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| Food Network |
Speakeasy: Do the contestants really work nonstop for 24-hours?
Scott Conant: They literally run.
How do they handle the constant rush?
A lot of people would stay all night. You can see it, people sleeping inside the restaurant for a few hours. In season one, the barbeque team slept inside the restaurant. Every hour, on the hour, he was up basting the barbeque and then he’d fall asleep again.
How important is it for teams to have a restaurant “theme” beforehand?
If you don’t have a clear idea of what you do, this is not the time to make it up as you go along. You really do have to have it thought out beforehand. Some are very interesting. There was a caveman restaurant with barbeque [last season] that involved eating food placed in the middle of the table with your hands. That was one concept. The other competitor had a trailer park style.
What are some novice mistakes that you’ve see team members make? Perhaps something that you may have done at your first restaurant?
I think it’s funny that some of the mistakes people make in this show are the same mistakes that seasoned restaurateurs make. The small plate thing is one. They don’t count how many plates are coming out of the kitchen. They don’t buy enough food or oil or too much. The teams get a staff and they have to manage them. Many people don’t have experience managing staff and had some conflicts with them.
Tell me about the customers you’ve chosen to stock the restaurants with?
Some of them are really tough. Some approach the role very seriously and will say things like I’ll never come to this restaurant again. Or the food is terrible.
Are they so critical because there’s an expectation to be tough for the show?
I think whenever the Food Network is involved, there’s an expectation for the quality of food to be at a certain level. Also, you never want to say customers are harsh. You have to consider that adage that customers are always right. You need to take it all into consideration and filter it out. Service is always difficult, especially in a 24-hour time frame.
What’s new for season 2?
We’ve streamlined the show for this season. In the first season, we just let everybody figure it out. Now we have a few more parameters so it’s not as willy-nilly and they can make better restaurants. We told everybody that they have to have a menu in their head. You can adjust it later but you have to have a clear idea of what you want to make. We also heard from viewers that they wanted to see more of what goes on into the restaurant. There’s so much that happens in the 24-hours, we tried to adjust in production to filter out the things that don’t make sense and showcase the things that do.
Are you going to throw any additional curveballs into the competition to mix it up? Equipment malfunction or a choking customer?
The 24-hour thing, I think, is enough of a curveball!
What do you think of the latest crop of contestants so far?
The biggest thing I noticed is how prepared some people were. There were some people that I was so impressed by, I gave them a business card and said, listen, if you ever want to do something in the future, give me a call because it could be something we could all have fun with.
Have any of the teams from season 1 gone on to open actual restaurants?
Yes, two of them have and that’s very cool.
