- You are literally full of.
(beep)
And these guys are going down too because of it.
- They ain't got nothing to do with
going down our mother food.
- I'm not listening to your bull.
(beep)
Either he's gone or I'm gone.
(yelling)
(rock music)
- [Narrator] Back in the kitchen, the orders are pouring in.
- We need a cup of gumbo.
- That's ice cold.
- What?
- Nothing worse than cold gumbo, man.
- Yes you're right.
- I decided to taste the gumbo.
The gumbo wasn't heated properly.
It's bad.
That gumbo's sour.
So throw it out and make new one.
- It's not a good gumbo.
Like I don't think the chef knows how to make it right.
Like I can't stomach it.
I can't even finish it.
(suspenseful music)
- I'm gonna throw up.
(vomiting)
Ugh.
I just think Gumbo is so bad it made me puke.
It's their fault.
They should be tasting the food.
They need to throw it out and make a new one
because they're going to make everybody sick.
Did you taste the gumbo?
- No, I haven't tasted it.
- It's bad.
I just threw up.
- Oh you did?
- Yeah.
How long has that gumbo been out?
- We take it out of the freezer and we pre-thaw it.
- In water.
- And have it, have it sit here.
- Did you bring it to the temperature?
Every time you reheat something you need to make sure
you bring it to 212 degrees.
Otherwise, that's how bacteria grow.
- [Narrator] The CDC estimates that 48 million Americans
get sick from food-borne illnesses each year.
And 3000 of those cases result in death.
- Ugh.
I tasted that gumbo now my whole stomach is up.
Cause which idiots started that?
How many people did those guys make sick?
- Guys, we got to have a talk here.
I want to hear what happened with the soup.
- We took the stuff back out of the steam table
and I guess we didn't let it sit out long enough
to cool off the right way.
- So you guys knew it wasn't up to temperature, right?
Right?
- Yes.
- And you sold it anyway, correct?
- I wasn't aware that wasn't up to code.
- Am I right or wrong?
- Mr. Jon I was not aware that it wasn't up to code.
I would never sell a bad.
- You're suppose to be aware that's what you get paid for!
- You're correct, you're correct.
- Okay, next chef.
How many times did you throw up tonight, chef?
- [Chef] About three times.
- Close this kitchen down now.
You don't have the right to sell food.
Damn you.
How dare you get people sick?
Shut this kitchen down.
I don't want any food served here tonight, do you hear me?
Close it the down.
- Just ashamed by doing this, because our priority
is never to get anybody sick.
- No food comes out of this kitchen
until we know we're honest and we're safe.
Is that reasonable?
- It's reasonable.
- That soup went out to other people didn't it?
Didn't it?
- It went out to one person, yes.
- So you got other people sick.
What do you say?
- I apologize from the bottom of my heart.
There was neglect.
- I've never been as angry in my life
as I was at Jeff tonight.
But I'll tell you what it opened his eyes.
He apologized to me.
That tells me Jeff has a spine.
If he has a spine and an open mind, I can train him.
- Could we just get a burger?
- How do you want it cooked?
- Medium.
- Okay, so we got a club sandwich.
- There's no POS system, so they're handwriting checks.
So is there a concern of how long the checks been in?
- All right.
- Kay, cool.
Got it, right, okay cool.
- Oh, at least we're going to cook our bacon.
You know what this guy's doing?
Right after he touched the raw bacon.
- Ohh.
- It's contamination.
- The raw is on the cutting board, bingo health violation.
There we go.
- There's the patties.
Frozen burger patties.
- It's frozen.
- Freeze the burger.
- How long does it take to cook burger patty?
- A medium burger?
- Eight minutes.
(ticking)
- So the burger has yet to move.
- Hasn't even touched it yet.
- Come on, show me what you're gonna do
to the burger there, brother.
Leave it where it is.
- Just right there.
- We don't touch that.
You're good, man.
- Please turn the burger, Roberto.
- Dude, flip the burger.
- Flip the burger, Roberto!
- This guy, won't flip this burger.
- Oh my god, he flipped the burger.
- Oh my god did he flip the burger?
- See, now that you've got all the grease
and all the fat and we have a burger,
that's a medium burger.
That's been on the grill for 13 minutes.
- I'm dying to see when he takes a bite of that burger.
- I want to hear the crunch.
- Roberto, I'm Jon Taffer.
- I know.
