america's next great restaurant was a rather ill-conceived show, imo. little if any serious interest ever existed in launching a new restaurant as a going concern. the soul daddy guy was most likely dropped faster than a hot habanero once the show ended. no serious money was ever to be actually committed to this enterprise by the so-called celebrity investors. their primary interest lay in making money and fame for themselves through airing a successful show. i felt sorry for the soul daddy guy even as he was declared winner of the restaurant contest. he believed he was realizing a dream for himself and his family, happily gathered around him and his purple walled restaurant. i think we were all punked.
I would not say the show was ill-conceived, but you do make a lot of valid points.
One problem with the show was you only had a show to pimp for the final product, but you could not really pimp for the true final product before the winner was announced.
I can agree with you that little money was poured in by the investors since the restaurant only survived around 2 months.
I really do feel the the prized looked bigger than it was by putting one restaurant in three different states, BUTTT that was a no no as all three should have started in NYC or LA. Maybe just giving the winner one restaurant would have been best, BUTTT that would have been too small a prize for TV imo.
I like three restaurants in one city better so you have more quality control over workers, food and day to day management, plus it would have been easier for TV ads, Newspaper ads, etc....
I guess now it would have been better to go with the Brooklyn Meatball company since that was a safer cuisine choice to serve.
I liked all the judges at first, but that Chipotle guy in the end got the Spice Coast guy to get too much like Chipotle which ruined it for me. The Curtis Stone guy was a bit too discriminatory at times for my liking.
I say I feel sorry for all the final contestants and none would have lasted due to no money being pumped in.
To me I did not like the look of the Soul Daddy Restaurant. The tables and chairs in the one they did show was just UGLY imo.
Maybe this whole concept needed that Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmare makeover right from the start
