In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Bryant's Seafood World in Hueytown, Alabama.
Bryant's Seafood World is owned by Gail Cox.
Gail has been running Bryant Seafood for the past five years.
She has always wanted to own a restaurant since she was a teenager.
Gail loves food and also likes to cook for other people.
She worked in the corporate world for an American company for 21 years.
Gail was responsible for launching products to major grocery companies, travelling the world and earning a six figure salary.
Six years ago, she was living in Chicago and her dad passed away so she decided she wanted to be with family.
Gail saw an advert that the restaurant was for sale and decided to buy it as she had grown up in that area.
The restaurant had been a hallmark of the area and jumped on the chance to own it.
Gail thought that she could apply her work ethic from her job into the business.
She brands the purchase of the restaurant as the worst purchase of her life.
Gail did not change anything at the restaurant.
She kept the same staff, equipment, recipes and decor as she felt it was already successful the way it was.
Gail is passionate that she wants to keep the restaurant open.
Robert arrives and thinks that the carpet and floor look like they haven’t been cleaned in decades.
There is also a foul smell and the place is dirty.
Robert asks to meet with Gail for a brief on the restaurant to find out what the issues are.
After things went downhill she confessed that she couldn’t do anything else and it deteriorated.
In 2009, she bought the restaurant as she wanted to have a good reputation and move back to the state.
She tells Robert that she didn’t have any experience in the restaurant industry before buying the restaurant.
The revenue at the restaurant was $700,000 for the first year and $326,000 for the second.
Gail doesn’t understand why the business declined so much during the second year.
She invested her entire savings into the restaurant.
Robert asks to see a service so that he can see what is responsible for the decline at the restaurant.
He notices that the staff are clueless and are running around with no clue.
The kitchen is filthy but Gail doesn’t see any problem with it.
Gail reveals to Robert that she plans to launch some hush puppy snacks and approach a retailer.
Everyone who has tried it isn’t impressed with it and it isn’t a good back up plan for the restaurant.
Robert isn’t impressed with the service and doesn’t think it has gone well for Gail.
He wants to try the food and orders some of their best selling menu items.
Robert isn’t impressed with any of the food that he tried and wouldn’t return to the restaurant for that food.
He talks to Gail and tells her that he needs more commitment, passion and standards.
Gail tells him that she is ready and wants the restaurant to have a future.
Robert is planning to change the menu, work with the staff and redesign the restaurant ready for the reopening.
Robert meets with his designers Taniya and Tom and they discuss ideas for the restaurant.
He asks Gail and the staff to help remove furniture from the restaurant, ready for the design team to be able to start on the redesign.
Robert goes back into the kitchen and is disgusted by how dirty the kitchen is.
He brings in expert John Golden and his cleaning crew to help clean up the kitchen.
Robert tested a cutting board for bacteria and it gave a reading of 5,937.
A normal reading is somewhere between 50 and 100.
John says that he has never seen a reading that high before.
Before he leaves for the day Robert checks in with the designers and is impressed with the progress that they have made so far.
The next day, Robert arrives and checks in with the designers to see the progress that they have made overnight.
They have replaced the floor and this has changed the whole look of the area.
Robert goes into the kitchen to check on the progress of the deep clean.
The kitchen is sparkling clean and the bacteria count has been reduced to safe levels.
Gail needs to learn to communicate with her staff and work on the menu.
She also wants Roberts help to get her hush puppies to the market.
Robert has suggested that she makes a change to the recipe but she doesn’t see this as an issue.
She thinks that the issue is that she needs help to get them on store shelves.
Robert doesn’t think it will sell in the store as they aren’t well liked in the restaurant.
He wants to prove to her that the recipe needs to be changed so he sets up a focus group.
Robert has a sample of Gail’s and his own hush puppies and his recipe is higher rated.
Ten of the focus group would buy his and just one preferred Gail’s recipe.
Gail is still adamant that hers is best and the recipe has been in existence for decades.
She doesn’t want to abandon that recipe as some people didn’t like it.
Robert tells her that it will fail if she puts it out to retail.
He hopes at least his new menu will impress her even though his hush puppy didn’t impress her.
He gathers the kitchen staff to train them on the new menu.
The staff enjoyed learning the new dishes and love the taste of them too.
They feel more ready than ever for the relaunch.
Robert invites some people from the neighbourhood to try the two different hush puppies.
Again, they prefer Roberts recipe to hers and Gail finally relents and admits she should change the recipe.
Robert presents her with a new mixer so that she can make bigger quantities of the product.
The design team is finished in the restaurant and it is time to reveal the new restaurant to the staff and to Gail.
Gail is overwhelmed by the changes at the restaurant and can’t believe how much it has changed.
She bursts into tears when she first sees the new look restaurant.
On relaunch, the customers love the new food and decor.
They promise to return to the restaurant.
What Happened Next at Bryant's Seafood World?
A month later, business was up more than 30%.
The new interior is popular with diners.
The new menu is bringing in new business to the restaurant.
The employees are now cleaning and Gail thinks that she is a better manager.
Gail has taken a break from selling her hushpuppies.
Bryant's Seafood World closed in March 2016.
Reviews were mostly negative after the show with the odd positive/average review.
Bryant's Seafood World was Restaurant Impossible season 8 episode 7 and aired on 23rd April 2014.
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