In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits Angelo's Family Restaurant in Woodstock, Illinois.
Angelo's Family Restaurant is owned by Angelo Paloumbis, who took over the restaurant from his father and uncle.
Angelo’s father and uncle opened the restaurant more than forty years ago.
Angelo aka Big Angelo took over the restaurant fourteen years ago.
He bought in his first cousin Angelo Mourelatos aka Little Angelo to help at the restaurant.
Little Angelo doesn’t work full time in the restaurant and helps out when he can.
Everything was going well until about two years ago when it began to go downhill.
They started losing customers and money despite Angelo cashing out his retirement account to support the restaurant.
Big Angelo is supposed to be running the restaurant but the family get involved and take over.
Little Angelo thinks that his cousin needs to listen more and if he did things would change.
Big Angelo is overwhelmed and fed up of the restaurant and everything feels like a mountain.
He thinks it would embarrassing for the restaurant to fail on his watch.
Robert arrives and thinks that the restaurant is very outdated.
The carpet smells and the bamboo chairs are outdated.
Robert thinks that the restaurant looks bland and is a generic style restaurant.
Robert meets with the cousins to discuss the issues at the restaurant.
They say that the restaurant started to go downhill around three years ago and further declined 18 months ago.
The restaurant costs $60,000 to run each month, they are making $50,000 and losing $10,000 a month.
Little Angelo thinks that the restaurant is struggling as his cousin is overwhelmed and doesn’t implement changes they discuss.
They both agree that the problem is how the restaurant is run.
It is a family run restaurant but all of the family get involved and take over the running of the restaurant from them.
Big Angelo thinks that the staff and family members are disrespectful about him behind his back.
He constantly feels undermined but he hasn’t done anything to reprimand them about it.
The cousins leave to prepare for the service that Robert wants to observe.
The menu is huge and Robert is surprised that the kitchen would be able to cook it all.
The kitchen is overwhelmed and Big Angelo wants to help out but the kitchen needs a leader instead of another cook.
There is no organization in the kitchen and Big Angelo is overwhelmed.
Rather than taking charge of the kitchen he breaks down as he is unhappy with the service.
Robert meets with Mariana, who is Big Angelos wife and they married recently.
The situation at the restaurant hurts her too as he spends a lot of time at the restaurant.
He is neglecting his relationship due to his long hours.
She breaks down in tears and this gives Robert the motivation to turn the restaurant around.
Robert samples the food and isn’t impressed with any of it except for a wrap.
He says that it is garbage and that it isn’t even diner food.
Robert says that the menu is far too huge and it takes a week to decide what to eat and the food costs are too high.
They meet after the disappointing service to discuss how the service went.
Robert meets with designer Lynn and Tom and they discuss ideas for revamping the restaurant.
The staff help to empty the restaurant of furniture before they can get to work on the restaurant.
Robert calls the servers to meet to discuss the issues at the restaurant.
The staff say that there is a lack of leadership and that Angelo does not listen to them.
They think that Angelo has an excuse for everything and they don’t get anywhere.
They say that they also don’t have the tools to be able to do their job properly.
At the end of the staff meeting, Robert wants to talk to the cousins to clear the air.
Big Angelo has had his eyes opened to the fact that he needs to step up.
He needs to treat the staff with more dignity and respect.
It was a wake up call that he needs to decide if he wants to lead the restaurant or to step down.
Robert checks in with the design team to see their progress and he is impressed with how much progress they have made.
The next day, Robert still has much left to tackle including the menu, redesign and staffing issues.
Robert is also worried about the weather as there has been high winds and torrential rain.
First, he checks in with the design team and a lot of progress has been made overnight.
He meets with Big Angelo to see his thoughts from yesterday.
He says that he is committed and is ready to step up to lead the restaurant.
Robert takes Big Angelo to a local High School to show that even though they serve vast numbers of people they have a small menu.
Big Angelo realizes that he needs to cut down the huge menu to a smaller one.
He also uses the time to do market research on students that have come to the restaurant with their families.
Many of the students have visited the restaurant and more than three quarters of them say that they received poor food or service.
As the design team finish up in the dining room Robert meets with the kitchen staff.
He is to teach them the new menu items that he believes can turn the restaurant around and will be cooked from fresh.
Robert shows them a lamb burger and a pork loin with an orzo salad.
The new dishes are simple, delicious, quick and have low food costs so they are profitable.
Angelo is ecstatic about cooking from fresh and no longer using frozen ingredients.
The last thing is for Big Angelo to talk to the staff before the relaunch.
The servers are waiting for him to address them.
He puts different staff in charge of different areas of the restaurant.
The new restaurant Is unveiled to the family and they are over the moon at the changes.
A credit card system has also been added so they can take card payments.
On relaunch night, the customers love the refreshing atmosphere and enjoyed the food.
What Happened Next at Angelo's Family Restaurant?
A few months later, business was up 20% and they were making 10% profit.
They have had bookings of large parties due to the new open space.
The menu was changed to include some of their old classic dishes as well as Roberts dishes.
Angelo's Family Restaurant closed in December 2013 after being sold.
The changes made on the show made them fall out of love with the restaurant.
They felt it wasn't theirs anymore and the changes weren't popular with regulars.
Reviews were mixed and some customers did not like the new chairs from the redesign.
Others did not like that they did not continue and renovate the bathrooms.
The new owner renovated the restaurant, readding more booths and putting the original counter back in.
Angelo's Family Restaurant was Restaurant Impossible season 6 episode 9 and aired on 23rd June 2013.
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I love to see the reasons for closing when they include "the regulars". If the regulars were so passionate about these places, they wouldn't need Robert to save them.
ReplyDeleteWe were just saying the same thing...
DeleteI grew up in Woodstock and eaten there occasionally with my parents as they got older. I think the place mostly appealed to older senior citizens before the revamp. We tried out the revamped place shortly after it happened. The new chairs were truly uncomfortable and atmosphere way too "modern." The menu was unappealing--no more comfort food offerings like before.
ReplyDeleteThey cashed in and all they wanted.
ReplyDelete