7 Bone The Restaurant Man

The only thing that stands between success

and failure at the moment, is chance.

Many of us fantasise about opening our own restaurant,

and every year, thousands try.

But with restaurants up to three times more likely to fail

than any other business, it's not for the faint-hearted.

Opening a restaurant just to make money is wrong,

but it's very important that it does make money.

The restaurant trade can be brutal - and I should know.

I'm Russell Norman.

After years of dreaming,

I set up a series of acclaimed restaurants that now serve

half a million customers a year in the cut-throat London market,

all during the recent recession.

I'd definitely say there were rules to opening

and running a successful restaurant.

The difference between success and failure is an obsession with detail.

You must know your numbers, you must do your research,

you must be prepared to work very long hours.

Now I'm helping six first-timers,

gambling their life savings to start their own restaurants.

I've got no food and I'm opening in less than 48 hours.

It is work in progress,

but it needs to be work that isn't in progress quite soon.

I'll try to help them with everything from floor plans

to finance, and menus to marketing.

And then the third plate like that. Now you're a waiter.

As newcomers to the business, I'll have to shatter a few illusions.

I'm going to have to show it to her, it's almost inedible.

I mean, this is cute, but very impractical.

Well, what's the solution, Russell? Tell me, you get another plumber?

That's exactly what you do.

Each of these plucky entrepreneurs is hoping their new venture

will give them a better life.

This is all mine, and isn't it gorgeous? Thank you.

But unless they get every detail spot-on,

it could mean bankruptcy and personal disaster.

I'm scared now, yeah, I'm very scared.

This time, I'm standing here with extreme restaurant envy,

-I have to say.

-Good.

-It's got so much character already.

-Yeah.

IT consultant Rich and accountant Matt want to launch 7 Bone,

a cutting edge burger joint in Southampton.

It's bye-bye balance sheet and hello chef whites and burger flipper.

Best friends, they've ploughed £100,000 into the business.

In terms of risk, it's probably beyond comprehension,

I haven't gauged exactly how big a risk it is.

But neither has any experience of the restaurant trade.

I'm going to come straight to you, I order...what happens then?

FIRE ALARM WAILS

So the fire alarm went off - with one burger on the grill.

-We haven't got any...

-He's got that look on his face of blind panic.

There's a lot riding on this restaurant - their friendship,

a small fortune and the dream of a new life.

-It's unbelievably tough.

-Things become more real.

It becomes more fraught, there are more things that go wrong,

the pressure mounts...

And yeah, it's scary.

-There you go, sir.

-Excellent, thank you.

I'm in Honest Burgers in Soho in Central London,

and this place is typical of the sort of restaurant that's

sprung up in London the last couple of years.

It's an exciting trend, and it's all about this - the humble burger.

Burgers used to be thought of as cheap, unhealthy fast food,

but places like this have raised them to another level.

The emphasis is now on provenance and quality of ingredient,

and they're incredibly popular.

They come here, of course, for the quality of the burger,

but they also come here to be part of that

slightly retro, street-inspired burger scene.

It's a trend that has crossed the Atlantic from the States,

where it has origins, but so far

it's only really taken off in London.

It's this London burger scene that the two best friends want to

bring to their hometown of Southampton.

And I'm off to meet them.

So you need to be able to come to the table and sit down.

So I've got that vision in my mind, a great look and feel,

really great experience, amazing food.

We could shunt it over a little, I think.

We sat there as a customer and thought,

"We just love this, let's do it ourselves.

"We want some of this in Southampton."

-Matt.

-Thanks, Nick.

-Best of luck.

-Great stuff, thanks very much.

Financial controller Matt is giving up a secure job

and a salary of £50,000.

It feels like a massive chapter of my life closing.

-This one?

-Yeah, Daddy give you a clean one though.

He'll be relying on the restaurant to support his young family.

'It's just massive mixed emotions really,

'from excitement to waking up in cold sweats.'

His best friend Rich is only just married,

but has put all his savings on the line.

I'm not naive to think that the wheels can't fall off

and things won't go horribly wrong, but we will make this a success.

OK, so that's basically the size of the table.

Their first restaurant will only support one salary,

so for now, Rich will keep his day job.

But the pair have big plans to open a chain of restaurants

on the south coast.

Don't want to get ahead of ourselves,

but if we get the concept right, I personally think

we could open up ten units within the space of five years.

I'm curious to see exactly what they've got in mind.

Southampton is already well-served by cheap high-street chains

and pubs that serve more up-market burgers.

That whole burger vibe is based in London, be interesting to see

whether Southampton is ready for that.

So my challenge is to ensure they create the kind of

edgy restaurant that will stand out from the crowd.

Yeah, a little bit nervous, a few butterflies.

It's going to be great to see what he says

and take his feedback on board.

There are no guarantees that what works for London

will fly in Southampton,

But the boys have put a lot of research into getting this far

and testing the burger itself.

For the past six months they've been showcasing

and refining their secret recipe at a weekend market stall.

So it's just, you know - the patty, the cheese, the bun.

It's quite simple, but if you can perfect that, it's just delicious.

-Are you Matt?

-I am indeed.

-I'm Russell.

-Great to meet you.

How are you?

-Good to meet you.

-How's things?

-Yeah, not too bad, thank you.

This is pretty impressive for breakfast.

-Yeah, not too bad,.

-You're Rich?

-Hiya, I'm Richard, yeah.

-Do the chef handshake, shall we?

-Yeah, gloves on obviously.

Looking forward to you trying things and...

No, I'm looking forward to trying,

I've worked up a bit of an appetite, I have to say.

What would you like, Russell?

