- I'm in long branch.
I'm on the jersey shore at max's bar and grill.
- Hi, folks. How are you?
You guys want to come sit at the bar? I love that.
I'm jennifer, and I am the third generation owner
Of max's bar and grill.
- All right, let's make a chicago.
- Our hot dog has been a staple here
For 9 and 1/2 decades.
In 1950, my grandfather took over max's,
And then my dad inherited the business.
We were this famous hot dog restaurant.
- Table 19, coming out now.
- Unfortunately, we don't make what we used to,
And the money isn't there.
I don't think we're that busy.
I'm confused why I have so many staff here
And not enough customers.
- The bun couldn't hold the weight of the hot dog
With the chili, and it fell through.
- The rolls are getting too soggy.
- The roll is too soggy on a chili dog?
I'm going to give you another one with chili on it.
It's gonna get soggy again.
- My ex-husband, jake, is the kitchen manager.
- Come on. - Working with my ex-husband...
Is, at times, very stressful.
I mean, how hard is it with the consistency?
How hard?
Oh, god. We have to do it together?
We're divorced, but we are working together
Because this place is our livelihood
And this place provides a living for the both of us
To support our children.
I need a lettuce, tomato, and onion for the turkey burger.
- Chika said no lto on it.
- Well, she asked for lto.
- All right, this is a disaster.
I can't stand working with my ex-wife.
- Try not to over cook them 'cause everybody gets upset.
- I'm not happy to be here.
If there was another option,
I'd take it, like, in a heartbeat.
I'm doing it for the children.
I'm doing it to be a good father.
- I'd rather, at the end of the day,
Put money in his hands than someone else's
Because it's for our kids.
A little feedback about the chili tasting a little bland.
- Yep. - Just letting you know, boss.
- Mm-hmm, bland my ass.
- To work with an ex-wife and an ex-husband,
Is already very uncomfortable as it is.
- I just want to let you know that table 17's nachos,
They said, were like not crispy.
- Then adding in his girlfriend is just crazy. [laughs]
- Ok. - All right, thank you.
My name is mary kate, and I work here
With my boyfriend, jake, and his ex-wife, jennifer.
Here are your nachos.
- I lost my front house bar manager very abruptly,
And so I did reach out to mk and say, "look,
Can you come and help a little bit?"
- Awesome. Guys want to do any french fries, onion rings?
I've worked in other restaurants,
And I've seen what works, I've seen what doesn't work.
I have a headcount sheet for you.
- Yeah. That, I don't understand how to do.
I don't do that thing with the ticks.
- I feel that jen is not equipped to handle
Running a restaurant.
The headcount is what you do to make sure that everyone
Has the same amount of seats. - No, I guess.
- So we all make the same amount of money.
- Thank you.
- I want to see jen succeed.
I want to see the restaurant succeed.
But you offer her help, and she doesn't take it.
You don't appreciate anything. You don't appreciate [bleep].
- Mk walks around, acts like she owns the place.
- Mary kate's very organized and detailed,
And jennifer is very discombobulated
And all over the place.
How do you expect-- - I didn't call you a bitch.
You called yourself a bitch.
- Jennifer doesn't listen.
I don't think she has a clue,
And she doesn't change.
- You saw me sitting at the table
Doing the [bleep] payroll.
The moment we don't see eye to eye,
It goes from 1 to 10 immediately.
- The drama here is just like a [bleep] clown show.
I don't even know how to respond to it.
It's just not appropriate for the workplace.
- Max's is celebrating our 95th year in business.
What I hope for us is to reach 100 years,
But I'm losing so much money, and I don't know why.
- It's just ridiculous.
- It's a power struggle in my own restaurant.
I need gordon to come in and help me.
I have to keep this place open. I have to keep making money.
- It's ridiculous.
You don't know how to own your restaurant,
And you won't man up to it.
- Right.
[dramatic music]
- This place is a death trap.
I can't help you if you can't help yourself.
Rot has set in! Smell it!
Shut it down!
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- What's more american than a classic hot dog?
That's why I'm in long branch on the jersey shore
To visit max's bar and grill.
Now, this place has been operating for 95 years.
And they hope to celebrate their 100th year.
That's if they can keep their buns in their seats.
- Hi. Welcome. - Nice to see you.
- Hi. My name is jennifer. - Jennifer, the owner?
- Yes. Very nice to meet you.
- Oh, my lord. This place is huge.
- Thank you. Welcome to max's.
Having gordon in the restaurant makes me a little nervous.
It makes me feel very exposed.
Follow me. I'm going to seat you right over here.
- Yes. - He's here.
- What table is he sitting at?
- 18. The high top.
