In this episode, the nine couples are given the keys to their premises. They have just one week to prepare for opening night. But redecorating, drumming up customers, staff problems and their first ever taste of running a professional kitchen pushes many of them to the limit. Raymond and his three inspectors closely monitor their progress before deciding who will go into the first elimination challenge and run the risk of being put out of business.
In the first elimination challenge, three couples must host big formal events for three very demanding clients. They have to come up with gourmet food and great entertainment on a strict budget.
The pressure is on for the remaining eight couples to make more money by adding profitable cocktails and desserts to their menu. They are all desperate to do their best to avoid being selected for the elimination challenge. While a few find they have a natural talent for sales, others soon realise that it is as much as they can do to just hold things together. As the stresses and demands of running a business together increase, the couples also discover how strong their relationships really are.
Three couples must battle for business in the tough world of large scale canteen catering in an attempt to save their restaurants. Whoever makes the least profit will be out of the competition.
In this episode, the seven remaining couples are battling to attract more customers. They try every marketing trick possible from balloon releases to free gifts - but many misfire and the couples soon realise how difficult it is to turn their restaurants into profitable businesses. They also have to offer a special children's menu with entertainment. But the bigger numbers cause chaos. Some customers are kept waiting for hours and many of the would-be restaurateurs find children can be the most difficult customers to please.
Seven couples are left in the competition trying to run their own restaurants for the first time to win the opportunity to go into partnership with legendary chef and restaurateur, Raymond Blanc. But each week Raymond selects the three poorest performers and puts them in a daunting elimination challenge. Whichever couple then fares the worst has their restaurant closed and is out of the running. This time, the selected couples must host gourmet evenings featuring local produce and provide entertainment celebrating local history. But finding seasonal ingredients and cooking up lavish historical fare proves their most difficult challenge yet. Some decide to break the rules with dramatic consequences.
Six couples from around the country are still competing for the unique opportunity to go into business with legendary chef and restaurateur, Raymond Blanc. From brothers to husband and wife teams, most have only ever cooked at home before. To test their skills, all couples will have to open and run their own restaurants for the very first time. But each week, the three poorest performers will be selected to go into a daunting elimination challenge. Whichever couple then fares the worst will have their restaurant closed and their dreams shattered. The tense process will continue until the winner is found. In this episode, Raymond tests the couples' management skills by seeing how well they can train their staff in sales technique. To make the task particularly challenging he gives all the restaurants eels. They have to come up with original, appetising eel dishes and then try and sell as many as possible. But many chefs struggle to prepare and cook them and the front of house teams soon find eel is not popular with the British public. In one restaurant things get so out of hand a wedding anniversary is ruined by poor food and service and there is a fiery clash when a contestant struggles to cope with the criticism.
Three couples must show they have the management skills to pull off a big event. They will have to organise a three-course sit down hot meal on the lawns of Blenheim Palace.
The couples have to come up with distinctive brands for their restaurants that will make them really stand out. But some of the would-be restaurateurs struggle to create a winning concept. To make matters worse, the battle is then on to promote the new brand as effectively as possible - one couple wastes all their budget printing leaflets full of errors while others hope that a live radio appearance will help pull in more customers. The couples are starting to realise just how tough it is to get enough paying customers in. Some have to take desperate measures changing their menu and concept a few hours before opening in a rash attempt to generate more business. Raymond and his three inspectors closely monitor their progress before deciding who will go into the first elimination challenge and run the risk of being put out of business.
Five couples are still trying to run their own restaurants for the first time to win the opportunity to go into partnership with legendary chef and restaurateur, Raymond Blanc. But each week Raymond selects the three poorest performers and puts them in a daunting elimination challenge. Whichever couple then fares the worst has their restaurant closed and is out the running. In this episode, three couples must come up with exciting new microwave meals and pitch them to two leading high street stores. They must produce a successful, innovative dish with mass appeal, produce the packaging and give a winning presentation. But some soon realise that what works in their restaurants will not be effective on supermarket shelves. They have to find clever ways to make the food look more appealing and come up with a marketing strategy and advertising campaign that will impress their potential clients.
There are just four couples remaining in The Restaurant, competing for the chance to go into business with Raymond Blanc. The opportunity to open a new restaurant with the legendary chef is getting closer. But most of the would-be restaurateurs have only cooked and entertained at home before, and they are all finding it tougher than they ever imagined. Each week, the poorest performing couples are selected to go into a daunting elimination challenge. Whoever fares the worst will have their restaurant closed and their dreams shattered. Raymond Blanc will continue to test the competitors like this until he finds his future business partners. This week Raymond Blanc asks the couples to focus on the most important person in the restaurant business, the customer. They must come up with ideas that will 'surprise and delight' every customer who walks through the door. But they quickly realise that what pleases one customer alienates another. Once couple surprise some customers with a high-spirited dance routine, but manage to upset others. And a singing performance at another restaurant causes embarrassment as well as delight. There are more fundamental problems too. One couple battle to fill their restaurant while keeping their staff on-side at the same time. And another couple discover that their carefully prepared meals are ending up in the bin rather than satisfying customers. As always, Raymond Blanc and his three inspectors closely monitor the couples' progress before deciding who will go into tomorrow's elimination challenge - and run the risk of losing their restaurant.
Four couples are left in the running in as Raymond Blanc narrows down his search for his business partners. Each week Raymond selects the poorest performers and sets them a tough elimination challenge. Whichever couple fares the worst has their restaurant closed and their dreams shattered. This week Raymond has asked the couples to focus on the customer. His challenge is simple: it's dating night. Fill your restaurant with singles, give them the night of their lives and help them to find romance. But the couples don't find it so easy to spread 'the love'. Finding customers who want to go dating proves difficult - there's a mad dash along the Thames to find suitable singles, and a very high drop-out rate. Confusion in the kitchen over a romantic seafood platter for two leaves several guests without any food at all, and being the 'host with the most' leaves one contributor unable to run his restaurant efficiently. Tonight one more couple will leave the series and by the end just one couple will be left.