-I'd like the purest, least messed about with.

-OK.

So, three ounces of ground beef,

do you have a particular butcher that you use?

We do, we use a local family butcher,

his family have actually had the butcher's for the last 50 years.

Very, very flexible in terms of how long we'd like the meat aged.

So this is aged for how long?

-This particular piece is aged for 29 days.

-Right.

'Matt is obviously passionate about the quality of the burger,

'but as the future head chef,

'I can't help noticing he's not the fastest flipper in town.'

Tell me about the bun, is this a bun you've designed,

or is it shop-bought?

No, no, no, we use a local artisan baker,

and this is as soft as you can go in terms of sourdough.

Again, quite classic with the American mustard.

'Matt and Rich aim to sell a burger with fries at the £10 mark.'

-This is the finished product?

-This is the finished product.

The cheap high-street chains charge a third of that,

so this burger had better be good.

Very good.

I think the bun could be improved a little bit.

I think there's a bit of resistance to the meat as well,

which could be looked at. Maybe it's the heat that it's cooked at.

Maybe it could even have been cooked a little bit less,

there wasn't much pinkness in it.

I think there's still a bit of work to be done here,

and knocking out a few burgers on a stall is one thing,

but turning that into a restaurant is a whole new ball game.

Matt and Rich want 7 Bone to be open in just six weeks.

It's a punishing deadline for first-timers,

so I need to spend today covering as much ground as I can.

-This is it?

-Yeah.

-'First, I want to see their site.'

-This is it, the current shell that we've got.

-Wow.

Ready to go, yeah(?) We just need some gas and a few tables.

Yeah, Matt loves that.

I absolutely love that wall and I love the old tartan.

You're keeping that of course, yeah?

'Start-ups often blow hundreds of thousands of pounds

'on expensive fit-outs.

'I think that's a financial mistake.

'I've personally designed all my restaurants,

'and I always look for the building's hidden treasures.

'The reclaimed distressed look is perfect for the

'high-end burger experience, AND it's cheap.'

I'm standing here with extreme restaurant envy, I have to say.

-Good.

-I think it's got so much character already.

-Yeah.

The colour there is beautiful, isn't it?

The turquoise underneath the tartan is really striking.

So you've got masses of interest in that texture,

you've got a really beautiful brick wall here, you've got - I think -

really interesting scarred tongue and groove here.

How would you finish that, Russell, if it was your restaurant?

-I'm not going to tell you that.

-No.

-I'm joking! How would I finish this?

The actual original wood panellings.

I would do exactly the same, I would keep it. It's texture, it's history.

And you've got an opportunity with these three surfaces to do

something really interesting.

I love what they've uncovered here, but I already sense some hesitation.

They'll need courage in their vision if they're to pull this off.

In London, I could personally see that working really well

and suiting the market.

In Southampton the question I would ask is, "Would that suit...?"

-Is Southampton ready?

-Ready for it, yeah.

Do you want to sanitise your passion and your vision for an audience

that you don't think is ready for it, or do you want to educate?

Say to Southampton, "This the way we want it to be,

"and this is the way we want you to like it."

Location is key.

Matt and Rich have picked a busy high street

half a mile from the city centre, with plenty of other restaurants.

But competition is good.

It means the area is a destination for diners.

It's not a business district,

it's not full of people that are going to have

expense account lunches, it's real, and a little bit grotty,

and a little bit frayed around the edges.

This suburb is near Southampton's two universities,

and students could be ideal customers for 7 Bone.

But only if Matt and Rich create the right kind of vibe.

I'm coming through the door, and I'm seeing what?

'But for now, I want to find out how the space is going to work.'

So this is all front of house, so we're planning on getting 15 tables.

We're planning on having a long bar, so you walk into the bar area.

Bar starts where?

Around here, so it's going to come all the way across.

All the way across?

This'll be one wall of the kitchen.

So this area where the builders are, behind this support, is kitchen?

That's all kitchen.

The final thing I want to do today is get a handle on the finances.

Matt and Rich have raised £40,000 from friends and family, and have

each put in £30,000 of their own money - the maximum they can afford.

They're hoping to recoup that money within the first year,

based on each customer spending £10, but do the numbers stack up?

I think it would be really useful to start with your break even,

and I think we should start with your break even for a month.

What is that, Matt?

Our break-even revenue for the month is £10,800.

-Just to cover your costs.

-Yep.

-So any lower than that and you're in trouble.

-We are, yep.

-What's that a week?

-£2,700 per week.

Your average spend is £10, so how many...?

-270.

-270 covers per week, 270 burgers and a drink, let's say.

-Yep.

-If we can visualise it like that.

-Yeah, an average spend.

-OK.

This won't be enough income to support Matt and his family,

let alone Richard.

Can we go on to our medium case scenarios?

We're looking at around 11,000 per week.

-11,092, is that right?

-Yep.

This would give the boys sufficient

profit to start a second outlet.

Which puts you in a very good place indeed, doesn't it?

-Thank you so much.

-Great to meet you.

-No, it's been a real pleasure.

-Best of luck, see you next time.

-Thanks, Russell, take care.

Wow. They've got bags of ideas and ambition,

but for two people with absolutely no restaurant experience,

Matt and Richard really have a massive task ahead of them

if they're going to open that restaurant in six weeks' time.

And on top of taking on a complete rebuild, Matt has no

professional cooking experience, and he's very slow and meticulous.

I really need to wake him up.

And if Richard really is going to be running the front of house,

he needs to plan it like a military operation,

but he's just not focused yet.

If this were my restaurant, I'd be worried, I'd be very worried.