- Start with a drink?
- Yeah, I'll have a coffee, actually,
And a glass of water. - You got it.
Thank you. - Thank you.
- The place is cold.
It's kind of dated in here. In a bit of a time warp.
And all these exposed walls with concrete in your face,
It feels like I'm eating in my granddad's garage.
- Gordon's going to begin with a glass of water, a coffee.
- So, wow, what an array of dogs.
Got the barney, dirty dog, mr. Max, mrs. Max,
The new yorker, the chicago, the nacho dog,
Handhelds, basket, starters.
I'm always super nervous when I see a menu this big
'cause that dictates that it's 95% frozen.
- Hi. - How are you?
- Good. How are you? - And what's your name?
- I'm christina. - Christina.
- Nice to meet you. - Gordon. Nice to see you.
Pleasure. Likewise. - Nice to meet you.
- How long have you been here?
- I have been here off and on for about 10 years.
- Wow, congrats.
So, truthfully, what's wrong with this place?
- There's a lot of struggles.
Lack of structure, inconsistencies with food.
There's a lot of drama. - Damn, that's not good.
- The ex-husband working here, the girlfriend is working here.
- Jennifer's-- - ex-husband.
He works behind the line. - Wow.
And his girlfriend works here as well?
- His girlfriend works here. - Who's that?
- Mk.
- Man, this is a love triangle, sort of.
- Yeah. [laughs] - wow.
Let's order. Let's start off with some nachos.
- Anything else?
- Yeah, I'd like to try some of the homemade chili
And some mac and cheese bites as well.
- Mac bites. - Thank you.
And then max famous hot dogs.
Let's start off with the barney.
- The barney? Ok. - Yeah.
Let's do the chicago dog. - The chicago. All right.
- Good. I look forward to catching up.
- Yeah, no problem. - Thank you.
Woo. I haven't even eaten yet,
And this place sounds a [bleep] disaster.
- All right, gordon's table. I got a nacho,
Some fried mac and cheese bites.
- Let's really impress him, please.
Show him what we're made of.
- [sighs] shut the [bleep] up.
- Nachos.
- Ok. - Cheese bites.
- All right. - Nachos.
- Thank you very much.
Are the cheese bites made in house?
- They are not. They are actually a product
That we do bring in.
- Right. Gotcha. - Please enjoy.
- Thank you very much. - Thank you.
- Ok.
Not the--not the best start.
They look frozen.
Heavily breaded, and so yeah.
There's hardly any mac and cheese, just all breading.
Yeah, not good.
Wow.
They're terrible.
It's just deep fried frozen [bleep].
- I wish that we made more things in house for him.
- Nachos, ok.
Wow. Grilled chicken, plain, no seasoning.
Cheese that's not even properly melted, just tired.
[bleep].
Basically, just another bad example of a regular old item.
$12 for that. $10 for the bowl of chili
With hardly any chili in there.
Hm. It's weird.
- You should go check on him.
I'm concerned, and I don't want to hover.
- Christina. - How are we making out?
- Mm. Yeah, not the start I thought.
So they just taste sort of frozen.
And the breading is just this sort of--
- You taste the frozen taste?
- And this thing here is just like a congealed mess.
Even the cheese isn't melted properly.
- Ok. Let me get all this out of your way.
- Please, and thank you. That's disappointing, though.
Thank you very much.
- He was not happy.
- Right. Who made the nachos for gordon ramsay?
He was not happy. - Hm.
- Let's knock these dogs out the park, please.
- Ok. - We got to get this right.
Here you go, gordon. - Ok.
- This is our barney. - Ok, thank you.
- And I see you already have a knife and fork, so.
- Yes, thank you. - Enjoy.
The onions are homemade.
- Right. - And enjoy.
- Great. Thank you.
Wait, the onions are homemade?
[bleep].
Look at that hot dog.
Tell me. That is gross!
There's more wrinkles on there than is in my granddad [bleep]
And he's been dead for 10 years.
[bleep].
- He's looking at his hot dog.
- You should have seen the look on his face
When you walked away.
- It was bad?
- When I think about hot dogs,
They should be, you know, fat, juicy, delicious.
This thing is blistered and wrinkled,
Reminiscent of a bison's [bleep].
Wow.
[spits] that is terrible.
Oh, my god. It is just flavorless.
It tastes of chemicals, and it's just very, very salty.
- I'm feeling stressed.
I don't think he's happy at all.
- There's no [bleep] way that this hot dog
Put this restaurant on the map. Look at it.
[bleep]. I can find better hot dogs
At 4:00 in the morning in times square.
That is just absolutely shocking.
The [bleep] bad news is, I've got another one coming.
