Bumbinos - Restaurant Impossible Update - Open or Closed?

In this Restaurant Impossible, Robert Irvine visits Bumbinos Italian Ristorante in Orange City, Florida.

Bumbinos is owned by Terry Gardner and her son Willie Fretwell.

Terry opened Bumbinos to give her son a future as she thought it would be a good investment.

Willie asked his mother to buy the restaurant so that they could work together.

They had the vision for it to be a pleasant environment with happy customers and good food and service.

There are currently three people running the restaurant.

Terry is in the front of house, waiting tables, taking calls and making sales.

Willie is a chef in the kitchen and makes the pizzas.

Cappy is the restaurants cook and cooks the rest of the menu, despite his lack of culinary training.

Cappy worked in construction but the construction company he worked with went out of business.

Terry took him into the restaurant and gave him a job in the kitchen.

The restaurant was good for the first couple of years but the business started to decline and she doesn’t know why.

There is a lot of tension between the owners and most of the time they can’t be in the same room.

Willie and Cappy wind each other up and at times Terry has to get between the two of them.

When he was growing up Willie and his mother were best friends but the relationship has broken down.

The family dynamics are off and this has effected Willie as he is now constantly angry and depressed.

Robert arrives at the restaurant and thinks that the restaurant looks clean especially the ceiling and floors.

He meets with Terry and Willie for a brief about the restaurant and to find out more about the issues at the restaurant.

Willie tells him that he has been in the industry for around 15 years.

The restaurant cost $320,000 to open and he invested $25,000 and Cappy invested $40,000.

Willie used to cook in the kitchen but now he only looks after the pizzas.

Cappy is a friend of the family and he cooks, although he has no background in cooking.

They are all constantly falling out with each other due to the stress of the restaurant failing.

Robert asks to see a food service as he wants to see the issues at the restaurant.

Robert notices that the staff are serving close to 20 guests at once.

The hygiene standards in the kitchen are poor.

The restaurant is too busy for Terry to handle all by herself.

She has already suffered a mini stroke and Robert thinks overworking is not good for her health.

Robert wants to reduce the stress from the restaurant for the sake of her health.

One problem that Robert has discovered is that the kitchen is short staffed.

Willie is the one who is trained but he is not the one who is cooking.

He thinks it would be better if Willie was cooking in the kitchen rather than making pizza.

Cappy can learn how to make pizza and their roles can be swapped.

The animosity between the two is toxic and he needs Willie to take the lead rather than walking out.

Robert calls all three to speak with them and to find out if they want to proceed.

They say that they do so he tells Wille and Cappy to go into the kitchen to make something for him.

Robert wasn’t impressed with the food that they prepared for him.

He did think that Willie’s dough was good but the rest would not make customers want to return.

Robert suggests that they start afresh with the menu and if they don’t do that they will fail.

Robert meets with his designers Cheryl and Tom to discuss plans for the transformation of the restaurant.

The design team has just 48 hours and $10,000 to transform the restaurant.

Robert asks the owners and the staff to help remove the furniture from the restaurant so the design team can get to work.

He brings the owners in to see the empty space one more time before the design team get to work on the space.

Cappy gets emotional and Robert is surprised to see this as he has been the strong one up until this point.

Robert checks in with the design team before the end of the day.

He also meets with Wille and Cappy to give them some homework for overnight.

He told Cappy to think about making pizza and Willie needs to learn how to communicate with people.

Robert checks in with the design team before he leaves for the day and urges them to push hard overnight.

The next day, Robert arrives and checks in with the design team to see the progress they have made overnight.

He is impressed with how much work they have done overnight.

Robert checks in with the owners to see how they got on with the homework that he set for them.

It is clear that he has found a way to move forward with their rift.

Robert goes into the kitchen to work on a new menu for the restaurant.

He takes the owners through making a number of dishes that will be added to the menu.

They love making the new dishes and love the taste of them when they try them.

Robert wants the owners to see the effect it has on customers when they argue.

He takes them next door to another restaurant where the staff argue for their benefit.

It makes them feel uncomfortable and they finally realise that it is how they are making their customers feel.

They have been arguing frequently for close to three and a half years and promise to change.

On the return to the restaurant, Robert checks in with the design team and is impressed that they are nearly finished.

Robert thinks that Cappy needs to get out of his comfort zone in order to get them back on track.

He needs to start making pizzas to free up Willie to work more in the kitchen.

The design team are now finished with the transformation and it is time to reveal it to the owners.

The owners are amazed at the changes that the design team have made to the restaurant.

On relaunch, the customers are let into the restaurant and are impressed.

They love the new decor at the restaurant and the new food is a hit too.

The customers promise to return to the restaurant based on the success of the relaunch.

What Happened Next at Bumbinos Italian Ristorante?

Two weeks after the episode was filmed, business was up 35%.

The customers love the new decor of the restaurant.

The new menu has been a huge hit.

Willie is still in the kitchen and Cappy is still cooking pizza.

Terry is no longer shouting in the restaurant and her and Willie are getting along better.

Bumbinos Italian Ristorante closed in August 2014 blaming the economy, health problems and their appearance on Restaurant Impossible.

Reviews appear to be more positive following the show.

Bumbinos Italian Ristorante was Restaurant Impossible season 8 episode 8 and aired on 30th April 2014.

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