CADILLAC DINER - Lower Hutt

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Just north of Wellington is New Zealand’s 10th largest city - Lower Hutt. It’s home to an eclectic range of eateries, the latest of which is American-themed diner, The Cadillac.

Owner Karl has a full time job during the day managing a contracting business and at night works as chef in the kitchen, despite having no previous experience. Also low on experience is partner of two years, Debbie, who manages the diner.

Together they’ve sold their worldly possessions and invested over 150 thousand dollars, but working massive hours is beginning to take its toll.

Head waiter Michael, goes out with Karl’s daughter and, keeping up family tradition, he doesn’t have any previous experience. Together Karl and Debbie have a blended family of seven children and two grandchildren but working massive hours means they’re not getting to spend any quality time with them. Even worse, they’re not making ends meet.

John heads to Lower Hutt to find out why the Cadillac is being driven into the ground. He discovers an over priced menu with too many burgers, a kitchen that has not only been amateurishly set up but is also lacking in basic equipment.

When he tastes the food, while he thinks the burgers taste okay, John finds them far too big and too similar. An observation of service reveals that the inexperienced wait staff are making some fundamental errors on the floor, failing to up sell and precariously piling up plates.

John talks to chef Jah, the only person with industry experience, and is mildly concerned to discover that Karl is the head chef –despite having never worked in a restaurant before. He is also worried that Jah doesn’t believe Karl will allow John to change anything. John heads away to Auckland to formulate a plan to turn the Cadillac around.

When John returns, he reveals his changes to the team and they are met with huge resistance from Karl. He is adamant his menu is not going to change and John begins to wonder what on earth he is doing there.

John has identified that their biggest problem is lack of experience, so sets to work giving the wait staff lessons on how to up sell the menu and on clearing glasses.

John wants to add a bottomless cup of coffee to the menu which Karl and Debbie are okay with it, but when he tries to convince Karl to lower the price and reduce the size of his burgers, he is adamant he doesn’t want to change.

To prove to Karl that his ideas work, John introduces the bottomless coffee at lunch time service and it goes down well with the customers.

John gets Karl to cook up a selection of his burgers to see why he is so defensive of them all. John discovers they’re effectively variations of one burger. He then makes Karl a smaller burger to prove to Karl that he can still make money on a smaller item.

John rearranges the kitchen to give it a more workable line and Karl is delighted when John gives them a brand new, state of the art fridge.

Meanwhile, to make the restaurant not resemble a museum and to make the bar more accessible Hire a Hubby removes some of the stools whilst Michael declutters the bar to make it a more user friendly area. The lifeless rest rooms are given a lick of paint to bring them up to speed with the rest of the diner…but it’s not to Michael’s liking.

With the kitchen sorted out, John has got the chef from one of Wellington’s top home style culinary cafes, Fidels, to teach the boys in the kitchen how to make chilli and it goes down really well.

When John reveals some pictures for the restaurant, Karl and Debbie are delighted. They are even more delighted when John reveals new chalk boards that will replace the marathon menu board. Suddenly the emotion of the week overwhelms Debbie and she breaks down.

With the deadline for the menu already pushed to the limit, John is mortified to hear that Karl has only removed one item from it. He gives him an ultimatum, saying that if he doesn’t get it done, they won’t have menus for the all important relaunch.

On the day of the relaunch John sends Debbie and Jah out to a local park with a barbeque and some burgers to drum up business. They also take along the local Elvis impersonator to attract more attention.

Meanwhile Karl takes some customers out for a ride in his Cadillac. Today it is a treat for loyal customers, but it’s going to be a great new side business which will bring in much needed extra revenue.

Back at the restaurant, John has another lesson for Debbie. He’s introducing bus tubs so that all the dirty dishes from the restaurant can go into them and, when they’re full, then be taken out to the kitchen.

With the opening just one hour away, the printers have pulled it off, and the menus have arrived. With Karl’s reluctance to change they have finally compromised on a menu that features a mixture of John’s new dishes and a selection of Karl’s burgers. Even though it was a battle, John is pleased that it reflects an authentic American diner both in pricing and portion size.

When John gathers the team before the opening he drops the bombshell that there will be a critic in the house tonight. The doors open and it looks like the day’s marketing has done the trick, and locals pile through the door.

However no sooner are they open, the kitchen is not coming up to scratch and is making mistakes. Out front John is disappointed to see that the wait staff are reverting to old ways, failing to clear tables, up sell or deliver good service. After John has a quiet word with the staff, service starts to improve on the floor.

The critic tells them that her soup was inedible, and Jah is shocked. She also criticises the service, pointing out that wait staff failed to offer her table second drinks. However, she has high praise for the rest of her food and the diner in general.

When John returns to the restaurant four weeks later he is delighted to see that Karl has embraced his changes; the new layout in the kitchen is working well, the menu changes have been a real hit and the wait staff are delivering to a more professional level.

He leaves, predicting the diner will be a success. And Karl rounds the happy ending off by getting down on one knee and proposing to Debbie.

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