Hello. - How are you today?
- How are you? - Good.
- And first name is? - Mary kate.
- Mary kate, nice to meet you. You good?
- Nice to meet you. - I'm done with that.
I've got the chicago dog coming next.
May I have some fresh coffee, please?
- Of course. I'll be right back with that.
- Ok, here is our chicago. - Thank you.
Dog with pickle, tomato,
Onions, pepper, and celery salt.
Oh, [bleep]. We've cracked on that one.
Bloody hell.
This is really lazy.
Honestly, [bleep],
I've had a lot of dogs in my time,
But this one has to be it.
I mean, it tastes rubbery.
- How we doing? - The crack on this one was
Bigger than the grand canyon. - [laughs]
- No, it's just rubbery. Yeah, not good.
- Wow. - Yeah.
Thank you very much. - You got it.
Hey.
- Good? - No.
He just was not happy with it.
- Wow.
That's disappointing.
Hey, jake.
Gordon's reaction to our chicago dog?
- Ok?
- He said that the whole overall dog
Was just very disappointing.
- Ok.
- The kind of person that jake is,
He is on the quieter side.
But the reality of it is is that
I don't think he cares that much.
- Just letting you know.
- That's jake and his ordering, I guess.
- I mean, you own the place.
- I didn't hear you. What?
- You do own the restaurant.
So if something's wrong, it is--
- No, I understand that-- - you can't blame jake.
- Well, I'm not blaming him, but I'm saying--
- You just blamed jake.
You just said, "that's jake and his ordering."
- My ex-husband's girlfriend always yells at me.
I feel bullied, unheard.
This has to change, or I'm going to blow up.
- You need to talk to him. - He does the food ordering.
- But you own the restaurant.
- We can have this conversation later. Thank you.
- Phew, [bleep].
I've come for a hot dog.
I feel like I'm in [bleep] therapy.
- I'm on the jersey shore at max's bar and grill.
I've tasted their famous hot dogs...
That is terrible.
- I don't think he's happy at all.
- Discovered a love triangle...
- But you own the restaurant.
- We can have this conversation later. Thank you.
- And now I need to meet the owner, jennifer...
Let's catch up, shall we? - Yes.
- To find out why this 95-year-old restaurant
Is on the brink of collapse.
The last customer has gone, yeah?
- Yes. - Uh, ooh.
I'll come on to the food in a minute.
There's quite a lot to say and also I'd like to
Talk to the chef. There's some real issues with that.
- Sure. - But it wasn't good.
Take me back to the beginning when you took over.
- I took over, I would say, in 2018.
But I've been doing this since I'm 15 years old, off and on,
With my dad, my grandma, and my whole family.
And I always say that max's is more than just me.
It is part of this history of long branch.
It's part of the community.
People come to me and say,
"my dad's last meal was a max's hot dog.
I put a max's hot dog in my dad's coffin."
That means something to me.
- The dogs, why were they so dry and salty?
Why were they cracked and dry?
- Our hot dog has been a staple here for 9 and 1/2 decades.
- Wow. - And I'm not quick to change.
- Wow.
That's not good enough.
- I also think jake, who's my ex-husband,
I don't think that he's purposely made things bad,
But I think that he-- he lacks passion.
I think that he's just lost something along the way.
- Why would you keep him here?
- He agreed to, you know, hang in there for the kids,
But not as a married couple, I guess you could say.
- No.
Now jake is with mk.
Just the scenario, being new to this,
Why would you keep her here?
- Mk coming on board was a decision I made
Because I lost two full-time employees in April.
Very quickly, I had to fire them.
And I don't know if I made the best decision.
She's not a very good communicator.
I can't sit and have a level-headed conversation
And get my point across. It becomes too toxic.
- We're at boiling point here, but you're the boss.
- I am, and I'm not respected.
- I love the fact you want to continue this legacy.
I love all that,
But you're brunting the risk, the responsibility,
Trying to continue the legacy. It's not working.
Clearly, we've got issues with the food.
Clearly, the customers aren't biting.
And there's fighting in front of those customers.
But what I need to know is
How deep are you in now, financially?
- Well, that's very embarrassing.
I have to be honest.
I mean, I'm, you know, well over $1 million.
- In debt? - In debt.
- Holy [bleep]. - Yeah.
- [bleep], jennifer.
I'm here to help, but it's gonna get hard
Before it gets better. - I know that.
- Can I meet him? - Yes.
- Can you get him out, please? - Yes.
- I need to meet jennifer's ex-husband,
Who's also the current kitchen manager,
And dig a little deeper into this hot dog disaster.
Hey. - Hi. Hi, chef.
- Hey. How are you? Gordon.
