In this Restaurant Impossible episode, Robert Irvine visits On the Bayou in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
On the Bayou is owned by Janice Johnson.
On the Bayou is a New Orleans style Cajun restaurant.
Janice and her husband Gregory met 15 years ago.
They met when she was working in the beauty industry.
Gregory booked an apartment with Janice and they ended up exchanging telephone numbers.
They started dating from there.
Gregory was trained as a banquet chef at a big hotel in New Orleans.
Gregory has lived in New Orleans for over 26 years.
He decided that one day he would have his own restaurant.
Gregory opened his first restaurant in 2013 called The Big Eazy.
Gregory didn’t realize the severity of the taxes.
The inland revenue shut them down for nonpayment of taxes.
Janice just wanted to be supportive of him.
In 2017, she took over ownership and changed the name to On the Bayou.
She told Gregory that this time it had to be run properly.
Janice went to culinary school.
She did this to better understand the industry since Gregory didn’t understand the numbers.
Gregory was trying to run a business with no knowledge.
Janice says you can’t run a business like that.
Janice says that even though she was the owner, it felt like Gregory was on the throne.
This caused her to feel unappreciated.
She says this caused a shift in their marriage.
Janice has put all her money, time, and energy into this restaurant.
If Gregory doesn’t step up his game, then Janice is done.
Robert arrives at the restaurant.
The floors look a little beat up but not too bad.
There are tablecloths on the tables and Robert hates that.
Robert says the restaurant looks awful.
Robert calls Janice and Gregory into the restaurant for a brief.
Gregory was brought up in the hospitality industry with his parents.
When he moved to New Orleans, he worked at a lot of big hotels.
He had never managed one.
Janice explains the history of them with the restaurant.
They are in around $200,000 of debt.
Janice says she wants Gregory to respect her as a chef, owner and a woman.
She wants to have vegetarian options but Gregory turned the suggestion down.
She says Gregory makes it clear that he is the executive chef and she is just a sous chef.
He wants her to know her place but she knows her place as a business owner.
Gregory says he does respect Janice.
They recently celebrated their six-year anniversary.
However, she has just filed for divorce that morning.
She did that because she is tired.
Janice says there is some hope in their relationship, but they need to focus on the business.
If they fail, they have nothing left.
Robert says he wants to see the service.
Janice says she still loves Gregory but she needs to feel appreciated.
The first problem that Robert sees is that Janice and Gregory are both in the kitchen.
There are too many cooks in the kitchen.
The servers in the front of the house have no clue or leadership.
The customers are waiting a long time for the food.
Robert says he would be embarrassed to run this restaurant.
Robert says he wants to try one of everything.
Gregory thinks Robert will love the food.
The green beans are overdone and the catfish has no seasoning.
The pasta is overcooked.
Robert likes the fresh french fries and the rice has good flavor.
Robert spits out the veggie meatball.
He says he wouldn’t feed that to his worst enemy.
The gumbo is far too salty.
Gregory seems to get satisfaction from Janice failing.
Robert meets with Taniya and Tom to discuss the design concept.
The staff begins taking everything out of the restaurant.
Taniya says she wants to take their vision and make it real.
Janice is emotional, she feels like this is all real now.
Robert thinks that there is a lot of love there and that Janice isn’t ready to move on.
Janice tells Gregory that she wants to work on their marriage as well.
Robert sits with Gregory and Janice to ask their thoughts on what an executive chef is.
Both of their answers were wrong.
Robert explains to them what an executive chef does.
Robert pulls out the books and sees that they’ve only made $13,000 this year.
Robert saw that there wasn’t anything for the food costs.
Robert says they need to stop focusing on who has the executive chef title and focus on running the restaurant properly.
Robert has a conversation with Gregory alone.
Robert asks the first thing he’s ever cooked for Janice.
Robert tells Gregory to make that dish for Janice.
Gregory says he will put his heart and soul into the dish.
Gregory presents the dinner to Janice with flowers.
Janice is very happy at his romantic gesture.
Robert wants them to come up with five unique vegetarian dishes.
Janice tells Gregory that she wants him to show his love a little more.
The next morning, Janice and Gregory tell Robert their ideas for the vegetarian dishes.
They pick one to make together.
They will tell Robert the food cost and what they would sell it for.
If they can do this together successfully, this will show that they can bring the restaurant back to life.
Robert tries the dish that they made together.
The selling price will be $14.
Robert gives it a nine-and-a-half out of 10.
Robert shows Janice and Gregory recipes he believes will sell well on the new menu.
They begin putting the finishing touches on the restaurant.
Gregory says they really appreciate what Robert came and did for them with their relationship.
It has opened his eyes.
He understands now that he needs to show his wife all the love he can give her so she can be the best that she can be.
Janice was ready to give up.
Hearing Gregory say that he loves her and that he appreciates her is all she wanted.
Robert brings Janice and Gregory into their new restaurant.
Gregory and Janice love the look of their new restaurant.
On relaunch, they both invite customers into the restaurant.
Food is flowing out of the kitchen.
The customers love the food.
What Happened Next at On the Bayou?
Since Robert’s visit, sales are up 5%.
They recently hired an accountant to help organize the finances.
Janice is still running the kitchen.
Gregory has plans to hire more staff for the front of the house.
Their marriage is still on good terms and they enjoy a date night at least once a week.
On the Bayou is closed.
They closed in December 2022 to focus on the catering side of the business.
Janice also plans to open a salon.
On the Bayou is Restaurant Impossible season 19 episode 11 and aired on 29th July 2021.
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