As a creator, maker, entrepreneur, solopreneur, you name it, perhaps there is no better non-anime motivator than Kitchen Nightmares UK. You’ll be pleased to learn that most of the episodes are available on YouTube and probably a few other cheeky free streaming services, years ago they were all on Roku TV, for example.
What makes them so good? The structure, the host, the editing, the rawness and the reality.
Gordon Ramsay, celebrity chef who earned western attention by shouting obscenities at would-be restaurant owners in his show Hell’s Kitchen, is painted with a much different brush in his home continent. Kitchen Nightmares UK (KNUK) strips away the attention slicing flash cuts and the exacerbatory sound effects to allow us to see what's going on in, somewhat, real time.
The episodes look like this: Gordon visits a poorly run restaurant, eats the usually terrible food, confronts the owners and the chefs and suggests changes, they either take his advice or they don’t, the restaurant either succeeds or fails.
Seems basic, I promise it’s not.
The part of the episodes I typically enjoy most must be the shameless marketing after the Ramsian Rebrand™. They will redo the menu and the decor, and now it’s time to take it to the streets. Usually handing out free samples with pamphlets and the like to lure customers to the refreshed space. Here is where we can predict the fate of the business. The owners who believe, the owners who attack the moment, they’re the ones who’s life force is infectious, where even if this stunt fails, they may be back on the street the next day to make it work. They either gave up or they didn’t. Gordon is sure to check in with them. ‘Have you given up?’ is one of the most simple questions that carries life altering power. Say yes, he walks out, the owner sells the restaurant, and hopes that a 9-5 can get them out of the debt they’ve incurred from dabbling in one of the world's toughest businesses. Say no, they show grit, determination and they get coaching from one of the best restaurateur minds on the planet.
Ramsay’s coaching is supreme. He’s leagues more complimentary in KNUK than say, Hell’s Kitchen. In one episode from 2007, he pulls a chef aside and reassures him that his culinary skills are valid despite his boss being a {bleep}. It brings the grown, British man to tears. That was much harder to do in 2007. In a different episode, Gordon finds another chef he likes, India, who shows him promise while working for a small restaurant in Paris. The restaurant tanks, but he makes sure to get her a gig at a good restaurant in London. He recognizes people with that innate fire and passion for food. If you don’t have it, you don’t get into the club.
The episodes show you how to transform a thing. Sure it’s a business, but it definitely applies to any organization or even artistic process. First, the audit: practices and personnel, the chef can’t cut it, the owner won’t budge, something has to change. Second, the rebrand, shrunken menu, simpler, cleaner and clearer identity. Next, marketing the new beast. Finally, reopening and operating. These same principles certainly apply to music.
If you want to make music for your ears only, and earn no money, cool. That’s as honourable as a global tour playing pop bangers made by musical chemists and engineers who’ve sculpted irresistible harmonies and plugged them into starlings for global distraction and coercion. Wait, what is this post about?
The point is, if you want to make a living doing art, like these owners want to make a living restauranting, both involve serving a specific segment of people. A target audience or market. I personally make about 5 genres of music. Perhaps heavily committing to one and honing in on that would yield a higher audience than say, posting EDM rap, then Nu Metal, followed by some ice cold slow boom bap. Find the wound and gush the wound. Sure it may be less fun to only do the type of song that serves my audience best (or finds them), but eventually, that’ll come good.
I like the drywall analogy from Pat Flynn. He says if you’re trying to break through the drywall, using a hammer on all different parts of the wall is not the way. Keep hammering the same spot, create a hole, stick your arm through and pull the whole wall down.
If you read that and your stomach twisted, you aren’t alone. Many artists ‘refuse compromise’. As do many chefs. Their destinies are to serenade themselves with their eclectic tastes. That is still brilliant, folks.
Kitchen NIghtmares UK shows us how to revitalize our things, be they restaurants, or art offerings, and the through-line for the most successful owners, is… passionate service. Do you really care? Have you ever seen someone eat a meal you prepared and see their eyes close in satisfaction? Have you ever played a song for someone and watched them make a stank face? It counts if it’s you, by the way. Serving yourself still counts as service. Serve yourself passionately. Enjoy the process, if you hate your song in the middle of production, cleanse your palette. If you don’t like the taste of your dish, take an ear break. You get it.
KNUK makes one law pretty clear: in the commercial world, you can do your thing passionately and with service in mind, or be replaced by someone else who will.
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