Let's just address the elephant in the room.
Why is there a big white guy with blue hair
in a soul kitchen in California
and how the hell did he get here?
For the kitchen, Jon brings in Jason Santos,
an award-winning chef with a seafood background
and a critically acclaimed soul food restaurant in Nashville.
So I wasn't here last night, but Jon briefed me on the stuff
and I can't wait to get in the kitchen.
These guys know soul food, and I'm not here
to reteach their soul food.
But I am here to work on presentation,
work on systems, and make them some money.
- Okay. - So, food cost being 46%
and labor cost being really high,
that's grounds for going out of business.
How can we make it a little bit more cost efficient,
how can we make it a little sexier,
a little swankier, and how to stand out?
- Everybody has shrimp and grits, right? - Yeah.
I noticed that you had 13, 15 shrimp in there,
and I know they're very expensive.
And I saw the price, so I'll tell you right now,
you're losing money in that big time.
So all we did was go a step down,
but we're going to compensate with andouille sausage in it.
It sort of bulks it up a little bit.
Celery, onions, bell peppers.
This is the magic sauce, okay?
Hot sauce, Worcestershire, crab shells, garlic, and lemon.
We're just going to serve one ounce
because it's super, super intense.
Butter, little insurance, right, that it's not going to suck?
Grits are in the bowl, and then we're just going to finish this
just very simply with some fresh green onion.
If you guys don't mind trying,
- tell me what you think. - Chef Santos is great.
I think he's a great teacher. He made it look really easy.
So, I have a lot of confidence in what's going on tonight.
- It's really good, yeah. - Good, good.
Gotta stretch.
Get ready for the stress test.
Thank you, everybody! I appreciate your patience.
Welcome to Rob Ben's. Do come in.
Hi, guys.
( indistinct chatter )
Right. We'll start right here.
- Two Tromba margaritas. - Woman: Did y'all want to order some drinks?
- Okay, talk to me. - How y'all doing? How y'all doing?
I'm sorry for y'all wait. What can I get you all?
One sweet peach and one Tromba, gotcha.
So a Sidecar Sugar? I know you want sugar, boo.
...and then we got hushpuppies on deck.
Yes, sir.
- Chef, you say four to an order? - Yes, sir.
You don't look happy.
You want another one? Which one was that? Sidecar?
You can double up. You can make absolutely
up to three cocktails in one mix.
That kind of-- yeah, I gotcha.
- Okay, we can work it. - Yeah, we going to work it out.
So the gentlemen in the second table,
- it looks like an "N" on his shoulder... - Mm-hmm.
...and the girl next to him both want new drinks.
They don't like their Sidecars. They say it's not strong enough.
- Can you handle that for me? - Yeah.
Oops. Damn it.
Do me a favor and make four more Sidecars,
but don't use that much of that.
They don't-- they don't want a lot of the lemon in there.
Our customers-- I guess it was just a little bit too much with the lemon.
So I told him to cut back on the lemon juice
and they enjoyed it a lot better.
Guys, look up for just a second.
Who still doesn't have a drink?
Look around. Who doesn't have a drink still?
Put up your hands so they can see.
Okay, Donte, come on, guys. Let's catch up.
- Order up! - So what happens? You guys send it up as it comes up
- or you send it together? - Oh, we got two things. My bad.
- Wait. No, no, not yet. - Hold on. Got the hush puppies.
So what's the system here? Is it as the food is ready
you send it or do you wait to do whole tables?
We actually send it when it's up,
but then everything's not ready at one time.
But you have to time it. That's where he comes in.
Otherwise we're just slamming food. What good is that?
All right, we're starting to get hit a little bit.
Starting to come in, tickets are coming in,
but it's the lack of systems.
They're not sure when to send one dish
or cook the other dish. It's just--
Are there table numbers on the tickets?
Guys, do you know where every order is going?
Just as I suspected, there's no systems in place.
They don't have any steps in place,
there's no process in place, so just a free for all.
Well, let's see what happens.
Let's see if the right food gets to the right table.
I'm sorry, darling, I wasn't ignoring you.
- Are you waiting on your drinks? - We are.
We going to get these tables done.
You got it. Oh, you switched tables on me.
No, no, no. What's the table number?
It's supposed to be table five.
- Okay, gotcha. - But they switched tables on me.
We were doing so well, and now the kitchen crashed completely.
Food isn't going out. We're running about 25 minutes behind.
Surprisingly, the bar's catching up, but the kitchen isn't.
Jason: Don't get ahead of yourself.
You're cooking too much too fast. We're waiting on this, right?
So, give me this, then go to the next ticket.
So, do it ticket by ticket, you know? Quality control.
That's what we're looking for.
If you try to do too much, the quality starts to lack.
We're doing super easy food. We just gotta get that rhythm.
You guys are slamming food like nobody gives a ( bleep ).
We give a ( bleep ) now, you know?
Why do this four times? Here, come on.
- See, that's what you-- - You have a pot.
- You do it, it works faster. - You have a pot right here.
So bring the pot to you. One, two.
We got to get the systems in here, guys.
Now bring the shrimp to you.
Don't do one at a time. That's crazy.
- Get 'em out as quick as you can. - Look, look.
Why do you want to serve shit like that?
Just one, two, three, four, and a garnish.
I don't want to show you again. I just want you to get it right.
Don't be sorry, just do it right.
- No, I'm--
- Guys.