Who pays for 'Kitchen Nightmares' projects? Producers of FOX's hit food show pay for revamping failing restaurants
BEL AIR, CALIFORNIA: Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay leaves no stone unturned in providing participating restaurant owners on 'Kitchen Nightmares' with the best of high-end renovations, and it must be coming from someone's pocket, right?
The star chef is known for revamping restaurants featured in the show with new seating arrangements, new decor, and often a complete overhaul of the old structure.
So, who pays for all that?
According to the show's executive producer Lindsay Kugler, 'Kitchen Nightmares' is committed to providing participant restaurants with all the assistance they need, to bounce back on their businesses.
Consequently, the cost of Ramsay's expert advice to the owners as well as the restaurant renovations are entirely covered by the producers of the show.
Gordon Ramsay was sued multiple times on 'Kitchen Nightmares'
'Kitchen Nightmares' has given us a plethora of heated and memorable conflicts between Ramsay himself and the restaurant owners.
As a perfectionist, Ramsay is often cut to the quick as a result of the restaurant owners' lack of motivation and interest toward their own businesses.
However, there have been certain restaurant owners and related staff who didn't take Ramsay's explosive temper and behavior too kindly and resorted to legal means to get back at him.
Martin Hyde, who appeared on the show's first season as manager of the New York restaurant Dillon's, reportedly sued both the show and Ramsay for £500,000 after the latter called him "lazy" on the tape.
Another legal battle involved Joe Nagy, the former owner of Mill Street Bistro in Ohio, who filed a lawsuit complaining that Ramsay and the show's crew trashed his restaurant after the show's filming.
The case was settled with Nagy reportedly getting paid £900 as compensation.
Customers on 'Kitchen Nightmares' are paid for by the show's producers
'Kitchen Nightmares' has been accused of using actors as diners during the show's filming in the past episodes.
The claim isn't entirely incorrect as each of the show's episodes comes with a disclaimer: "The producers may have provided customers at the restaurant with a financial contribution towards the cost of their meal."
Therefore, though the show doesn't use actors to fill in dinner reservations, it nevertheless does pay for customers to show up.
'Kitchen Nightmares' has only a few success stories
Not every restaurant featured on the show shut down due to a lack of business. Several of them have been doing incredibly well after Ramsay's intervention.
Take the example of Denver pizza joint Pantaleone's which went from being a typical "kitchen nightmare" to a successfully running outlet with high ratings on both Yelp and TripAdvisor.
Yanni's Greek Cuisine, featured in Season 6, is another shining example of a restaurant saved by Ramsay.
'Kitchen Nightmares' Season 8 airs on September 25, 2023, at 8 PM ET on FOX.
