| Genre: | Reality Show |
| Presenter: | Curtis Stone (series 1) Ian Dickson (series 2) |
| Judges: | Patrick Collins Caterina Borsato Matt Moran |
| Opentheme: | "We Used to Be Friends" by The Dandy Warhols |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 2 |
| Num Episodes: | 63 |
| Company: | Freehand Productions |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes (including commercials) |
| Network: | Seven Network |
| First Aired: | [1] |
| Related: | My Kitchen Rules Restaurant Revolution |
My Restaurant Rules is an Australian reality television series that aired on the Seven Network.
The series pits five couples, one each from Australia's five largest cities, to compete against each other in opening a successful restaurant.
In initial episodes of the show the couples are given a vacated restaurant space in their home city that must be renovated. They also compete for additional money that can be used for renovation from a panel of judges based on a presentation of their mission statement and plan for their proposed restaurant. The judges also make further appearances later on in the series in both critiquing the restaurants and offering rewards to the contestants.
After a number of weeks the elimination process begins in which the restaurants (and their owners) are reviewed and judged for nomination. The nominated restaurants then compete for votes from a phone poll, with the victor moving on and the loser being forced to shut down. This process continues until a single competing restaurant remains.
Despite the process of elimination that sees almost all competing restaurants shut down, every restaurant featured in the programme was successful and operated in the black. This may be because of the exposure the restaurants are given via the show. Moreover, some eliminated restaurants managed to re-open at new locations.
The first series of My Restaurant Rules aired in 2004 and featured the five following restaurants and couples:
In the series finale, Perth's Room Nineteen and owners Ash and Amanda were declared the winners, beating Peter and Tayissa of Melbourne's Seven Stones.
Series one was hosted by Curtis Stone.
The second series of My Restaurant Rules aired in 2005 and featured the six following restaurants and couples:
In the series finale, Adelaide's The Greedy Goose and owners John and Justine were declared the winners, beating Evan and Bella of Sydney's Pink Salt.
Series two was hosted by Ian Dickson.
Although, the Seven Network began working on a third season for 2006, it did not materialize, but the series has not been mentioned due to the closure of the first series winner Room Nineteen Restaurant.
In 2005, series 1 winners Ash and Amanda of Room Nineteen discovered that the site that had been allocated to them by Seven was booked to be demolished in December. They were unable to sell the restaurant due to a clause in a contract they signed and the cost of moving the restaurant to another location was too high, so Room Nineteen closed its doors in June 2005. Interestingly, the building that housed Room Nineteen has not been demolished to this day (January 2010).
In contrast, the series 2 winning restaurant The Greedy Goose continued to stay in business for four years after the show. However, in February 2009, they declared that they would be closing up business after an unsuccessful attempt to open a second restaurant in the beachside suburb of Glenelg. The poor performance of the second restaurant focusing on gourmet hamburgers and the 'harsh economic times' put the winning couple into a position, they couldn't recover from.
In addition, despite Sydney's defeat in series 2, contestants Evan and Bella of Pink Salt opened a new restaurant with the same name on 22 March 2006, at a new location in Double Bay from the original suburb of Manly. They were featured as one of the best restaurants in Australia. The new restaurant also includes a cocktail bar and is currently having more success than it did on the television series.
Evan bought Bella's share of the business in 2011. Pink Salt in Double Bay has been operating since 2005 and Evan now runs Pink Salt on his own. In October 2014, Evan temporarily closed Pink Salt for a complete renovation, new concept, new style of food and with a new team. The restaurant has received great reviews and this new Pink Salt seems to be thriving. The Sunday telegraph reviewer rated the restaurant very highly. Apart from Pink Salt, none of the other restaurants in series 1 or 2 are still operating.
In 2010, the Seven Network considered reviving the format to cash in on the success of Network Ten's MasterChef Australia. This came in the form of the My Kitchen Rules series. In 2015, Seven produced a new restaurant reality show, known as Restaurant Revolution, which lasted only one season.
vtm started broadcasting Mijn Restaurant (My Restaurant) on 4 March 2008. The show is presented by Rani De Coninck. Five couples started their own restaurant in Leuven, Ghent, Hasselt, Antwerp or Ostend. The jury consists of the famous Belgian chef Peter Goossens, the head editor of the culinary magazine "Ambiance" Dirk De Prins and the General Manager of a hotel Christel Cabanier. Leuven won this season.
vtm started broadcasting the second season of "Mijn Restaurant"("My Restaurant") on 3 March 2009.Restaurant "Dell'Anno" (Kortrijk) with Claudio and Gaëlle won. As after winning they started renovating earlier than the counsel allowed them, works were put on hold. November the restaurant opened again. As it is such a success, no closingdays. "Bigarreaux" (Sint Truiden) with Tom and Ann were runner-up. They have recently opened a new restaurant.
The series aired for 4 consecutive seasons till 2011 and was followed up in 2014 by serie 'Mijn Pop-uprestaurant' till 2017. Similar to Restaurant Revolution the restaurants in this reality serie were constructed out of shipping containers.
Mein Restaurant (My Restaurant), began airing on 10 October 2008, with subsequent episodes airing every Tuesday and Friday at 20:15. The series premiered on VOX with five couples from Munich, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig. The Munich team from the "Grinsekatze" restaurant won the first and only season contest.
The first season of Mijn Tent is Top (My Shed is Best) started on 18 January 2007. The winners of the first season was "Coquille" in Den Bosch. The second season was aired in 2008 and "Flinstering" in Breda was the big winner. In 2009, "De Pastinaeck" in Amersfoort won this third season. RTL 4 broadcast the series and it was presented by Herman den Blijker.
The first season of My Restaurant Rules NZ will start on 30 September 2019 and finish on 29 October 2019.[2] Collin Fasnidge from My Kitchen Rules NZ[3] and New Zealand chef/restaurateur, and founder/former owner/executive chef of Soul Bar, Judith Tabron serve as judges.[4]
Each local suburban or countryside restaurant's paired teams consist of the head chef and front of house manager. One or both of which would be the owner as well, but in round one, both would be cooking without the rest of the brigade.
This version will see the teams ordering from each team's menus in its original state, with the lowest-scoring team being eliminated, before being given NZ$20,000 and 72 hours to renovate the restaurants.
In round 2, the judging panel will include a pair of local restaurateurs and local press writers. The renovation and new menu planning processes are not shown. The two lowest teams are eliminated until the top 2 teams enter the finals.
In the finals, the remaining two teams will compete in a public 3-course set menu dinner service from a with 30 guests, served by the respective wait staff, but only cooked by the contestants, while all eliminated contestants return in the judging panel.
Like My Kitchen Rules NZ, the primary sponsor is Harvey Norman.
A series with a similar format entitled "The Restaurant" in the UK first aired on BBC Two in 2007. A group of couples compete for the chance to set up a restaurant financially backed and personally supported by French chef Raymond Blanc. The winning couple are given their own restaurant to run, in Oxfordshire, near to Blanc's own Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. The series aired for 3 seasons.