The good news is that Matt and Rich have chosen a product

beloved by Brits ever since Wimpy opened its first restaurant in 1954.

And as a business, there's a lot to like.

Burgers are simple to make, so need for highly trained chefs.

The ingredients are cheap, so there's a high mark-up.

And there's a fast turnaround on tables too.

It all adds up to a market worth £3 billion in the UK,

but it's fiercely competitive, especially at the high-end,

with big players from the US muscling in on the burger bandwagon.

Hello, mate, Golden Square, W1, please.

To survive in this market, Matt and Rich need to run a tight ship,

so I'm starting with the engine room of any restaurant - the kitchen.

Which will be run by Matt.

I noticed in Southampton that Matt was really slow

when it came to flipping burgers, he took his time.

He won't have an opportunity to do that today, he's going

to be working in a fast-paced, high-octane environment.

He'll have to produce burgers at speed and of high quality.

-Matt.

-Russell.

-Welcome to London.

-Thank you very much.

What I'm going to do with you today is I'm going to

-throw you in the deep end.

-OK.

'I've arranged for him to work the grill at Byron, a chain of

'up-market burger restaurants that's

'opened 34 outlets in just five years,

'creating a business worth £100 million.'

-Fred.

-Hi, Russell. How are you?

-Very well, good to see you. This is Matt.

-Matt, nice to meet you, welcome to Byron.

-Thank you very much.

Fred is the head chef here.

'Restaurant success is always built on a well-oiled machine.'

So this is very much going to be your grill.

Inside here you've got all your patties, ready to go.

Over here...is where our tickets are going to come out, OK?

So we're going to work left to right.

There's a lot that is theory at the moment for Rich and Matt,

and this is a very useful exercise for Matt,

to plug the gap I suppose between the idea and the reality.

The doors open.

This is Matt's first taste of the pressures of cooking

in a professional kitchen.

OK, one cheeseburger. The clock's going inside, you're thinking, yeah?

You've got to be almost like a robot - burger goes on the grill,

you season the burger, turn the burgers,

and every time you put it on you're moving the paper off.

Four-and-a-half minutes on those.

And it's just getting into that rhythm.

And it's really important cos this restaurant's going to

get busy at lunch today.

One Classic, well done.

One Classic, two Byron, all medium. Try and go a bit quicker.

It's all about the system, faster, faster, faster.

-The orders start to pile up.

-How long, two Byron?

Two minutes. Watch your salt on this one.

I'd be thinking of moving that and creating a line of the three,

-so it's clear, yeah?

-OK.

If you look at Matt and you look at Fred,

it's almost like they're moving at different speeds.

How about these ones?

Fred's on double-time, Matt's sort of on half-time.

One medium-well, yeah?

I'm thinking it's almost going too slowly there,

you may want to move it up.

Just trying to stay as focused as possible.

Obviously it's extremely hot,

there's orders coming in left right and centre.

64 and 46!

Right, let's go.

On the stall, Matt took 12 minutes to cook each burger.

Here, he has six.

A little bit under. Medium-well. Move that one to the top.

The other thing to mention is that Matt is standing in front

of a grill that's pumping out 400 degrees centigrade of heat.

He's probably never been in a hotter situation in his life.

He had 18 burgers in front of him just a moment ago.

All ordered to different degrees of doneness,

how he keeps track of them I don't know.

This is the reality of the restaurant trade.

You can't treat it as a hobby, it takes blood, sweat and discipline.

Where's the medium? Let's go, let's go. Where you going?

Whoa - broken burger.

That in the bin. Another one. Quick, quick, quick, quick.

This is exactly what Matt and Rich want,

a big restaurant full of people, and they are producing

very good quality burgers under pressure and in quantity.

And that's what 7 Bone will be about too.

-How long, Matt?

-40 seconds to a minute.

-OK, good.

By the end of lunchtime service Matt has cooked 120 burgers

in less than two hours.

Extremely hard, I'm surprised I've still got my eyebrows

and my tache actually.

I could feel my tache wax starting to melt through service,

so, yeah, insanely hot, a few burns, all battered and bruised,

but amazingly rewarding.

So tell me about Matt's attention to detail

and the quality of the product,

was every burger as good as you would have hoped?

Yeah, absolutely, if it hasn't been

I would have thrown it in the bin, or back at him.

But once we got into it and followed the systems properly, which is

really what it's about, and sticking to the rules, did very well.

Very impressive. Well done, Matt.

'Here, Matt was just one cog in a machine.

'His challenge at 7 Bone will be to develop

'a system for the whole kitchen.'

Good restaurants thrive by constantly striving to

perfect their dishes.

And when Matt and Rich open theirs,

they need to be confident their burger is the best it can be.

So I've asked two friends who know a thing or two about burgers

to taste 7 Bone's.

Here we are, Matt.

-This is Gizzi Erskine, chef and food writer, this is Matt.

-Hi.

Gizzi is here because she's been very connected to

a lot of burger start-ups.

-And Tom Byng.

-Hi, Matt.

-Tom, the founder of Byron.

Eaten over 1,000 burgers in the name of research in order to get here.

-Grey hairs to prove it.

-But I think we should get stuck in.

So, after you.

'These two are not alone in knowing their stuff.

'The humble burger has a dedicated following who talk,

'tweet and blog about their latest burger discoveries.'

First impressions, Gizzi.

First impressions, the meat is delicious, but...

you know, unarguably, it's overcooked.

The one thing that is going for it is that despite it being

fully overcooked, you can still really taste the meat.

My main problem is the bun.

A crusty bun on a burger, for me, is not something that goes together.

It should be a soft bun.