You must be jake, right? - Yes.
- Uh, wow. How are you feeling? - Uh, ok.
- Yeah, "ok" doesn't give me much confidence.
- Well.
- Let's talk about the food, shall we?
Because you're the kitchen manager there.
That's your title. Is that right?
- Yes. - Yeah, the food's dreadful.
- Um--
- I don't see anything famous about the dogs.
Why do they taste processed, dry, and rubbery?
- That's the way I was taught and shown by ownership.
That's the way they've always been.
- This legacy was not built on that [bleep]
That we've just eaten, let me tell you.
[tense music]
This is a very strange setup.
It's a very strange triangle, right?
Because you're sadly divorced. - Yes.
- And you and mk are an item. - Mm-hmm.
- This relationship is fraught, and I've witnessed it,
That mk doesn't make it
The friendliest of places to work in.
So when you see your girlfriend--
- I don't feel-- - disrespecting the owner,
How does that make you feel?
- Um, I don't want toxicity. And I don't want, you know,
Mary kate and jen to be at ends, and--
- You don't want, but they are. You know that.
It's festering and bubbling and about to implode.
Right now, this thing is--
Is a really nasty taste.
And that's without tasting the [bleep] hot dog.
[exhales] ok.
Can I just see this place running--
- Sure can.
- To see how this place functions?
- Yes. - Yeah?
And try to show a little bit of resilience with some passion.
Do you have any passion? - Yeah, I have passion.
- Are you concerned? Are you bothered?
Do you give a [bleep]?
- Of course I give a [bleep].
- Thank you, jake. - Thank you.
- Holy [bleep].
Restaurants depend on creativity, flair,
But also passion.
And right now, this place is lackluster,
And jake's not stepping up.
He doesn't seem to be helping much.
[upbeat music]
I need to see for myself
Why this once famous hot dog destination
Has lost its way and lost its customers.
- Hi. How are you? - I'm good. How are you?
So I've asked members of the local community
To fill the restaurant and put max's to the test.
- Hi. Let's see. Where to put you?
- The grilled cheese. Did you want to add
Any bacon or tomato to it?
- Sure. - Thank you.
- Chicken nachos and everything on there is ok?
- Yeah. - Cool.
- I hope you're gonna enjoy it.
- [chuckles] yeah, you can throw it down.
I like that.
- Ok, so first up, we've got two chicken nachos,
Grilled chicken new yorker,
Lobster roll, smokehouse medium,
And along with these three dogs I'm putting out right now.
- And what's a normal pickup time for those dogs?
- We cook them on low, so maybe around 20, 30 minutes.
- 20, 30 minutes? Wow, that's a long time.
- All right, that lobster roll looks ready to go.
Let me fix that for you.
- What's wrong with that?
- I put in the lobster grilled cheese,
And they gave me a lobster roll.
- Wow.
- Um, this is a lobster grilled cheese,
And they sent me a lobster roll.
- I need a lobster grilled cheese asap.
- Do you have nachos coming for 21?
- We've got boneless chicken. - I don't see it.
All right, I'll make you one asap.
Nachos, nachos, wings, boneless chicken bites.
- What are we working on here? Can you just talk to me?
- I'm doing table 21, the big guy.
- All right, thank you. How long on those nachos?
- Give me, uh-- give me a minute.
- Wow. He does not give a [bleep].
When jake's behind the line there,
Is he always that lackluster?
'cause he's sort of almost just going through the motions.
- Well, he gets in his zone,
And I know that he can get heated and overwhelmed.
And I think he's trying to really hold himself together.
- Dan, slow down on the apps 'cause I can't keep up.
- What do you mean overwhelmed?
Serving frozen food, it's not that--
- No, it shouldn't be that overwhelming.
- Just a little undermanned right now
For this amount of volume.
- Can I help with anything?
- Um, not right now.
You know, there's little minor problems here and there,
But nothing that's, you know, really hurting the place.
- Let me check on your guys' appetizers for you.
- You're not still waiting, are you?
- Yes. - Yes.
- You're still waiting for your food?
- Yes.
- Can we work on counter one and get two mr. Max's going
So they can start on something please?
- Are we still waiting for that?
- Yes, we're still waiting for that.
- Jake, how long for 21?
They've been half an hour for nachos.
- 21, I am waiting on boneless buffalo wings.
- No, 21. Table 21, I got nachos and coconut shrimp.
- I don't have-- all right.
- You don't have 21? - Table 21.
- I don't have that ticket. Give me one sec.
- What are you waiting on? The wrap?
Why is he just throwing food up
From bits of other tables? - I'm not sure.
- It's almost like we're just cooking
What we want when we want. Nothing's complete.