How are you? Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
I saw you put a hamburger on the grill.
- Yeah.
- And I watched you for 14 minutes
not turn that hamburger over.
The hamburger was burnt.
The guest couldn't eat it.
The reason why you're nuts, selling food, I think
is that you're lazy.
And for a guy who's been working in a kitchen 19 years,
you know, better.
- No, this not a out at me.
Okay.
Don't talk to me like that.
- Let me tell you what he does, Sal.
He goes into the refrigerator.
He pulls out a raw piece of bacon,
puts it on a cutting board with your bare hands, raw pork.
Then a couple of minutes later,
he puts the salad right on top from where the pork was.
You didn't wash your hands.
You didn't wash you're cutting board.
- Yes I did wash my cutting board.
- No you didn't.
No you didn't.
- Every time I wash my cutting board.
- You did not.
- You're full of.
What happens when you put raw pork on lettuce
and send it out in the dining room?
What happens Roberto?
- It gets contaminated.
- It's irresponsible and it's illegal.
- 19 years, nobody got sick here.
- You don't know that.
- Food poisoning can happen in an hour or it can take days.
Roberto has cross-contamination all over this kitchen.
So I don't know how many people have gotten sick here.
This device measures bacteria content on surfaces.
- Okay.
- So the only thing.
- So this device is going to check
and I'm going to see right now,
whether we're getting people sick or not.
Any count over 2,500 is a failure.
- I'm just touching surfaces that a hand would touch.
(suspenseful music)
We have 199,308 counts of bacteria,
which is a failing grade.
- So guess what you're doing tonight?
You're cleaning the God kitchen like you should have.
You clean the kitchen I come back tomorrow,
chef, we go through this whole place
with the swab tomorrow.
If it isn't clean, I'll get a cook who will clean it
and it won't be you.
- If you want to fire me, you can fire me.
- Listen to this.
- But don't talk to me like that because I'm not.
- What I care about is you're irresponsible and lazy.
- You know what?
(beep)
You.
- You say you to me, you don't like it walk the outta here.
You want me to treat you like a man act like one, tonight.
- You got to clean the whole kitchen.
- I'm not suppose to do the cleaning here.
I'm ah.
- [Nick] So this isn't your responsibility?
- You're suppose keep it clean.
- You don't want to do it?
- Come on John, where the burgers at?
- Where, where is the burger?
John has no voice in this kitchen.
Chef, you have to tell them where the food is going.
The most important thing about being a leader
is to speak up.
- Let's make it clear.
The burger's not ready.
I'm bout to put cheese and bacon on it.
- But Q has been helping both people in both states.
And I think he wants us to step up.
- How many bacon burgers we got?
- All together, you got ah, one.
One, well.
- I mean, I got all day.
- All day chef, all day means all of it.
- You got two, well, one, one, well, you got.
- How many burgers all day?
Like how many burgers I got?
- Three.
- There's something wrong with the hood in this place.
John is this hood always like this?
I mean the whole place is filled with smoke.
- Pretty much when he gets that busy,
our vent hood fan does not work properly at all.
- I can see it and it's not pulling the smoke
out of here.
We got a major issue.
- Ain't nobody turned them on.
- The hood?
- Yes.
- That's why it ain't working ain't nobody turned it on.
- So we've been cooking all night long
never turned the hood on?
Unbelievable.
I have never ever had a kitchen manager,
not turn the hood on before.
- It doesn't make me angry, it suits me just fine.
- What the hell is the matter with you?
This responsibility.
(beep)
For Christ sakes.
This is a totally disorganized kitchen
and you are not a leader, John.
He couldn't do one thing tonight in that kitchen,
he couldn't manage, he couldn't tickets out.
This guy is worthless.
So, I'm shutting it down.
- Okay.
- We can't pull it off,
go behind a bar and shut it the hell down.
- I'm starving.
- I really think it's a long time to be waiting
for some fish 'n chips.
- Quality kitchens always maintain
the 12 minute ticket time and that's what I expect
from trained chefs.
They blew it and they're going to hear from me.
The same fricking ticket is here.
It's now been here for, you ready?
36 minutes ticket time.
We blew it guys.
We blew it.
Come on.
Dig us out now.
Get us out of here with some dignity.
- Now you see why I call it a stress test.
So let's start with the kitchen cause I just can't believe
what I saw in that kitchen.
When you think that we're surrounded by professional chefs.