I think the size is great, and I love your ethos with having a

solid bottom, because that so often has been the biggest nightmare,

the whole thing squidges out the bottom,

they get wet and it doesn't hold,

so I love what you're trying to do, but I still think this is too crusty.

A burger needs to be squishy.

Tom, what are your first impressions?

I'm seeing this as a hamburger I recognise from the States.

It's a coarse grind, do you know the actual size of the grind?

We're currently running on twice through a ten mil plate.

For us, it gives enough really good texture to the meat.

This feels like a very British coarseness and again, looking at the States,

I think that everything is a little bit finer and easier to chew.

And I think that's just worth considering,

maybe playing about a bit more with that.

Erm, I think the decision to use pancetta,

it's got a subtle flavour to it.

I'd recommend a streaky, definitely, because you want that crispiness.

'Tom has one more key piece of advice for Matt.'

This is your moment of inspiration,

don't be phased by the fact that you haven't got much time left,

all restaurateurs - I think Russell, Gizzi and me will agree -

that in the last month you can really make a lot of progress.

I think this is a decent start, I really do.

Feedback like this is tough, but if Matt can take it on the chin,

it could dramatically improve the boys' chances of success.

I was massively shocked, my heart sank a little, to be fair.

But again, to get that level of feedback from those guys

is just absolutely invaluable.

It's been a tough day for Matt, so before he heads back

to Southampton, I want to cheer him up with some good news.

Matt and Rich have been working on the assumption

that their restaurant will only seat 35 people at a time.

Did you ever think, rather than having these free-standing tables,

did you ever think about different styles of seating?

For example, what you're sitting on at the moment, a banquette.

This is a really simple solution. With your tables like this...

And all of a sudden, you've got a restaurant space that's

starting to take an interesting shape.

So rather than have your twos, already you've got

the possibility of a nice four there, maybe another four there.

You might even get something interesting in the window,

like a big table that will take six.

And then you've still got space here for your twos back-to-back,

and a little two there.

In terms of numbers, Matt, you're still going to end up

-with between, let's say, 42 and 55 covers.

-Yep.

And a configuration which is going to be interesting, attractive

and in the long run, make people want to come to 7 Bone even more.

It's amazing, even just looking at that, it feels less cluttered,

-and there's more covers.

-Yeah.

'This extra seating could give them a 25% boost in revenue.'

Matt, I've got to dash, it's been a fantastic day.

No, thank you so much. It's been brilliant.

And really looking forward to seeing you back in Southampton.

-Absolutely amazing, thank you so much.

-See you soon.

-Cheers.

It's now back to the drawing board, and looking to source other

suppliers and other contractors to make this happen.

The clock is absolutely ticking, quicker than we'd actually like it,

and there's still so many things that we need to nail pretty quickly.

Matt and Rich met on the football field in their teens,

and going into business with a friend can be personally,

as well as financially, rewarding.

But unless there's complete clarity about each partner's role,

it can end in disaster.

Just like Matt and Rich, I've also got a business partner

who is my best friend, we've known each other for years.

And in terms of the business, we split things

so that we've each got our roles, and it works very well indeed.

Matt and Rich hope to open a chain of restaurants,

but as the first can only support Matt, Rich will be

holding down his day job whilst still working on the project.

Matt's working full-time, Rich still has another job that he

spends a lot of time at, and I worry about that time discrepancy,

and I'm a little concerned that it might lead to difficulties.

With Rich away on honeymoon and only able to do so much,

Matt is shouldering a huge amount of work on-site.

And he's struggling.

There's just endless amounts of paperwork,

and I'm just trying to work night and day to find suppliers.

Usually up till about one, two o'clock in the morning,

firing off e-mails, obviously knowing I'm not going to get

a response until the following day.

So it's just been a case of trying to tick off as many

to-do tasks as possible, really.

It's not a case of just slapping some paint on the walls,

buying some chairs and tables.

The kitchen still needs fitting out, front of house needs

a lot of work, furniture needs to be ordered, and staff need to be found.

Rich will probably walk back into the premises and think this

restaurant game's easy, you just go away and then it's all been done.

It's been a month since I last came to Southampton,

and I'm really hoping I'll see some progress.

I'm expecting to find a space that looks like a restaurant,

activity, staff possibly, maybe a bit of training.

Certainly some activity in terms of procedures and training,

and maybe a little bit of furniture.

I'm very excited to see what's happened.

-Hello, Matt.

-Hi, Russell.

-How are you?

-Very well, thanks, yourself?

-I'm very well.

You're smiling, that's a really good smile, how are things?

Yeah, very, very good, coming on.

There's a lot that's been retained, which I'm really happy to see.

Matt, I can't help notching that Rich isn't here, where is he?

Yeah, unfortunately he couldn't get away today,

he's got some meetings he couldn't get out of.

There is so much to do. They're not nearly as far on as they should be.

So here's your kitchen.

'These guys want to open in just two weeks,

'but there's still no sign of any kitchen kit.

'The electrics need their second fix, and I can't see

'key items like tills, fridges or the extraction system.'

-This is your bar.

-This is.

So the thing that occurs to me

is that you've got this bar which is also your

serving space for the kitchen, all that activity behind here.

-Yep.

-And I've got to say, the first thing that strikes me,

since it is that interface, is how small the connection is.

-I mean, this is cute, but very impractical.

-Yep.

You know, it's going to be full...

..very, very quickly. Just with two plates.

Their vision was to have a burger restaurant that was exciting

and packed with people and had a real sense of theatre,

and by putting a wall between the two areas of the restaurant,

they've diminished that significantly.

