Chef Robert Irvine has spent the past five years attempting to save 140 failing restaurants across America for the Food Network show "Restaurant: Impossible," now in its 13th season.
Of the 137 restaurants whose episodes have aired, 82, or 60%, have closed since their makeovers, according to the blog Food Network Gossip.
That's actually not bad, since these restaurants were so poorly managed that Irvine and his team only took the job if there was essentially a 100% chance of imminent failure.
In fact, according to a frequently cited study by Ohio State University on failed restaurants, 60% do not make it past the first year, and 80% go under in five years.
Business Insider recently spoke with Irvine, who shared his top factors that result in a restaurant thriving or flopping.
SEE ALSO: Celebrity chef Robert Irvine explains the top 5 reasons most restaurants fail
Attention to detail
In March, Irvine, his wife, and some of his colleagues arrived unannounced to one of his biggest "Restaurant: Impossible" successes, Dodge City Steakhouse in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. "I walk into the refrigerator, straight in the kitchen — everything was exactly what I taught them to do," Irvine said. "Fresh food, stored correctly. I had the most amazing meal."
The one negative thing that caught his eye was an area of floor tile, which he wants replaced. The owners told him they were already on it.
Successful restaurant owners know that every small detail matters. To teach this point, Irvine likes to say that a Fortune 500 company would never have a receptionist at their headquarters who is rude or lazy, and so it's remarkable how often he finds restaurant hosts chewing gum and playing with their smartphone when he walks into an establishment.
Financial competency
Great food and service mean nothing if owners aren't properly managing money, and ensuring that their chef is ordering a sustainable amount of food.
Irvine said that it's unfortunately a common occurrence for him to ask owners of a "Restaurant: Impossible" location about their food and labor costs and how their revenue and profits stack up only to receive a dumbfounded look.
Another common mistake is that there's no system to ensure that numbers are kept up to date.
"One particular owner was so proud of himself for being able to report a 33% food cost until I dug a little deeper to see that his costs were based on old figures and that the cost of ingredients had risen significantly since he last did his calculations," Irvine said.
The owner's relationship with the staff
Nine times out of 10, restaurants are in better hands if the owners worked their way up through the restaurant industry hierarchy, Irvine said. It's typically easier for an industry insider to earn the respect of everyone from the line cooks to bartender.
Insiders also know how to better help the staff. "The more experience you have and the more jobs you've done in restaurants, the more you tend to understand the nuances of failure and where the systems can actually fail," Irvine said.
To succeed as an outsider, he added, it's necessary to set aside one's ego and learn how every function of the restaurant works.
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