Kitchen Nightmares – Season 5, Episode 9: “Michon’s.”
Michon’s is a restaurant in nestled in College Park, Georgia. That’s about 20-minutes from downtown Atlanta. It’s the only restaurant within a 100-mile radius that has smokers. Expensive ones valued around $17,000.
Why isn’t the food fresh? The cooks barbeque the chicken, pork or briskets then freeze the protein. Microwave the food days later. Some say, “Gross!” Canned, frozen and microwaved food, that’s how the kitchen rolled. How did the restaurant get that way?
The owners are Al and Gaye Wilson. Al had developed health issues. Did his daughter step up to the plate? Uh, no. She ate her way through work. Natalie sat in the back office as the restaurant dug itself into a pitiful hole.
Entered Chef Ramsey.
He tried food on the menu. Ghastly. Of course, because it’s canned or frozen. For that, you might as well stay home. The restaurant didn’t have a head chef in back of the house. They didn’t have a general manager in front of the house.
Then there’s Natalie Michon.
Daughter of Al and Gaye. She pranced about. Donned a nice gold watch laced in diamonds. Natalie was accustomed to spooning off her parent’s efforts. With near $200,000 in the hole, parents called Ramsey for help.
Here’s the thing. The front of the house had nice décor. They had expensive 2-year-old smokers out back. The restaurant just needed a leader. So what were the parents waiting for? They wanted their daughter to run the business. Why? Because it was the father’s dream to own a restaurant and pass it down to this children.
STOP!
Did you just read the part where I said, “It was the father’s dream…?” Chef Ramsey counseled Natalie that she had to get her assets in gear. Her parents were depending on her. Ramsey placed Natalie in front of her parents. In front of the cameras. Asked her to tell them if she wanted to run the place or not.
No pressure.
Grossly unfair. Ramsey, how about taking Natalie out in a room privately and then ask her, “What are your dreams, Natalie?” Here Ramsey you forced the diner on her. She was in front of the cameras. What was she going to say? No?
I dislike family-run businesses where the kids inherit the parent’s dream. What about their own dreams? Natalie got her boss-groove on. Assigned a head chef. Became the face of the front of the house. She looked happy.
But is that only for the moment? I know I didn’t talk about the 100 precooked chicken wings. The main issue for me was don’t pass a parent’s dream onto the children. That’s just not fair.
What will happen to Michon’s months from now? Will Natalie get bored of her new role as general manager?
Watch Kitchen Nightmares Fridays 8/7c on FOX.