I get the impression that somewhere along the line

they've lost their nerve.

Obviously this is the first time that myself

and Rich have ever done anything like this,

so it's a massive learning curve and it's a journey,

and there's lessons learned that we'll pick up.

If we go on and do two, three, four, we'll know that from the offset.

Getting the look of the restaurant right is one thing,

actually running it successfully is another.

So I want to find out how the mechanics

of this burger bar will work.

So the important thing is - what is the customer experience?

How do they get their food, how do you get the money,

and how does it work from then on?

-So if I pretend to be a punter...

-OK.

I come straight in, the big sign says, "Order here",

so I come straight to you, I order...

-What happens then?

-You'd need to...

Basically, the way that it will work is you'll need the

table number first, so each and every table

will have a table number.

So you come in and sit at the table first, in fact?

Well, we would need to know where you would be sat.

So even though it's "Order here", it isn't "Order here", in fact,

it's "Sit down first and get your table number, and then order."

-Yep. Basically.

-Which is confusing.

-It is.

I think the most important thing that this has brought up is

-that your customer is going to be confused.

-Yes.

And the last thing you want to do is confuse your customer.

So I just put Matt through the paces in a rather gentle way,

just to find out what the customer experience is going to be,

and he doesn't know, and there's

a lot of confusion about how the whole thing is going to work.

'Whilst they are both working on the fit-out and food,

'I want Rich to focus on the systems that will ensure 7 Bone

'runs smoothly from the outset.'

In the restaurant trade, service is king, and in survey after survey,

customers rate it the most important factor in their dining experience.

I would say that service is just as important,

if not more important, than food in a restaurant.

You can rescue a bad food experience with great service,

but no amount of good food is going to rescue a bad service experience.

I've arranged to give Rich a real insight into a great institution.

I want him to learn how flawless good service needs to be.

-Richard.

-Hi there, Russell.

-Good to see you, how's things?

-Yeah, great, thanks.

-You have no idea why we're here, do you?

-I'm completely intrigued.

-Shall we go in and find out?

-Let's do that.

The British Pullman is one of the most famous restaurants on wheels.

People pay over £300 for what needs to be an unforgettable experience.

-Jeff. How are you?

-Hello, very well.

-This is Rich.

-Hello, Rich.

-Welcome on board.

-Thank you very much.

-And this is Tom.

-Hi there, Tom.

-Welcome on board,

and we're going to be training you in the art of service today.

-Excellent.

-This is your uniform, see if it fits, get changed.

-Sure.

Wow.

A few nerves,

but being thrown in at the deep end is the best way to learn.

180 people are coming on board to experience the meal

and the journey of a lifetime.

This is about opulence, it's about fine wines and expert cooking

and impeccable service.

And I want to immerse Richard in this experience.

-Ready to go?

-Yeah, I think as ready as I can be.

-It feels like something's about to happen.

-It does.

-There's this real sense of anticipation.

-Absolutely.

Get used to it, cos this is exactly what it's like

ten minutes before you open for service.

Every single day, with every single restaurant that I've opened,

there's this same feeling of anticipation

and of something about to start.

-Wow.

-It's showtime.

BIG BAND MUSIC

Morning, madam. 17 and 18. 13 and 14 for you here.

Like most restaurateurs,

I worked in the industry for years before opening my own business.

Can I take your bag?

But unbelievably,

Rich has never seen the mechanics of a restaurant in action.

Ooh, sorry.

It's crucial he understands that seamless service means

getting dozens of little details just right.

OK, Richard, we're going to go through now and pour some champagne.

It's not as easy as it looks.

Brilliant. Not.

RICH LAUGHS

-Sorry about that.

-That's OK.

-So, how's it going so far?

-Yeah, really good.

-Couple mistakes already...

-Down to nerves, do you think?

Yeah, I think so. Nerves and a few butterflies.

Oh.

As I said, when you serve it, you grab the bottle

-and put your thumb over the napkin.

-OK, yeah.

You've got to appear completely calm and relaxed,

and make everything appear seamless and smooth.

It's a bit like a swan gliding gracefully across the lake,

-but underneath the feet are going like the clappers.

-Mm.

Thank you very much.

A restaurant isn't necessarily just about the food,

it's about the way it makes you feel,

the conversation you're having with the people you're dining with,

the conversation you're having with the waiter.

Horseradish cream, madam? Have a lovely day.

Would you like some more wine, madam?

But front of house isn't just about smiling

and making people feel welcome, it's also about thinking out

carefully how everything is going to work.

Just grab one corner, grab the opposite...

What will already be on the tables?

Vegetable, please.

How will the food be delivered?

-Some vegetables, madam?

-What order does everything happen in?

Just served the potatoes a bit early.

Where are you going to place key items

so that they're easily accessible?

-Enjoy.

-Thank you.

And so, what's happening, from the customer's perspective,

is that food's coming out, there's a nice bit of chit-chat,

but what's happening behind the scenes is a very regimented

-and strict sequence of events.

-Yes.

Here is a process which is involved.

Yours probably won't be as involved.

But it needs to be, at some point...

At the moment it's fluid, but at some point

it needs to be set in stone.

There you go, sir.

You had a good day today?

You look like you've had a lovely day.

It's been an amazing experience.

I don't think I realised how much went in to behind the scenes.

The only thing you normally see

when you go into a restaurant is the front of the house.

-Thank you for coming on.

-Thank you very much.

In my restaurants, I have a sequence of service of about 32 points.

The simpler menu of 7 Bone will probably need no more than ten,

but it's critical that they're properly plotted out.

Look forward to seeing you again in Southampton.

-Yes, I look forward to it.

