The biggest take away (no pun intended) I got from this article is that the owner was cluless and the chef was non existent.
Where I come from, the chef designs, costs and impliments the menu. If I, or the theorical they, don't draw customers or sufficient funds to cover the business they are out on their arse.
For a chain, there needs to be an executive chef whose sole job is to cost, oversee each location, ensure quality standards are being kept, use the fact that the restaurant is order x amount more than anyone else to get a better price from suppliers and make sure everything is running at cost (our next cinname in the industry is bean counters for a reason haha).
This sounds to me like the owner got in way over their head.
Where I come from, the chef designs, costs and impliments the menu. If I, or the theorical they, don't draw customers or sufficient funds to cover the business they are out on their arse.
For a chain, there needs to be an executive chef whose sole job is to cost, oversee each location, ensure quality standards are being kept, use the fact that the restaurant is order x amount more than anyone else to get a better price from suppliers and make sure everything is running at cost (our next cinname in the industry is bean counters for a reason haha).
This sounds to me like the owner got in way over their head.