So the food's just dying in the window.
Jake, can we sell these or not? - Yes, they're still hot.
- Yeah, I didn't ask if they're hot, [bleep].
- More tickets coming. - What a mess. Oh, man.
- All right, bar 10 right here. - Bar 10? Thank you.
- Wow, welcome to being busy.
Right now, this is a fraction of the business that you'd do.
Jake, this guy's just throwing food out.
There's no tables complete.
There's just dishes going into the window.
- He doesn't care.
- Did this ticket go out? No.
Just a disaster.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- At max's bar and grill, the orders are backing up.
- It's all bits of tables coming up.
It's a bizarre way of working, right?
Jennifer, the owner, is out of her depth.
Her ex-husband, jake,
Is completely overwhelmed in the kitchen.
- People just keep ordering and ordering?
Come on. That's ridiculous.
- If they can't handle an increase in business...
- I'm waiting on the nachos.
- There's no way they'll generate enough revenue
To make 100 years old.
- All they have left is the legacy
Of their once famous hot dog.
- Yeah, mine did, too. It was definitely overcooked.
It tasted like plastic.
- Ladies, my locals, how we doing here?
So far, so good? What's going on?
- Yes, that's burnt for you tonight.
- Hello. How are we? What did you get?
- The mr. Max, I think it was. - Mr. Max.
Is it a good hot dog?
- Uh, I would say no. - No.
- I think on the bottom, it was a little, uh--
- Oh, jeez, yeah. - Little burnt and such, yeah.
- Slightly dry. My apologies.
Customers are hating the hot dogs.
They're dry. They're salty.
And the whole thing is lackluster.
It's hard to believe this business
Has been functioning for 95 years.
- Where are you getting drinks for?
- 13. - You can just do a pitcher
And--ok. - I got it. It's all good.
Mk, are you there looking at table 13?
- I am. We are getting it done.
- Do you have any kind of time frame?
- They are coming.
- Ok.
Mk, her delivery is so abrasive.
All it does is make everybody retreat.
I'm sick of it.
- It's toxic. - It's very toxic.
- There's no one dream team. - It's not a team, no.
- No. - No.
- We're waiting on a smokehouse chicken, no barbecue.
Why was her wrap delivered and no mr. Max?
We really need the nachos.
They've been waiting a long time.
- Jen walked up to the window every time
To let jake know what he did wrong.
- It went out at 4:02 in the computer.
It's 4:33. Gotta work on our time.
- Not once did she try to fix or help.
- This is easy peasy right here.
- Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy your night.
Watching jake just get [bleep] on all day is hard.
- What are you looking at? - It's not all his fault.
Sorry about the hot dog.
- Have a nice night, ladies. Thank you.
- You know, something has to change.
- It's clear that tensions are running high at max's.
And after a disastrous dinner service...
Let's have a quick catch-up with everybody, shall we?
Jake, let's have a catch-up together.
Mk, can you join us, please, darling?
- Sure. - Yeah? Let's go.
It's time to deliver some hard facts to the team.
Ok. Ooh la la.
This place has been running for 9 and 1/2 decades.
We've got the location. We've got the name.
But no one's holding on to any form of standards.
- Yep.
- Jake, how you feeling?
- I'm feeling a little-- little defeated.
I think the kitchen got pushed to the edge.
- But that's a fraction of the business
You should be able to handle here.
Now, every area of this business
Is spiraling out of control.
When was the last time we had a general staff meeting?
Together? - Two years ago.
- What? Two years ago? - Easily.
- Oh, my god.
- To try to get everybody at the same time
Doesn't always work.
- No, but as the owner,
Your responsibility is to get that info to them.
It doesn't feel like there's a team spirit here.
- I'm newer here, but yes, I could
Definitely agree with that. - Yeah?
- Like everyone wants to be in control, but no one is.
And the back and forth between jen and mk and jake,
Like, it's a lot.
And everyone sees it, you know? Even the customers.
- I think the problem is, is I have an idea,
Jen agrees with the idea,
And then when we come to implement it,
Jen doesn't have my back-- - that's not true.
Mk has offered a lot of ideas and suggestions.
They are good ones. But then when I say,
All right, well, I'll see you later or what have you,
And she's working with someone,
And then the next morning when we come in,
Food was left on the floor or things weren't swept.
I get a picture of it the next day.
- Never. I have never done that.
I will send you a picture of a full rack of silverware
And ask you why it wasn't rolled, but--
- I couldn't roll silverware after my shift.
- Do servers roll silverware at the end of their shift?
- I'm not a server.
- You were scheduled to serve that shift.
- Don't talk to me that way. I filled a position!