-Thanks very much. Cheerio.

Back in Southampton, Matt is working hard on perfecting the boys' burger.

They want it to be up there with the very best.

They've been working with their butcher to make

the grind of the meat less coarse.

And they're now using double-smoked streaky bacon instead of pancetta.

It's crisper and has a fuller flavour.

Have a smell of that.

In London, Tom and Gizzi were also critical of the sourdough bun,

so their baker is making a brioche bun which should be much softer.

That's amazing.

And with just days to go before the opening, the boys are pulling

out all the stops to finish the restaurant build on time.

-Probably want it that high.

-Yeah, cos you're in there, aren't you?

It definitely feels like we're getting there

but it still feels a long way off at the moment.

All right, girls. You OK?

After the day on the train, Rich drew up his sequence of service.

He now needs to make sure the staff know it back to front.

We haven't run a restaurant before so if anything's wrong, just say so.

But the boys are dealing with the mounting stress in different ways.

I'm pretty relaxed, yeah.

The idea is to hit the ground running.

I feel good. I feel fine.

Cool.

It's been really, really tough, so...

It's been a...

There might be a calm exterior, but interior,

it's a totally different story, really.

It's just two days before the opening.

Are Matt and Rich ready for one of the most important

nights of their lives?

Hey, first impressions are pretty good.

Love the sign and I love those little pinpoints of carbon

filaments drawing you into the space.

But will the people of Southampton agree with me?

This'll be a particularly nerve-racking

time for Rich and Matt.

As it gets closer to the opening night, things become more real.

It becomes more fraught, there are more things that go wrong,

the pressure mounts and, yeah, it's a little bit scary.

I want to find out

if Rich has carefully thought through the order of service.

This is, for Southampton, a new thing.

It looks very different from the outside, it's really arresting.

I was going to suggest something -

would it be helpful if I came in, in role, for your staff,

as part of their training, and just tried to be the most stupid,

most annoying, most full-of-question customer...?

That would be perfect.

LAUGHTER

You want to get that door fixed.

Hi, my name's Richard, welcome to 7 Bone.

Thank you very much. Where are your drinks, please?

Our drinks are just on the...

We actually have a separate drinks' menu.

OK.

It's not here at the moment?

I'll have a Diet Coke, please.

I'm afraid we've only got normal Coke.

We have Diet Coke.>

Have we?

Bottle opener? Let me go and ask Matt.

Oh, I see, there's no bottle opener.

-I'll bring it over to your table.

-All right, I'll go back.

Thank you. Is there any ice?

Ice? Yeah. Is there any ice?

-Any ice? No ice. No ice.

-What can I get for you?

-I'll have Hucknell's Winkie, please.

-Hucknell's Winkie, yes.

All of our burgers come pink but we can do it however you want it.

I'll have a pink Hucknell's Winkie. Thank you.

-You just go and sit...

-I'll go and sit down. Thank you.

-Why don't we stop the role-play cos I'm exhausting myself with all that acting.

-OK.

It's disappointing.

I really wanted to see that same level of forensic detail

that I witnessed on the train.

Actually, we haven't got any napkins on the tables at the moment...

I'm also concerned about how things are looking round the back.

Matt, how's it going?

And Matt looks absolutely shattered.

-There's still work being done on the premises.

-Yeah.

-Had some issues with the phone line.

-Yeah.

So the PDQ machine hasn't been tested.

We were let down by the printers.

There are still some issues in that our waffle machine

hasn't turned up from the States.

They're all workarounds, but there are some pretty major...

Do you know how many times I've had major upsets

and mishaps in the run up to opening a restaurant?

-I'll tell you - every time.

-Yep.

There hasn't been a single restaurant opening that I've been

attached to that hasn't screwed up at the 11th hour, usually,

in some major way that you think is insurmountable.

Then you have to get over it, you have to find a way.

But before I leave, I want to try the newly-finessed burger.

FIRE ALARM SOUNDS

I'm just making sure there isn't a fire.

Way-hay!

That's a loud alarm!

-That's off, then, yeah?

-It's on, we just need to keep the door shut.

So the fire alarm went off with one burger on the grill.

It'll be interesting to see what happens

when there are 20 burgers on the grill.

First impressions - it looks really appetising.

I think this is a great improvement on the first burger that

I had in the market square in Southampton,

because of the grind, because of the bread but also

because of the bacon that's now being used instead of pancetta.

It's great that Matt and Rich have finally nailed their burger,

but there's so much to do, still.

HE SIGHS

And so little time left to do it in.

I really feel for Matt, it's tough, physical work that he's been doing,

and he's been working very long hours.

He's the one that looks different, physically,

because of the hard work.

Opening nights are really important.

They set the tone and the feel for a restaurant,

and it's crucial to get them right.

I'm always terrified at the openings of my restaurants,

I worry endlessly.

I think, "Have I forgotten something? Will anybody come?

"Is this the restaurant that's going to fail?"

I really hope Matt and Rich get the opening night they deserve.

You really need nerves of steel to get through them.

-On the corner there, mate?

-Yeah, please. That's great.

18 months ago, 7 Bone was just a twinkle in Matt and Rich's eyes.

Tonight, they will get an idea

if Southampton is ready for this new take on the burger restaurant.

Eh...

Two hours, 20 minutes.

I don't think you can ever prepare yourself

for how tiring the whole thing is.

It's just unbelievably tough.

I wish I could have enjoyed the journey from signing

the lease through to actually opening a little bit more.

It felt like a massive mountain to climb.

It's like the first mountain's climbed

and we're on our way up the other mountain

and then we still don't know if it's going to work out.

