Those who watch chef Gordon Ramsay try to save struggling restaurants on the show “Kitchen Nightmares” know many of the eateries truly live up to the show’s name. But the nightmares aren’t always limited to the food and how it’s prepared. Sometimes, major updates or renovations are required to make the space safe for cooking and attractive to customers. But who foots the bill for these sometimes significant overhauls?
The truth is that restaurant owners don’t have to worry about paying for renovations as they work to save their business. The production company behind “Kitchen Nightmares” pays for any expenses that rack up while Ramsay and his team are overhauling a restaurant. There’s no evidence that Ramsay himself is personally paying out of pocket for these fixes. More likely, the cost was simply built into the budget created when the show was sold to Fox (or Channel 4 in the U.K.).
This is good news for both restaurant owners and Ramsay, as the updates are often significant enough to cost upwards of five figures. Still, restaurant owners are responsible for any future maintenance and upkeep once the show wraps.
The Restaurants Don’t Have To Foot The Bill
Most of the establishments featured on “Kitchen Nightmares” likely wouldn’t be able to pay for major fixes, even if they wanted to. By the time Ramsay arrives at a restaurant, the business is likely already in dire (and sometimes irreversible) financial decline, which is the reason so many “Kitchen Nightmares” restaurants fail despite the help they receive. Most are now closed, though it’s hard to determine how much of that closure rate (if any) has to do with Ramsay’s show.
While Ramsay may not have any direct financial stake in these overhauls, no one watching the show can deny his emotional investment in each struggling “Kitchen Nightmares” participant. Many times, he ends up in screaming matches with owners or employees, and these sometimes lead to lawsuits. Ramsay and crew even walked out mid-show after an infamous blowup with the owners of Amy’s Baking Company. So, while Ramsay isn’t personally paying for restaurants’ renovation budgets, viewers can be confident that his last-ditch help isn’t leaving struggling business owners with a hefty bill, either.