This is what I'm talking about. I can't--I can't do this.
I'm not gonna be yelled at by you.
I can never have... - I'm not yelling at you, jen.
- A conversation with you. - All I'm saying is--
Jen, I asked you to do a rotation sheet.
And you said, "I don't know how to do it."
- No, you showed me a little thing
With little checkmarks on it.
And I don't stand at the hostess check
And check little boxes.
I seat my customers.
I've been seating them for 30 [bleep] years.
I know how to seat them at a table.
And I don't need a checkmark to count the customers.
- You're just right off the cuff,
Not like every other restaurant.
- I'm not every other restaurant, and--
- That's why we're not doing well!
- I admit it. I can't do it all,
But I don't want to be yelled at all the time.
I need your approach to be different.
"hey, jen, what can I help you with today,"
Instead of saying, "what did you do wrong today?"
- Jen, you're not taking the help.
I'm literally begging you to take my [bleep] help,
And you're not. - Right.
- I cry in my bed at night thinking about your struggles,
And you won't take our help!
♪ ♪
- On the jersey shore
At max's bar and grill...
- I'm literally begging you
To take my [bleep] help, and you're not!
- The staff meeting has got personal.
- The way that you offer it to me doesn't feel like help.
[tense music]
- Listen, this scenario
Is the whole reason why this business is not functioning.
How long have we been this fractured?
- As long as I can remember.
- This place has the potential to be a profitable business.
But it needs to change.
We have to put our frustration and our emotions,
We have to part that,
And we have to focus professionally on the business.
I can help. - Thank you.
- But not this fractured.
Because it's tearing you all apart.
The question for you is, are you prepared to change?
- I'll do whatever it takes to keep it going.
Family businesses don't survive this long.
We are special.
It is a beautiful business.
- To be on the cusp of a 100-year celebration is rare.
There's a lot riding on this.
It will not be easy.
And jennifer, it starts at the top.
It's not jake's business. It's not mk's business.
It's your business.
- I know.
Having gordon in the restaurant
Has made me feel overwhelmed,
But you know, I can't ask for somebody
With more ability to help me address where I'm failing at
And where I can do better.
- Gordon, if I could just have like maybe three minutes
Of your time one-on-one.
- Let's do it now. - Yeah. Thank you.
♪ ♪
- Sit down. - Thank you.
♪ ♪
- I'm all ears.
- Well, I'm, as you can probably tell,
I'm a little introverted, so I don't really have a voice.
Like, I don't-- you know, it's--
This whole thing for me is like difficult, you know.
I don't want to throw mud at her and speak about her
That way, you know, so that's not who I am.
But jennifer doesn't listen to me.
You know, it just-- it is a lot.
- But the toxicity in here is just--
You're a responsible father. - Yes.
- But to witness this level of fragmentation,
There's only gonna be one detriment,
And that's these kids. - Yeah.
- And that's what you need to start thinking about,
If this place has got any chance of success.
You have the understanding of this business,
Alongside jennifer.
And it sounds like you're not doing enough
To help sort it out. You're just watching the fight.
And I just want to see more from you.
- No, I am not doing enough.
It's something I would love to see here,
Just everyone getting along.
- Sure. - You know, so.
- I'm here to help. - Great.
- And I want this place fixed for all of you.
You've got a voice.
If there's ever a time to use it, it's now.
- Yeah.
- I appreciate your honesty.
Thanks, jake. - Thanks, chef.
- Thank you, man. - Appreciate it.
It's not a great thing to work with your ex-wife.
We don't see eye to eye in how we do things here.
But gordon's right.
We need to make this place great.
Can I talk to you for a minute? - Yeah.
- You know, you'd do anything for your children.
That's what I'm doing here.
- [sighs]
- I hold back a lot. I've held back a lot.
But that's who I am. - I know.
- I'm not gonna start confrontation.
- What the [bleep] is her problem?
- You know, mary kate is fiery like that, and--
- I know she is. - You guys don't get along.
- That fiery side is not always the best approach, jake.
- I know, but you guys don't get along, so it's not--
- And I feel like you never, as her man
And me as your ex-wife,
Why aren't you just--just a touch more supportive of me?
I thought that we were gonna have a better understanding
With one another.
- Well, obviously, we have to do better,
And we have to do better for the kids.
- I don't think that you and I have to fail as people.
I don't think that we have to fail at
Still respecting one another and hearing one another.
This has to change.
I need to set aside personal differences of the past
And put our three children in front of what we need to do.
- We need to right the ship.
- What do we do? - And, you know, fix it.
- How are we gonna make it better?
Are we gonna make it to 100 years here?
Are we gonna keep this business?