Three couples all are running their own establishments for the very first time, the two poorest performing of the them will have to go into the final elimination challenge.
Just three couples remain in the competition, one lucky couple already have a guaranteed place in the final. The other two couples must battle it out for the last coveted place.
It is the grand final, Raymond must now decide which couple will become his partners and open their very own restaurant with his financial support and expertise. To help him make this very important decision he takes the finalists to his home town of Besancon in France - the place where he grew up and started his own career. But the two couples are shocked to learn that they have less than 48 hours to open their own restaurant here for one night and introduce the French to British cuisine. This proves to be the most stressful of all the tasks the couples have been given during the series. They must come up with a menu that will appeal to the French and train a new team in a foreign language. There are tears and tantrums as the restaurant service degenerates into chaos with some customers never receiving their food and front of house managers struggling to make themselves understood. Raymond brings family members, including his mother Anne Marie and his actor son Oliver, to both restaurants and listens to their views before announcing his decision.
Raymond Blanc begins the search to find another couple to go into business with. The couples are shocked to find out there is a tough challenge before the real contest begins.
The couples discover which restaurants they have chosen through the random key selection and are given a week to decide on the decor and ambience of the eateries, along with the menu they plan to serve. As always, Raymond Blanc has dispatched his inspectors Sarah Willingham and David Moore to keep a watchful eye on proceedings.
Raymond Blanc asks the couples to let their customers pay only what they decide their meals are worth, creating a need to encourage them all to give generously. Chef James rests his hopes on haute cuisine at the Gallery, while Stephen and Helen try to ensure a full house as they cater for families. Raymond then enlists David Moore and Sarah Willingham's help to select his losing contestants.
The three less successful couples after the opening night challenge are set another one. Each couple are sent to a different motorway service station where they have to prepare a breakfast menu. The least successful couple find their time on the show over.
The remaining teams have to create a meal using every part of a Sea Bream. The three teams who have been considered to have done the worst job learn that they will face the elimination challenge this week.
The couples facing elimination have to create a formal dinner at three prestigious Oxford colleges. At the end of the show one team is eliminated from the competition.
The remaining couples have to change their menus so that it will include a national dish from overseas. People from each country are sent to the restaurants to try out the dishes. For one couple not everything goes as planned.
The three couples facing elimination have to prepare meals aboard an airliner. At the end of the show one of the couples is eliminated.
The remaining couples start their own takeaway service in an effort to reach out to the local community by offering restaurant meals that customers can eat at home. Raymond Blanc, assisted by inspectors on the ground, questions the couples and decides who has made a success of their business and which ones need to prove their restaurant is worth keeping open.
The three couples facing elimination have to host a dinner party for some very demanding guests. At the end of the show one of the couples is eliminated from the show.
The couples are challenged by Raymond to show the public their cookery skills but not everyone is up to the challenge though.
Raymond Blanc challenges the remaining couples to produce books to promote their restaurant concepts. As well as making sure they have cooked their dishes to perfection, they must present them for some of Britain's leading food photographers to shoot, before their finished products are judged by some of the country's most influential book buyers.
Raymond Blanc invites back customers who weren't happy with their eating experience, in an effort to see if the remaining couples can get it right the second time around. The chef also invites diners who require special dietary care, but doesn't reveal this to the teams until the last possible moment. The inspectors then arrive to find out how the couples have fared and who will make it through.
In the penultimate episode, Raymond Blanc puts the chefs through their paces in his own kitchen, while the front-of-house staff are scrutinised by David Moore in one of his Michelin-starred eateries. The teams face a grilling from businesswoman Sarah Willingham before opening their restaurants to renowned figures from the food industry. Raymond then decides which two couples will make it through to the final.
The two remaining couples go head-to-head in the final challenge, to cook for 40 guests on board a luxury train, for a chance to join Raymond Blanc in a new business venture. The chefs have to devise and cook a lavish five-course menu to passengers expecting othing but the very best. Raymond and the inspectors also climb aboard to share the passengers' experience and evaluate the ontestants' work, before deciding the overall winner. Last in the series
Raymond Blanc is on the hunt for a couple to back in a brand new restaurant venture.
The seven couples left in the competition must run three leading chain restaurants.
Six couples attempt to show their restaurant concepts work on opening night.
The five remaining couples must use local produce to prepare dishes for a farmers market.
The four remaining couples must serve afternoon tea at a dance with over 100 attendees.
The couples must create a romantic takeaway dinner for two and cater a singles night.
It is the semi-finals, and Raymond Blanc heaps on the pressure in order to choose two couples to compete in the final. Firstly the three remaining couples hold a cookery masterclass in their restaurants. This doesn't go well for JJ and James, who don't attract a single student. Then the couples deliver what they believe is their final service in front of Raymond. Just when they think it is results time, Raymond delivers an extra challenge - one which ends in tears and the closure of a restaurant.
It's the final. Raymond Blanc and his two investors Sarah Willingham and David Moore must decide which of the remaining two couples will become their new business partners - but first a huge challenge lies ahead. After masterclasses in fine dining and service, the couples must serve up a prestigious banquet for Lord and Lady Arran at their stately home in Devonshire. Raymond, Sarah and David are there to watch the proceedings, and to finally decide who will win the opportunity of a lifetime.
A year ago Michele and Russell won The Restaurant. This is the story of their journey to transform an old pub in Buckinghamshire into the restaurant of their dreams.