- We've got 36 minute ticket times.
I'm appalled, I'm disgusted.
- The kitchen was a disaster.
- I don't know where to go from here.
- Chris.
This is too important, it'll take me a minute.
I've been watching this cooler all night long.
Those doors open every five to 10 seconds.
So what do you think the temperature is in here?
- I'd probably say 40 degrees.
- Nick I want you to put a thermometer in that chicken.
- What temperature should this chicken be at?
- 41 or below.
- Are you guys aware that this is at 44 degrees?
- I'm not.
I was not aware of that.
- Try the rib eye.
- Jon, this is at 45 degrees.
- Chef, what happens to meat when it's at 45 degrees?
- It's building bacteria right now.
- That will get people sick.
As a professional I'm ashamed of both of you.
Throw the away.
Anytime proteins like that
are over 40 degrees, bacteria grows.
I made them throw away all of their protein,
hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
They fricking deserve it.
- 45 my ass, dude.
- Hey, Mitch.
- Where you wanna put all this?
- Just dump it.
- I'm not gonna throw all this meat away.
- Might as well take $200 bills and throw them
in the trash can.
Let's just put it back into the reach-in.
(beep)
(crashing)
- Chris, definitely tried to hold on to the chicken.
He tried to salvage some money.
He's more interested in a couple dollars
than getting somebody sick.
(beep)
- Three simple beers guys.
Three simple food items.
We just totally unraveled.
Then here's the kicker that really got me, the chicken
in that walk-in is 44 degrees.
What did he say in the kitchen?
Where did he tell you to put that chicken?
- In the reach-in.
- He told you to put it in the reach-in in the back
cause he'll sell it anyway.
Won't he?
- Yup.
- This guy was going to take that chicken
that would get you sick, put it back in a reach-in.
I heard you say it.
- I did say it, then I changed my mind.
I said "dump it, it's done."
- Then you changed your mind because you said what?
- Throw it in the trash.
- If he wasn't there having integrity, Jimmy,
he would have put that in the reach-in
and you would have served it tomorrow
cause you didn't know better.
- Correct.
- How dare you?
- You sold out your customers for about $60 worth
of chicken.
How do you feel as a chef and an owner
when he does that, Mitch?
- It's wrong, it's a immoral, it's...
I can't even.
- Stick up to yourself, man.
Tell him how you feel.
You lost your house, man.
- I'm at my wit's end.
It's, it's now or it's nothing because I have nothing.
It's over.
Person I've used to be, best friends.
At this point it hits me very hard to really gain back
the trust and respect.
Things will never be the same.
- Guys, my name is Jon Taffer.
Quickly, this is Brendan.
Chef Brendan, he's going to watch you guys
for a while. Okay?
- Have we temped any of these ingredients over here?
- Yes.
- We need to be at 160.
All this stuff that you've got over here
it's all too low temperature.
You're going to poison somebody.
- What's going on?
- Just letting it fester to the heat.
- Did you bring this to a boil?
- Yes.
- Cause I have cameras in here.
Give it to me straight.
- No, I didn't.
Nope, nope.
- Okay you need to temp it.
- You didn't?
- No, I didn't, nope.
- Are you laughing?
- No.
- Why are you smiling?
Do you think it's funny to serve soup,
below temperature to somebody?
- No it's not.
- Would you eat that soup below temperature?
- No, I wouldn't
- Look at me when I'm talking to you.
Is it appropriate to serve something below temperature
to a guest?
Yo Mr. Cook!
Stop what you're doing and dump that soup
down the drain now.
- This should all be below 41, not one is.
60 degrees on this.
- [Jon] 60 degrees?
- 60 degrees.
All the temps are off.
Chicken, what we at here?
50 degrees.
That's poisoning somebody.
- [Jon] Nobody gets sick when I'm in a building.
Never, ever!
- These are serious health violations.
Do you understand these are serious health violations?
You're going to shut this business down.
- Nah, you.
- Quitter!
No wonder why you're a failure.
(suspenseful music)
Can I talk to you for a minute?
You won't to talk to me?
I'm here to train you with a professional chef
and make your life better.
And this is the way we're going to start.
This can be a good experience for you.
Are you going to throw it all away?
Is that what you want to do?
- No, I don't want to do.
I don't want to throw it all away.
I just don't like to talk to you like that.
- Well I don't like that that you serve food
below temperature and get people sick.
Is that fair?
