In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits the Kaiserhof German Restaurant in San Diego, California.
Kaiserhof was opened in 1980 by German immigrants Horst and his wife Paula.
It is run now by their son Peter, who took over in 2016.
Horst used to be the head chef with Paula working there too until they retired.
Horst passed away after an illness.
Peter got divorced so he lost focus for a bit.
He took on the reins of the business alone, which was too much for him.
Manager Mary is frustrated with Peter as the leader.
Peter has had to put his retirement funds into the restaurant and it is still losing money.
They have just 6 months left before they will be forced to close.
Robert arrives and is confused as he expected a beer garden.
What he sees instead is dated and worn out with a disjointed design.
He calls Peter to sit with him and give him a summary of the business.
The menu is the same as when Horst was still in charge.
He also has no idea of the numbers.
Robert zones in on Peter’s relationship with his father as he still lives in his shadow.
Peter has not embraced his German heritage but just inherited it.
Customers are brought in so Robert can see their service.
Robert sees servers standing around while Mary runs around but there are rules Peter refuses to bend on.
The systems are dated and causing bottlenecks.
The staff tell Robert that Peter is difficult and yells a lot.
Robert observes the kitchen.
Peter does not prep well, does not communicate and gets flustered, lashing out at the staff.
Robert ends the service and tries the food.
The food is dry, hard, chewy with no flavour and nothing tastes good.
Peter is given the feedback and he admits his father would be disappointed.
Robert asks for the financials so he can see what changes need to be made.
The design team of Lynn and Tom are called in.
They are not impressed at the state of the space from the floral carpet to floral booths.
They are all too happy to empty the place and hope Peter is ready for drastic change.
Robert’s team gets started on a new menu while he meets Peter in his office.
He quickly sees Peter does not know how to present his finances.
Robert meets with the staff to retrain them.
They tell Robert they are not allowed to taste dishes, which is another business mistake.
Peter is called in, he gives excuses and he does not even know much about his staff personally.
Robert checks in on the team and they have finished tearing out all the fixtures they do not need.
They show Robert the vision of what they will be doing to the restaurant.
Robert takes Peter to a German street food truck that makes more than four times he does on the same dishes.
They try the food and Peter admits their food is better.
He then sees there needs to be a change in the recipes and menu.
Robert gives him homework of creating a modern dish with costs and prices calculated.
The next day, Robert checks on Peter and he has taken the time to clean out his office.
They move to the kitchen and Peter makes a dish that he has thoroughly researched and Robert loves it.
It is added to the menu as a special.
Next they do an exercise with his staff where he gets to converse with them one-on-one.
He wants to get to know them better and vice versa.
It looks fun and the staff are confident to be more open about the working conditions.
The staff are appreciative of the experience and Peter says he will change the ways he learned from his father.
In the dining room, a lot of work has been done with some custom fixtures being made.
Robert demonstrates to Peter some new dishes with German twists.
They are low cost to maximise profit.
Peter loves the taste of all the dishes.
The team rush to finish renovations in time while the staff are put through new systems of service.
Robert brings Peter in to see the new space that is more colourful with distinct centrepieces that make it look more like a beer house.
It looks so much better, modern and it actually looks German.
Peter lets in the customers for the relaunch.
They love the space, brightness and ambience.
The servers finally have their own tables.
They can sell the food better because they have a better understanding of the menu.
Peter is calm in the kitchen and treating his staff a lot better.
What Happened Next at Kaiserhof Restaurant?
Since the show, sales are up 35%.
Peter continues to be respectful to the staff.
He finally has enough pride in the restaurant to call it his own.
Kaiserhof Restaurant is open.
Reviews are mostly positive with some complaints about the service being slow.
Kaiserhof Restaurant is Restaurant Impossible season 20 episode 8 and aired on 14th October 2021.
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Next episode - Deno's I-76
Previous episode - The Breakfast Place
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