I didn't watch "America's Next Great Restaurant," the reality show whose contestants had to prove that their restaurant concept had the most potential for success--with the winner receiving financial backing for three locations. Something about it felt wrong. It seemed to glorify and simplify a process that was time-consuming, backbreaking and sometimes heartbreaking.
Turns out, I was right. Even the financial and consumer power of NBC and Chipotle--the investor in the three locations--couldn't make this idea work. Jamawn Woods was named the winner for his concept Soul Daddy, and restaurants were opened in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
Within a month of opening, all three locations have closed.
[image-nocss]The whole thing bums me out, but tells a precautionary tale about the foodservice business. First, for all the romance, memories and emotions we place on food, those are not the things that build a successful restaurant. It doesn't matter if you have your grandma's amazing meatball recipe if consumers aren't demanding it.
As industry expert Jim Fisher says: "If you build it, they will not come."
Second, do your due diligence. There must have been some serious issues that caused these three locations to close in less than a month. You barely have your bearings in four weeks. I imagine they didn't ask the pivotal questions: Who is your customer, what do they want to eat, and does your market even need you? I'm guessing those aren't the questions that get asked when you're premiering an unknown brand inside the Mall of America.
Finally, have patience. Success should not be expected in one month, one year, maybe not even in four years. Again, it bums me out that this concept had one month before being shuttered.
After publicly blaming Chipotle for sending him an incompetent management team, Woods is now in talks with the burrito chain to receive a monetary settlement for the failure of his chain. I don't know who is to blame; I wasn't there. I didn't even watch the show! The real victim is the concept, Soul Daddy. Maybe it could have succeeded if Woods opened it in Detroit, where he lived when the show started. Or really anywhere with an unmet demand for soul food. It's as simple as that.
To make myself feel better about the situation, I like to think that this was the universe's way of correcting things, of sending a message that this is not the way successful foodservice companies are built. It's just unfortunate that the Soul Daddy concept was sacrificed along the way, dead on arrival.
Photo courtesy of NBC.
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