My hunch is we'll have over 200 people tonight.

My goal is to make sure that we protect our reputation.

I'm aiming for, Matt's aiming for exceptional, outstanding service.

Rich has worked hard on marketing for the restaurant,

and if it pays off, they'll be busy and need to be prepared.

This is the big one - it's been announced, it's been advertised,

there's a lot of word of mouth and they do need to get it right.

They want, and need, to open 7 Bone with a bang.

-Ready for your opening night?

-Always!

-I'm excited. Good!

BELL RINGS

This restaurant must persuade 270 people

to spend at least £10 every week, just to break even.

If they fail, Matt and Rich's dreams

of growing a chain of restaurants will go down the drain.

Welcome to 7 Bone.

-Two more customers!

-Table ten...

-Hi, guys. Are we OK?

-Steak, well done.

-The evening gets off to a flying start.

-Table 11...

Customers do seem to be attracted by this new style burger bar.

And if they have a good time, it will be great publicity for 7 Bone.

It's six o'clock. They've been open for half an hour

and there are only three empty tables, which is quite impressive.

It's good to go. That's ready too.

Did you want anything else? Any more drinks or anything?

Mmm! That's lovely.

Two Prince Charles, well done, yeah?

All Matt and Rich's hopes for a full restaurant tonight seem to be

coming true. In fact, they run the risk of being too popular.

With only 44 covers in the restaurant,

there are now more customers than seats.

Waiting for a table, guys, yeah? Do you want to take...

We're actually just waiting for somebody to come out, so do you

want to come and stand by the side of the bar, if you want a drink?

And if people have to wait for too long,

they may leave and never come back.

Guys, we've got ten people queueing at the moment,

but I think they're just being seated, so...

Let me double-check what's happening. Yes. That is the case.

He's got that look on his face of blind panic.

He's got a sort of rictus grin!

Table three...

With the restaurant so full, can they deal with the overcrowding?

Yeah, I think Rich is under a bit of pressure.

Let me just double-check. I think probably a 15, 20 minute wait.

I think, girls, probably about 15 minutes, I'd say.

I think it's really important that I just take a step back

and let Rich deal with this situation.

And see how he copes with it.

Yes, just go into the bar, girls, and I'll be with you in a second.

So we're just waiting for a table to come up. So...

Good communication between front of house

and the kitchen is now crucial.

Three. Robert Johnson.

We had a bit of a wave of a lot of people in, so it's been a bit manic.

We're just waiting for some tables.

We'd like to sit at a table and have a drink if we can.

-We'll come back in a bit.

-Yeah, come back in a bit.

If their systems don't work flawlessly,

they face a restaurant meltdown.

We've got three at the bar waiting at the moment,

so if you want to come in and wait at the bar?

-It's table three, yeah?

-Yeah.

I don't know why that's done, but I think just write it down.

Table number three, and we'll sort it out after the shift.

-Can I have a Peter Green slider for table seven... something.

-Why?

Because one of the sides was wrong.

-I've got one more order.

-Ignore this. Ignore that.

And as predicted, the tiny hatch is creating a real bottleneck.

That hatch is going to get really over-used.

It's the only way of these guys communicating back with the kitchen,

as well as the kitchen putting food out for the restaurant.

Dom, do you know where this is going?

-And it's tucked away in the corner, as well.

-Hang on, hang on.

Matt and the kitchen staff are being put under huge pressure

and are struggling to cope with the mistakes made by front of house.

We can't seem to find who ordered it,

cos everyone's pushed tables together.

ALL TALK AT ONCE

OK, table 13's waiting for pulled pork.

It hasn't come through, darling. Have you put it in the till?

-They ordered quite a while ago.

-We haven't got any.

Somebody cocked up, front of house.

I think Rich is still playing catch-up.

And that's meant that there have been more mistakes.

Check the order time on that ticket. It's ten minutes.

And because of that, there's a slight tension at the moment.

Can you do it quick, cos they've been waiting 20 minutes.

-It didn't come through.

-Yeah, we're cooking it now.

And the mistakes keep piling up.

Table eight's got a burger and has got some food still to come.

-The others have finished.

-Table eight?

It didn't come through to the kitchen.

-This organising's

-BLEEP

-tonight. It's ridiculous.

-They're just

-BLEEP

-everything up in here.

The restaurant may be full, but the stress is really testing

Matt and Rich's partnership.

Mate, I know they've been waiting,

but our burgers take a certain amount of time to cook.

-If we don't get the order, we can't rush out the orders.

-Give me a shout.

-What the

-BEEP.

Do me a favour!

Tempers are boiling over.

-Why is there so much of a

-BLEEP

-up out there tonight?

And out in the restaurant, I can hear an argument in the kitchen.

I don't care if I make a mistake or don't make it.

All I care about is the customers get their food on time

and they get the right order.

This is really unprofessional in front of staff and customers,

and for the first time, I'm pleased that the hatch is so small.

-I said cancel the Winner Winners...

-The group by the window are leaving.

-They want to say goodbye.

-OK. All right, OK.

I'll be back in...

I really feel for Matt and Rich.

This is not how they wanted their opening night to be.

See you tomorrow, mate.

But the evening has been a financial success.

They've served 120 people and taken £1,500,

more than half what they need per week to break even.

-You had issues tonight. What were they?

-I'm not too sure.

It felt more disorganised than yesterday, definitely.

But the mistakes and the row have left the boys feeling

completely deflated.

I want to remind them exactly what they've achieved

and how far they've come.

I always say to people that the opening night isn't

the end of the journey, it's the beginning.

-Yeah.