This is all I know.
♪ ♪
- I'm in long branch, new jersey,
At max's bar and grill.
Owner jennifer and her ex-husband, jake,
Are struggling to keep
Both their professional relationship
And this 95-year-old restaurant alive.
- Obviously, we have to do better.
- They need a fresh start.
So my team is fixing up the restaurant
And giving it a complete makeover.
♪ ♪
Now, I've invited jennifer, jake, and mk
To see what we've all done.
Welcome to the new max's bar and grill.
- Wow.
- Come on.
This is what I call a bar,
100 meters from that beautiful beach.
We've brought a lot of color with the red trim,
The turquoise walls,
And also this beach theme around the bar.
- It's beautiful. - We've made it warmer.
You ok?
Now, coming into this part of the restaurant,
This beautiful signage,
What we were desperate to incorporate was
A throwback to the original max's.
We checked out the archives.
These things were stuck away in your office.
But look at them. This is history in the making.
- I'm just blown away by what's been done here
By gordon and his team.
[emotionally] I know my dad's looking down right now.
It's very special.
- But it can't just look good.
The food must step up a level, too.
We have absolutely overhauled this menu.
Nachos, burgers, cheese bites, shakes, and more,
All improved.
- It looks fresh. It looks light.
- It's beautiful. - Ok.
Let's get to the dna:
The hot dogs. - Yes!
- First of all, they're gonna be kept in a delicious brine
And then on to the plancha grill to order.
It's an 8 to 9-minute pickup.
They're not going to sit there for 2.5 hours, 3 hours.
- Absolutely.
- Let's start off with the classic dog,
The chili dog, the bacon cheese dog,
And then the mexican dog, and the cod dog.
These hot dogs are plump, juicy,
And not overly processed.
These are hot dogs that customers will come back for
Time and time again.
But jake, you need to communicate and drive your team
To pull this off successfully
And focus on the quality.
That is gonna be key.
Tomorrow, I'm inviting a very special guest
To guide you in the kitchen... - Yeah, super excited.
- When we reopen max's bar and grill.
- I like that.
- Well, sit down.
Dig in, have a little bite.
- Mm.
♪ ♪
- It's all delicious.
- Oh, those are very good.
- This looks more like real food.
- It doesn't look like max's frozen food.
- The hot dogs are very good. Mm, that is delicious.
The dog that gordon introduced was good.
I'm feeling positive.
♪ ♪
- It's time to reopen the doors
To max's bar and grill.
- Hi, ladies. How are you? Welcome to max's.
- I've invited the local community,
Local celebrities...
- Oh, that is her, yeah.
- And local restaurateur, james avery...
- Let's go.
- My sous chef on "hell's kitchen."
- All right, we don't want to be waiting on fries.
- He'll teach jake how to take control of service...
- Easy money.
- And deliver the new menu,
Including the new gourmet hot dogs.
- Are you all set to order?
- You got it.
- Here we go.
[energetic music]
- All right, so my first ticket is gonna be those two dogs.
All right, that is table 21.
Make sure that you don't drop that cod yet.
- Chef james is showing me a lot what he does
To make this place just run better and run smooth.
All right, lead ticket is a mexican dog,
Then followed by a mexican dog with frickles.
It makes me, you know, more vocal.
Keep it up, guys. You guys are doing great.
- Yeah, you're at 14 minutes on table 17, guys.
- It's always amazing how quick this place fills up.
Timing wise, we're ok? - Yeah.
- Good.
- This is how you want the restaurant to be,
Full like this.
We're wanting this. We need this.
- All right, guys, here we go.
- What did I get? What did I get?
- Enjoy, guys.
♪ ♪
- We good? Thanks so much for coming.
How are you? - Good.
- Appreciate the support locally.
This place needs it, so, uh, fingers crossed
This place gets back on the map.
♪ ♪
What a transformation.
The buzz in that room right now is just off the charts.
The locals are biting,
But more importantly, they love the food.
[apprehensive music]
James, can we let jake hold the reins for a bit?
- Absolutely, chef. He's got it already.
- Good. Excellent. Thank you.
So we need your voice now, right?
Let's go, big boy, yes? Yeah?
- Ok, so you got five chicken bacon burgers all day, five.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- How are you? Have you got food coming?
Is it--just waiting? Ok.
- Uh, 16.
- Right here, right here. - Huh?
- I hope your food is coming out very soon, ok?
- Thank you, jen.
♪ ♪
How's table 10 going?
- I don't have that ticket. Give me one sec.
- Oh, boy.
- All right, jake, you're running about
30-minute ticket time.
That's way too long for this kind of thing.
- Ok, all right, great.
