This Is How Many Restaurant: Impossible Restaurants Shut Down

On "Restaurant: Impossible," Robert Irvine makes it his mission to transform failing eateries. The "before and after" is dramatic, but do the changes stick? Here's a rundown of the show's rocky track record.

#RealityTV #Restaurants #Food

The Anchor | 0:00
Cape Horn Family Restaurant | 1:03
County Fare | 1:47
The Dinner Bell | 2:32
The Mad Cactus | 3:25
Mama Lee's | 4:26
Mainelli's | 5:24
Meglio's | 6:11
Peppino's Ristorante Italiano | 6:49
Rosie's Cafe | 7:25
Scrimmages | 8:20
Snooty Fox | 9:09
So Natural Organic Restaurant | 9:47
Wagon Wheel | 10:36

Voiceover by: Emily Brown

[mtmc]

If you're a regular viewer, you'll notice that a lot of these owners are dysfunctional. You can't make people not be that way. They have to make a conscious choice to do better; to be better.

[tonyarc]

I was a volunteer for an episode and cant say enough for Robert. He is very down to earth and a kind man. Short guy and very military styled personality. He always new exactly what was needed and doing. He was kind but ridged on what needed to be done.

[jimwentworth]

Robert Irvine is so cool. I have a lot of respect for him. I love that he tells it like it is but in that process he does not disrespect the staff of restaraunts unlike a certain other famous chef. He is a awesome chef and i think he knows what he is talking about... Its a shame that so many restarauntors do not take to heart what he has to say sometimes. He has a lot of good advice and i wish more chefs would take it to heart. The Wagon Wheel in Delaware and a few others in Delaware did not take his advice and now theyre either failing or closed. Its a darn shame.

[jackwalker]

Its rare from my understanding that a restaurant actually succeeds. Something like a 70% failure rate. I have grown to enjoy cooking in my retirement, and get better, but would never want the nightmare of owning a restaurant, nor would I be qualified to run one, either from a cooking or management standpoint

[PereMarquette]

I do miss Robert Irvine on food network though.

[susankeefer]

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” Robert Irvine does a great job in a short amount of time, but if the restaurant owners won’t listen, they’ll fail. I’m shocked at how many of these owners have no experience in the restaurant business. The food business is VERY hard!

[patrickgomez]

How about focusing a bit on the positive, the amount of restaurants he helped to survive which is probably quite extensive. 😮

[Ahglock]

If only 12 failed he is absurdly successful at fixing restaurants. Especially when 2 of these failures were totally outside their control, dying and being too injured to work don't feel like a restaurant failure. I do assume far more failed as that is just the reality of business.

[brianmoody]

Yeah cannot help everyone, you can show them the way, but it’s up too them, there being shown the right way how to make a restaurant for them to cook and make great food for their customers.

[xstatixtribalelectronicmus]

Rob and the crew could only do so much. It was up to the owners. It’s easy to get an “A” but harder to keep one👍

[MoivinSulunker]

you said "restaurateurs" instead of "restauranteurs". Well done!

[itsdeanya]

Well curated content, nicely presented. Could you make one of the successes?

[raymondbeattie]

The Trails restaurant in the community of San Carlos in San Diego has done well. Survived covid and is a great place to fo for breakfast/lunch. The staff is excellent and like family.

[mlt]

You forgot Al's Seafood in Essex MD, They had a fire in 2020 and have been working out of a carry out since about 5 miles away, The building is still in the fire damaged state after 2.5 years. Hope they get help soon.

[knightmare]

No surprise about this or Gordon Ramsay's 75% failure rate. There's people out there that if you tell them to do one thing and show them why, they still do the exact opposite and it causes problems. Then there's those that had serious health issues. Some were also too far gone to fix and the pandemic really destroyed the restaurant business. The majority of the ones that failed were usually too far gone to fix and they often went back to their old ways even though it was obvious that they didn't work.

[jaycarrillojc]

One of the most unforgiving industries with the harshest margins for error.

[PrayImagineCreate]

Sounds like most of these failures had nothing to do with the show. I’m amazed at how many “returned to former” practices and menu items before closing. And then just as many fluke accidents, or just loss of interest by the owners.
I’d be interested in the opposite video where they show the RI success cases.

[carmencarlton]

No matter how hard you change the things that need change you can’t get these people to admit they are wrong so they think we’ll things are going well let out the s thing back on and guess what they close

[jaycarrillojc]

It's a good show, but you can put a new coat of paint and a new look on the place, but if the owner can't keep the reins tight...there is no hope.

[MoivinSulunker]

I did a checkin a few years back and found the followin:

Hotel Impossible Anthony Melchiori close to 100%

Bar Rescue Taffer 80%

Ramsay 20%

Robert Irvine close to 0%