-It's from this point onwards

that things start to get interesting,

but if you've got to this point

and you've had the success that you've had,

then it's a really fantastic start.

I want to know from you that you think it's a huge achievement, though.

-Simple question, Rich, was it a success tonight?

-Absolutely.

We achieved on the night a success, absolutely.

Matt, was it a success tonight?

It feels like the first step...

..on a long journey, so...

If I were you, I'd be a little bit more upbeat than that. High-five.

-I mean, literally, high-five.

-A bit sweaty.

-Chef shake.

I think you can do better than that. Come on, I want to see some love.

Come on, mate.

-Anyone fancy a burger?

-You must be joking.

-Shall we have a beer now?

I'll have a beer, not a burger.

I tell you what - this door...

Push.

I only hope that the interest in this cutting-edge burger bar

doesn't tail off

and Matt and Rich must work hard to really improve their service.

In the restaurant world, it's so easy to get a bad reputation.

CUSTOMERS CHATTER

How are you doing, ladies? You OK?

Over the next few weeks,

Rich and the team work hard to smooth out the wrinkles.

-Have you guys been here before?

-No.

Right, I'll just talk you through the menu quickly, OK?

Russell's advice was great.

He helped us very much with the sequence of service.

As you get into a rhythm and the restaurant opens day in, day out,

the service gets smoother, gets slicker

and the staff get more experienced in doing what they're doing.

The five that are waiting over at table 10, they're going now

so they're going on table 12.

Matt has trained up some new grill chefs

so he no longer has to spend so much time in the kitchen.

So how is the restaurant faring now?

It's been a month since I was last in Southampton.

Hi, Matt, how are you?

-How's it going?

-Good, thanks.

-Very good to see you.

I also want to find out if Matt and Rich

have got over what happened on their opening night.

The last time I was here,

a little bit of tension. What was it in particular?

It was the end of a very, very long week.

You could see that tempers were really starting to build up.

You could see it between the two of you?

Just a gradual build up of pressure

and then it probably slightly blew a little bit.

In all honesty, I think we've benefitted from that happening,

cos we slept on it and went, "What the hell are we doing?

"Seriously?"

A business is going to test your friendship from time to time.

There are going to be ups and downs.

We've come away and we've dealt with it like friends

and partners and, actually, we've got a joint, shared responsibility.

Exactly, the responsibility is not just to yourself.

We become partners. It's a marriage!

I think we've found partners in one another

where we've got the right credentials

to go into marriage together, in business terms,

and make it a success,

come out the other end with our friendship and our marriage...

Our friendship still intact.

Their business partnership may be working a lot better,

but I'm really keen to find out if Matt and Rich are making any money.

I get the impression that business is really good.

It feels like a restaurant that's succeeding.

-Is it?

-It is.

-Absolutely, yeah.

I think if anybody would have offered us

the position that we're in currently

when we started, we would have snapped their hand off.

They had calculated that they needed to take £2,700 per week

just to break even.

Are you beating your break even?

-Yeah, we are.

-By how much? What are you trading at at the moment?

In terms of growth, we've seen in those first four weeks,

the first week we achieved around 6.5k,

-and the second week, that grew up to 7.5-8k.

-Yeah.

And, actually, in the final two weeks, last week just gone,

we've seen just shy of 10k in terms of turnover.

How many covers is that a week? Do you know off the top of your head?

Probably just over 1,000 a week.

You're serving 1,000 people a week, they're each spending £10-11,

you've got a weekly revenue of 10,000, maybe 11,000 -

you're on target for your first financial year...

-Half a million.

-..for half a million pound revenue, exactly.

For this little business here, this tiny little spot,

on a rather uninspiring street in the suburbs of Southampton

and you're turning over half a million pounds already.

That's amazing success already,

just in four weeks, basically, of trading.

We've hopefully hit the jackpot.

Here it is. A triple shop front, almost.

'With a blueprint now established,

'Matt and Rich now want to roll out the concept into a second unit.'

Wow, it's huge.

'They want their burger chain

'stretching all along the south coast.'

Speed is going to be absolutely key for us.

Got to strike while the iron's hot, really.

'Today, we've come to see a potential site in Bournemouth.'

I'm just looking through here -

you've got a beautiful parquet floor.

You've got these great window frames at the back.

'It's early days to be thinking of restaurant number two,

'but these ambitious guys have got their heads screwed on,

'so I've got my fingers crossed.'

I'm incredibly proud of what you've achieved

in a very short space of time.

I think 7 Bone is clearly a huge success and so does Southampton,

but I want you to remember something -

you met 15 years ago playing football.

You will have ups and downs and you will your fights

and you will have your tussles,

but I want you to remember your friendship

and I want you to remember how you met

and I want you to remember that with this ball,

which I would like you to kick around that back yard

at Southampton when you have the need to

and when you need to let off a little bit of pressure.

That's amazing.

Group hug.

I'm curious to know who's got the skills.

Are we going to see some football skills?

I don't think we've got the appropriate footwear on, have we?

I knew you had it in you, Rich.

They've come a very long way from where they were six months ago.

They've come a very long way from where they were a month ago.

These guys were hopefuls, they were ambitious, they had an idea,

but now they are successful restaurateurs.

In a very short space of time

they've managed to achieve something quite remarkable.

Next time I'm in the Cotswolds,

trying to persuade farmer Dave to listen to my advice.

I think you need to look at your customers first

and your profit margin second.

We'll see later, shall we?

He wants to open a gastropub with girlfriend Debbie.

Will their dream end in disaster?

They don't realise!

If we start to talk, maybe we might get out some food, OK?

They open in an hour and a half and they've just left.