A new series which gives a three-day trial run in a 40-seater pop-up restaurant in the heart of Manchester to budding foodie entrepreneurs begins this week on BBC TV.
The six-part series, Million Pound Menu, will see 12 budding restaurateurs who think they’ve got what it takes to go from pop-up to profit will by vying for life-changing sums of money to secure a major investment and turn their dreams into a bricks and mortar reality.
Last year, more than £33 billion was spent on eating out in the UK; there are now more restaurants and cuisines on the high street than ever before. A new idea or concept can change the way we eat and create a multi-million-pound brand in the process.
Each week renowned restaurant general manager Fred Sirieix welcomes two sets of restaurateurs to compete for a share of this growing market. He is also joined by some of the biggest investors in the restaurant world, with millions of pounds to spend between them. But in these challenging economic times, there is fierce competition to find a breakthrough concept – and these investors will need to put everything they have into making a winning offer.
Each new concept is given a three-day trial run in a 40-seater pop-up restaurant in the heart of Manchester, to try to win over the paying public and the all-important investors. They will be scrutinised on their food, service, team-management and brand potential. In tense one-to-one meetings with the investors they need to prove their business plans and financial figures stack up – after which it’s either game on or game over.
At the end of the three days, they will have done everything they can. Back in the restaurant they face a nail-biting wait to see if any investors will walk through the door before the looming deadline. Will they receive an offer that could change their lives forever? Will they receive multiple offers and have to choose between competing investors? Or will they leave Manchester empty-handed? It’s a business opportunity like no other, but with the clock ticking, the race is on to discover the next restaurant sensation to take the UK by storm.
David Brindley, Head of Popular Factual, says: “It’s a business opportunity like no other: the chance to open your very own restaurant and launch a multi-million pound brand. It’s a dream shared by so many but achieved by so few. In this series we’re giving the most exciting and genuinely credible restaurateurs the chance to prove their concept to the people who can transform their lives overnight. With millions of pounds on the table the stakes, and the drama, couldn’t be higher.”
