It’s hard to admit when things aren’t working, but that’s where Food Network’s upcoming reality series Restaurant Impossible: Last Call, and its hosts, chef Aarón Sánchez and restaurateur Jen Agg, can help.
Restaurant Impossible, which originally ran for 22 seasons with Robert Irvine, is back, tackling North American eateries with the goal of restoring small business owners back to prosperous times. “Restaurants are struggling right now,” notes Agg. “Our approach is going to be to dig into the why, aside from obvious economic pressures. My favorite part has been seeing the owners who are sometimes deeply in debt and really unsure about what to do, and not ready to trust us. By the end, they are fully on board.”
Hopefully that’s the case tonight, when Agg and Sanchez visit Toronto’s oldest Hakka restaurant. After 40 years, COVID and other issues have nearly wiped out their customer base. As the business struggles, two sisters try to uphold their family’s legacy. “I loved the sisters, Joanna and Jeanette,” recalls Agg. “They’re so passionate about their family business and their importance as leaders in Toronto’s Chinese restaurant scene, Hakka in particular.”
And for Agg, she found that connecting with Joanna and Jeanette quickly became personal. “I found myself getting quite emotional about their story [and] why they have taken over from their parents, because their father had a stroke. My husband also had a stroke and you really don’t know what that’s like unless you’ve gone through it, so we had a lot to talk about in terms of sharing stories,” she says. “That’s what’s been surprising about a lot of these episodes, sharing of stories and the catharsis that can bring.”
“Most importantly, we are addressing the restaurant holistically,” continues Agg. “For restaurants to work well, back and front of house need to be operating in harmony. We are digging into all of the emotions that come with trying to make a restaurant function at a high level. We only have three days and $20,000, but we will be working hard to leave [them] better than when we found them.” Easier said than done!
Restaurant Impossible: Last Call, Series Premiere, Thursday, July 23, 8/7c, Food Network