Career Lessons from Restaurant Repair Shows

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

If you watch any show involving a celebrity chef walking into a restaurant and doing a makeover, they all have a pretty predictable formula.

The restaurant isn’t doing well.

The food is awful but the owners think it is great.

The decor has degraded.

The servers are frustrated.

The celebrity chef walks in looks around complains about everything he sees and tastes and then brings in a renovation team to work on the appearance of the restaurant and the quality and taste of the food.

Often, there are hardheaded owners or chefs that believe they know better.

By the end of the show, usually, they realize they don’t.

Often, your biggest challenge is going to be with management and leadership who believes everything is fine. No one has told the Emperor they are not wearing any clothes.

Sometimes, like on these cooking shows, an intervention is necessary.