellow and a dark grey inspired by weathered wood.
On the second day of work, Robert visits the Worralls to see if they've sorted things out.
He makes use of a home across the road to talk to the family.
Heather says that she wants her daughters to realize that she is the boss at work.
They won’t receive any special treatment as she will treat her workers equally and she should also learn to solve issues amicably without yelling.
The daughters say that they want harmony and that their mom should be a leader and not carry her frustrations on them.
Lynn explains that the lights in a restaurant are essential, so he redesigned the restaurant's lighting to become a central feature.
Robert decides to use the pieces of equipment and skill level of the cooks to create a new menu.
Robert teaches the staff some delicious country dishes, which they all loved when they tasted them.
Robert calls in Heather and teaches her how to manage a restaurant business.
He shows her that by not being in control and not keeping her eyes on things, especially the finances, money would keep dwindling.
Robert put Heather back in as the restaurant's head and leader and makes the whole staff aware of this.
Robert reveals the new look of the restaurant to Bob and Heather.
The couple are so overwhelmed by the design of the restaurant.
They call in the daughters to look and they are surprised at the new look.
On relaunch, the customers are happy with the new atmosphere and design of the restaurant.
They think the restaurant is prettier and more alluring.
They brand the food as phenomenal as it has more flavour and promise to the restaurant.
What Happened Next at Heather's Country Kitchen?
A few weeks later and sales are steady.
Customers love the new decor, especially the flooring.
Jackie is no longer working at the restaurant.
They later returned some previous customer favourites to the menu.
Sales improved after the show was aired with an increase of up to 40% in their busy months.
Heather's Country Kitchen closed in August 2017.
Heather's Country Kitchen was Restaurant Impossible season 7 episode 10 and aired on 1st January 2014.
Click for more Restaurant Impossible Restaurants
Next episode - Spunky Monkey Bar & Grill
Previous episode - Goombazz Big City Eatzz
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments will be moderated prior to being published. Those with spam links, offensive language or of an offensive nature will not be published. All comments are the opinion of the commenter and do not represent the opinions of the website owner.