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SHOW US THE MONEY
A thrilling new reality show follows aspiring restaurant owners battling to convince investors to fund their dream
In new reality show Million Pound Menu, would-be restaurateurs battle to win backing for their dream business
Just when you think there’s an excess of reality shows and, in particular, a glut of programmes about food, along comes a series that makes you fall for the genre all over again. BBC2’s Million Pound Menu merges Dragons’ Den and The Apprentice with Master Chef to create something different and exciting. It showcases 12 aspiring restaurant owners as they try to get ten of the nation’s top investors in the industry to back them. They’re not competing with each other; it’s more about showing the investors, who’ll potentially be putting in hundreds of thousands of pounds – and in one case £1 million – of their own money, that they’re worth the punt. The fact that it’s genuinely life-changing makes the possibility of failure and the excitement of a win even more thrilling.
‘I’ve been in the catering industry for 25 years now and what happens in Million Pound Menu takes place every day,’ says Fred Sirieix, the restaurant manager and First Dates host who presents the new show. ‘It’s capturing the dream of people who aspire to open their first restaurant. Or they may already have a place but want to open more. This is what everyone in the restaurant business wants to do.’
The 12 participants have already beaten more than 100 others to get down to the final rounds. All were picked because they managed to get two or more of the show’s investors interested in their concept. For the finals, which is what viewers will see each week over six weeks, they have three days to showcase their plans to potential investors in Manchester. They have one evening to ‘soft launch’ their restaurant with paying punters before feeding the investors lunch. If the investors are still interested, they then have a meeting to discuss business plans and a second dinner. That dinner is crucial; if the fish has been oversalted or the cutlery takes too long to appear, it can dash the contestant’s chances of opening their own restaurant.
Each of the six episodes features two hopefuls and each ends with a nail-biter; the investors have exactly one hour to show up and make the would-be restaurateur an offer. If noone walks through the door, that’s it. ‘That final hour was the hardest time for me,’ says Fred. ‘I can’t help but get emotionally involved – I can feel the aspiring restaurateurs’ pain and I always want it to work out for them. But, sadly, it isn’t always like that.’
Out of the 12 competitors in the show only four are offered investment. Of those, one team that asked for a £600,000 investment ends up with £1 million while, in a huge surprise, another team turns down an offer. ‘I think the BBC would have liked a win every episode but I couldn’t offer a happy ending each time because that isn’t real,’ says producer Meredith Chambers. ‘It’s hard to get investment in this industry. Everyone was good but some weren’t good enough. I think that makes it the most truthful business show on TV.’
The hopefuls come from all corners of Britain. In the first episode we learn about Epoch, a restaurant business founded by two brilliant and young restaurant workers; Emily Lamber t, the youngest- ever sommel ier at The Ritz, and Ruth Hansom, an award-winning chef at the same hotel. They wanted to open a strictly British-produce- only restaurant; one potential investor was put off by the fact this meant no coffee.
‘It was nerve-racking,’ says Emily. ‘We’d given up our jobs to be on the show so we weren’t getting paid and we knew there was a very high chance we’d be back searching for jobs quickly if it didn’t work out.’
Their backgrounds and cooking are a world away from another aspiring restaurateur, Prince Cofie Owusu, who’ll appear in episode four. He has become a sensation on social media thanks to his spiced lobster tails and macaroni cheese, which he makes in his mother’s south London ki tchen and sells from her flat. He went on the show in the hope of becoming the next Nando’s.
Other restaurant ideas include a Cuban street-food company and a fish finger sandwich outlet.
Among the potential investors are some of the best-known names in the restaurant business. Atul Kochar was the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star in the UK and owns Benares in Mayfair, while Lydia Forte works for her family’s Rocco Forte Hotel group. David Page is the chairman of the investment company behind Pizza Express.
Even if the investors didn’t immediately decide to put their money into a venture, they all helped with ideas and mentoring. And while there’ll definitely be three restaurants opening as a result of the show, Fred believes there could even be more in the future.
‘For some there wasn’t a happy ending but most of them will pick themselves up, I hope,’ says Fred. ‘One has opened an outlet in Manchester after we filmed the show there.
‘Being on the show is just a start for all of them. The important thing is, they have a clear vision of what they want. But it was amazing to see some of them get these opportunities; it was out of this world.’
Million Pound Menu, Thursday, 9pm, BBC2.
One team that asked for £600,000 got £1 million