- Oh, boy. This is embarrassing.
Middle of dinner service.
Honestly, we had a good start.
The problem now, the wheels are falling off.
Jake is not communicating.
And yeah, it's just the whole thing lacks.
- Huh? - What a [bleep].
♪ ♪
- The relaunch of max's bar and grill is buzzing.
- These are so good.
- All right, so you're running about 30 minute ticket time.
- But the orders are backing up.
- Have you got food coming? Is it--
- Yes, we do. - Just waiting? Ok, great.
And jake is struggling to control the kitchen.
- You got to now step up, use your voice,
Drive them a bit more. All right?
- Ok. - Cool.
- All right, great.
All right, guys, I know it's hard,
But we got to pick up the pace.
We're at 30 minutes on ticket time.
Push out a mozzarella stick.
I can sell a ticket if you just give me a mozzarella.
- Ok, thank you.
Good, dan. You making that chili nachos?
- Chili nachos. - Thank you.
16's done.
Keep it up, guys. You guys are doing great.
- Jake, keep your energy up. - Yep.
- Beautiful job.
- Aw, thank you.
- Jake stepped up.
You heard him being vocal back there.
- Frickles, thank you.
- It was nice that someone was running the tickets,
And food was going to the right tables.
- Chili dog was perfect. Burger?
- I had the double burger. That was incredible.
- It was delicious?
- Did it knock your socks off?
- How was it? - It was really good.
- Yeah? - Yeah, I liked it.
- Good. - These are amazing.
They look so good. - Wow.
- Danny, thoughts on the hot dog.
- Good. - Good?
- Got like a good snap to it.
- It's got a good snap to it?
Are you gonna come back and visit?
- I will. - All right, good.
All right, thumbs up on the food, guys.
- Great. - Thank you.
Jake, everyone is loving the new menu.
- Awesome.
♪ ♪
- Hey, no, I just wanted to touch base with you.
I just wanted to say to you
That I know that this has been a very hard ride for all of us.
And a lot has been said, but I hope nothing more
Than out of all of this pain and change
That you and I can get closer from this because we--
- I think once things are in a good place,
We'll have the time and emotional energy
To move our relationship in a better direction.
I really hope we break through, and this is the new start.
- Thank you.
[gentle music]
Thank you. - Thank you.
- Mk and I, we might have our differences,
But at the end of the day, I see us working together
And doing what is necessary to keep this business going.
- How did that feel? - Oh, completely different.
It was just easy. - Yeah.
They're loving the hot dogs, by the way.
They're just delicious.
And you could taste the difference, right?
- Homemade. - Homemade.
Good luck, man. We are not stepping back.
Jake's newfound voice isn't the only success tonight.
Just in the last 90 minutes, profit is running at $939.
- Wow, that's amazing.
- Come on, guys. Let's push out the last two tickets.
I'm gonna try to help out
As much as I can, even more than I have been.
Booth 1, all set.
- Thank you, jake. - You're welcome.
- That means so much to me.
Can I give you a hug?
Thank you. - Mm-hmm.
Good job, everybody.
- You are such a lovely person.
So lucky to have you. - Come on, come on.
- [sniffles] - hey.
- This business is my legacy.
You know, max's is family.
And I want nothing more than to see my children
Running the business.
This is for our-- you know, for our kids.
Thank you so much, gordon. - You've got this.
You know that? I promise you. - Thank you.
- If you continue, I'll come back and help you celebrate
That 100th anniversary.
- Thank you, gordon. - Yeah?
- Thank you so much. - Ok.
♪ ♪
Oh, boy.
When I first arrived, I found an iconic restaurant
Barely hanging on to its legacy
With virtually no chance of making it into the future.
But if jennifer can embrace the new menu,
Follow through with the new systems in place,
And let go of the past,
Then I promise you, max's has a chance to really celebrate
Its amazing 100th anniversary.
Fingers crossed. Wow.
Two months later, max's bar and grill is busy as ever.
- Welcome to max's.
- With the new menu and new systems in place--
- 16's done.
- Jennifer is looking forward
To celebrating max's 100th birthday...
- Love that idea.
- And beyond. - Cheers!
- Next time on "kitchen nightmares."
Oh, my god. It's like a [bleep] hoarder.
[coughing]
This is not good!
- My husband has a problem letting go.
- Hey, that comes here.
My chefs cannot change the food.
I will not let that happen.
- I do not have the deluxe mixed grill.
Who has forgotten this order?
The day the kitchen doesn't mess up,
It would be a miracle.
This table got screwed up with the appetizer.
At least let's serve this properly.
- It's pandemonium behind that line.
[dish breaking]
Oh, my god.