(car engine)
- One person.
- That's a great example for your son.
How he's going to hear how his mom failed
and then quit and drove away.
Good example, mom!
Good work.
Diana couldn't handle it.
(car honking)
She abandoned her son in the kitchen.
She comes back tomorrow, she doesn't have a job.
Shut it down.
- Okay.
- I'm gonna take a peep around, all right?
- All right.
- That good?
Do you ever have a cleaning schedule?
- No, ain't no cleaning schedule.
- How often do you clean?
- I clean every week.
- Every week, what?
- Every, once a week you clean both?
- Every week.
- [Jon] You're full of.
- I find that hard to believe.
- Well you tell me what you want to tell me.
- There's no way.
- This is cleaning every week?
Look at this.
- Oh my God.
- I'm not even scraping it.
I'm slicing it.
- [Female Chef] This is what the bacon was cooked on.
- [Jon] Ugh.
- Look, can you see this dripping down?
How many times was the bacon cooked on this
and served to people?
- It ain't gonna be spotless, but it's clean.
- [Jon] If it's not spotless, it's not clean.
Randy is this clean to you?
- No, that's not clean.
- From now on, see her, she's going to tell you
what clean is.
- What I do is what I do.
- Well what you do, isn't good enough.
- Well to mines it is.
- I don't give a about you.
- Well I don't give a about your opinion.
- Really?
Well then maybe you shouldn't be here.
- Well maybe I shouldn't.
- Guys, either he's going to clean this kitchen
to my satisfaction or I'm going to leave.
You better get him the hell in line.
- But he ain't going to come back here
and talk to me like I ain't here.
And I've been here.
- Look at this man, what do you mean?
What are you defending?
- It ain't got none to do with a cook doing it.
- Bull.
(beep)
- It's your kitchen, you clean it man.
- What, what, what?
- You are totally full of.
And these guys are going down too because of it.
- It ain't got nothing to do with going down
in our mother food.
- I'm not listening to your bull.
- I'm not listening to your bull either.
- Either he's gone, or I'm gone.
(yelling)
- Get the outta my face.
- I ain't no.
(beep)
- Mr. Cook you clean to her satisfaction.
Welcome to the bar business.
- Stop, that's enough.
How long you been here?
- I've been here 18 years.
- Okay.
There's a reason you been here 18 years.
- I wanted to do what I got to do
to make this place acceptable.
I've care about Randy and Rick.
They good people,
but this has been a management problem from the get go.
If ain't nobody jumping in to tell nobody to do this,
to do that, ain't nobody going to do it.
- [Customer] How do you order food over here?
- You can order at the bar if you ever get to a bartender
or you can walk out to the truck.
- Be with you in one sec.
- Hey Sherry, did you, what did you order?
- A burger.
- You got a two burger app, tamper order coming up.
- I got two burgers coming up.
- There was supposed to be a two burger app tampered
altogether in one order.
- Systems are breaking down.
- Yes, I realized that.
- We got Brian overwhelmed on the griddle
and trying to take orders.
He can't hold down fort, we're sinking.
- Missy who ordered the app sampler?
- I can't, I don't, I can't remember.
- The ticket ordering system for this kind of crowd
doesn't work.
It's getting no food out.
The kitchen had a failure, a breakdown.
- I had to go out and get my food.
It took 25 minutes.
The burger is not even what I ordered.
- 25 minutes you've been sitting here.
What did you order?
- A burger.
- Burger.
Let me check, thanks.
What's going on?
- We're crashing.
- Is this his burger?
- Yeah, that's his burger.
- That's his burger.
How come it took 25 minutes?
When did you put it on, seven minutes ago?
That ticket sat for 18, 19 minutes before the burger
even hit the grill.
- Nah, that's not what happened.
- Why didn't the burger drop the minute the ticket got up?
When the ticket comes in, drop the food.
Listen to me, listen to me.
- No, you listen to me.
- No, I don't listen to you, you listen to me.
When the ticket goes up there you put the food on the grill.
- Man, you, get your ass.
- Are you a cook or not?
- Yes, I am a cook.
- Come on, this is a Friday night, man.
We're not even busy here and you're falling apart.
Look at me.
- I'm not falling apart.
- Keep it together.
- I'm not falling apart, you falling apart.
- Keep it together, man.
And next time it happens, I'll fire your ass.
(rock music)
Hi, this is Jon Taffer.
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