Amy's Baking Company

"Amy's Baking Company" is the sixteenth episode of the sixth season of Kitchen Nightmares, and the 82nd episode of the series overall. The episode first aired on May 10, 2013 and centered on Gordon Ramsay attempting to help Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, owners of Amy's Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona.^[2]

The episode marked the first time in the series that conflict with the owners prevented Ramsay from completing the restaurant's transformation.^[3] The owners' actions received negative attention in social media. Their online responses were then further spread in social media in a manner which Forbes called an example of how a business should not react to comments posted on social media.^[4]

A follow-up episode, titled "Return to Amy's Baking Company", aired as the season 7 premiere on April 11, 2014.^[5]

Synopsis

Set up

Amy and Samy, the wife and husband owners, explain the history of their restaurant: Samy invested over a million dollars to build the restaurant in 2006 in order to fulfill Amy's dream. About two years prior to the episode's filming, bloggers began writing negative reviews of the restaurant's food. Amy says the reviews are "lies" and states that they cost the restaurant a "tremendous amount of business".^[1][6] Staff members explain that Amy does not see the problems with the food that many customers see, and that Samy will lash out at any customer who expresses dissatisfaction. The narrator also explains that only Samy is allowed to operate the POS system and handle money, which leads to many ordering errors; meanwhile, Amy only makes the food for one ticket at a time, which leads to long waits for customers.

One of the verandas of Amy's Baking Company where customers can choose to dine.

Amy and Samy are shown verbally berating customers, the staff, and each other. One customer in particular complains to Samy that he has been waiting for a pizza for over an hour. Samy responds angrily and gets into a profanity-laced argument in which he insists the customer pay for the drinks he has received. Samy and the customer nearly come to blows, and a producer steps in to escort the customer and his companion out of the restaurant while Amy is seen calling the police and shouting insults at the customers.

Day one

Ramsay arrives at the restaurant and begins his tour of the restaurant and its kitchen. Early in the tour, Amy discusses the restaurant's negative online reviews, stating that she and Samy are the only restaurant owners she knows who "stand up" to "online bullies and haters". Ramsay finishes his inspection of the kitchen, which he notes is exceptionally clean and organized.

After the tour, Amy describes her online backlash against people who post negative reviews of the restaurant. She also elaborates on her motivation for appearing on Kitchen Nightmares, explaining that they need someone of Ramsay's standing to tell people that the restaurant serves good food. Amy and Samy also explain that they have had longstanding staffing issues, with Amy describing the problem as being unable to "find qualified people to work", and Samy describing the problem as "my biggest worry". Samy in particular notes that the restaurant has had an employee turnover of "a few hundred".

After the initial discussion, Ramsay prepares to sample the food. He enthusiastically compliments the dessert, but has a rather negative response to other menu items. During the sampling, Ramsay learns from one of the servers, Miranda Winant,^[7] that they do not make tips, but that tips instead go to the owner. Seeing this as a contributing factor to the restaurant's staffing problems, Ramsay discusses this with Samy, who justifies the policy by noting he does much of the front-of-house work. Ramsay summarizes the dishes he ordered by noting the length of time he had to wait for his food and its poor quality. He then leaves to get changed in order to observe the staff, but before he does he tips Miranda directly. The quality of the food is discussed later that evening.

During the first day dinner service, Ramsay observes the restaurant in operation. He criticizes Amy and Samy for using mass-produced frozen ravioli when the menu advertises it as freshly made, and announces to customers that ravioli is off the menu. Customers are seen complaining about the long wait, and several customers are shown sending back their dishes. At one point, Amy gives the wrong table number to a server. Subsequently, when giving food to Katy Cipriano,^[7] one of the servers, as well as the table number, Katy asks, "Are you sure?". Amy responds by accusing her of having an attitude problem and demands that she leave. Ramsay reveals the restaurant's tipping policy to the customers, and one customer replies, "That's horrible."^[4] Samy and Ramsay then get into a heated, profanity-laced argument. Ramsay told Samy he was not allowed to take his servers' tips. Amy closes the restaurant, and then fires Katy. Samy attempts to change Amy's mind to no avail (with Amy describing Katy as a 'poisonous little viper' in a later interview), and Katy walks out.

Day two

Ramsay is shown coming to the restaurant, only to find the restaurant locked. He then interviews two former employees of the company and learns more about how Amy and Samy run their business, including how they force experienced workers to do menial tasks (including washing Samy's car) and that the restaurant went through about fifty staff in a year (which Samy later estimates as actually being one hundred). Ramsay meets again with the owners and criticizes Amy for the condition of the food served and the treatment and high turnover of employees. The discussion becomes increasingly heated and Amy reacts defensively, refusing to accept criticism, and blaming others (including Ramsay) for "disrupting" her. Ramsay concludes, "I think you're too far gone". Amy responds by stating her intent to withdraw from filming the show, and Ramsay tells the couple that a lot of their procedures are not normal for this kind of restaurant and announces that he's leaving. The production crew members are then shown removing cameras and audio recording equipment as Amy states to the camera that she and Samy "don't need his help", and suggests that he left for that reason.

In a concluding monologue, Ramsay states that this is the first time he has ever met a restaurant owner or owners he could not help. Before leaving the area he cites the fact that the restaurant has gone through a hundred staff members, states that Amy and Samy have upset the local community and are incapable of accepting criticism, and believes they would not have adhered to any changes he would have implemented to improve the restaurant anyway.^[3]

Production

The episode was shot in December 2012. On December 10 a local media interview with a diner described his altercation with Samy during taping. The diner saw what he thought was an act for the purposes of the show, but a producer told him that "what was happening was real". The diner went on to explain that police were on the scene by the time he left the restaurant. The diner reported that police were responding to a "911 hangup call" from the restaurant, and that they left after "conclud[ing] everything was fine".^[8]

Reception and reaction

Entrance of the restaurant

The episode premiered on May 10, 2013, viewed by approximately 3.34 million people. It earned a 1.2/5 share in the 18–49 demographic, meaning it was seen by 1.2% of all 18–49-year-olds and 5% of all 18–49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast.^[9] The episode met with praise from reviewers, with one critic writing, "The episode is nothing short of amazing."^[10]

After the show aired, the restaurant became a momentary tourist attraction.^[11] The restaurant received extensive negative feedback on their official Facebook page. When the owners Amy and Samy responded by excoriating people who posted negative comments, it provoked more of the same, not only on Facebook, but also on Yelp and Reddit. Forbes used the reactions as a poster example of how a business should not react to comments from the social media.^[4][12] The owners later claimed that they were hacked, and that they had not posted any of the comments.^[13][14] This prompted more negative responses and the original comments and responses were eventually removed.^[13] The owners explained this as the work of a hacker and that they had not posted any of the comments.^[13][14] As a result of the Kitchen Nightmares episode and Facebook posts, awareness of the incident caused the "meltdown" to go viral.^[4]

The company hired a local public relations firm, and a second Facebook page was eventually taken down as well, while another one called "I support Amy's Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro 100 percent" appeared on May 15.^[15] A press release announced that they would be holding a "Grand Re-Opening" on May 21, 2013.^[16] On April 11, 2014, Kitchen Nightmares aired a special episode revolving around the events at Amy’s Baking Company during and after the episode aired with a new, specially-recorded interview with the owners conducted by local reporter Ana Garcia.

References