With a $10,000 budget and 2-day timeline, Chef Robert Irvine ambushes restaurants all over the country and brings with him big changes.
On a very cold February 9th, the target for the ambush was SiP Bistro in Holly Springs. The restaurant has no idea that they’ve been chosen, and gets no warning that the show is coming.
Sip is owned by Justin and Sarah Hummell. Although the couple had experience running a coffee shop, adding food to the menu was something new for them. They spent four years owning and running a coffee shop in Winston-Salem. The move to this area was decided with Justin was hired as a fire fighter at Fort Bragg, and Sarah took a job as a hotel General Manager in Raleigh.
SiP was intended to be a 2nd location for the coffee shop they had in Winston-Salem. The plan was to slowly add beer and wine, then possibly food at some point over the next five years. At most, they had planned to sell pre-made sandwiches and wraps during the day, and simple meat and cheese plates at night. They never planned on opening a restaurant. “If we had, we never would have settled on the existing space, due to the tiny kitchen.” Sarah explains
“Once we moved in, we set our espresso machine on the existing counter and it bowed! After further investigation, we found there had been a slow leak coming from the ice machine next door that had gone unnoticed, the 18 months the space was empty.
At that point, we had to re-evaluated our 5 year plan. We had planned on opening April 1st. Now that we had to re-build the counter, we had to pull building permits from the town, pay someone to draw up plans, and wait for them to be approved. This would cost us more money and time than we planned. We decided to sell Cafe Roche, and put all of our eggs in our Holly Springs basket. In doing so, we built for the long – term, rather than the short – term, ultimately rushing our concept.”
“When we opened for coffee, we felt like we had things under control. The spaced had been a coffee shop for at least 5 years before, so the community was used to having a coffee shop in that space and seemed to embrace us. We felt we were ready to serve beer and wine. Received our ABC permit on a Thursday and started serving our fully stocked beer and wine that night. We sold out of nearly our entire supply within 4 hours! Sounds like a good problem to have, but what most folks don’t know, is that on Friday morning, I couldn’t order any more supply. It is against the law for a license holder to go to a grocery store and buy wine to be re-sold. We were out of wine for our entire first weekend. This was the start of our downward spiral.”
Once the restaurant added food, it became a staple for them. The kitchen was inadequate for the level of food they were producing. It was not uncommon for customers to wait 45 minutes to an hour for a sandwich. Since the space was never really designed to be a full service restaurant, there was a problem stocking enough food to meet demand, so they were often running out of items. Customers expected a full service restaurant, and when we were unable to meet their expectations they left disappointed.
Shortly after opening the restaurant over 2 years ago, Sarah had reached out to Restaurant Impossible in order to try to get help with their new restaurant, trying to find solutions to their problems. Six months after originally contacting them, she got a call explaining that the show was moving in a different direction, and that SiP was no longer a fit for the show.
In talking with Justin back in January, he had mentioned that the show had reached out to them, and they had a Skype interview with them.
The group showed up on Tuesday unannounced. By 11:30 am, we had been contacted by fellow restaurateur JP LaRussa from ACME Pizza that something big was happening at SiP.
The Executive Producer for the show is Marc Summers. Most of us met Marc when he had his first big gig as host on the Nickelodeon game Double Dare in the mid 80’s. More recently he hosted 9 seasons of the Food Network’s Unwrapped series.
The host of the show is Robert Irvine. Robert has has a series of shows on Food Network. He’s been on Dinner Impossible, Worst Cooks in America and Star Salvation.
Restaurant Impossible is now in it’s sixth season, and is one of the network’s most popular shows. Robert’s 25+ year culinary career has included everything from cooking aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia for the royal family, and working in the White House kitchens. He’s even planned the menu for a star-studded Academy Awards after-party. He’s the author of two cook books, Mission: Cook! and Impossible to Easy.
When we showed up on the site, we met with the Associate Producer for the segment. We were asked not to photograph anything inside the building during the transformation, and if we did, that it’s couldn’t be made public until after the episode airs, which won’t be until mid-April. We obliged and shot some photos outside. The full dumpster outside was proof that there were some big changes happening inside.
From the tents you could here some serious construction underway. With the $10,000 budget and only two days to rebuild the restaurant, create a menu and retrain a staff, it was an all-out blitz. There was a huge crew there from the show. The building was filled with part of the crew, and the tents were filled with the rest. It was hard to be anywhere without feeling like you were in someone’s way. They got it done, and had a new Grand Opening on Wednesday evening to reveal the new interior, the new menu and some new staff.
The Food Network packed up and left Holly Springs, but in their wake, we have a new restaurant.
The wait times that was once unbearable for a casual diner, are now on point. A meal there for a family of four in a packed restaurant offered minimal wait, and good food.
This is not the best place to bring the kids. The menu caters to a more distinguished pallet (chicken nuggets are not on the menu). The wine and beer selection is extensive, and many local beers are featured.
In the wake of the press from the show, the restaurant is often very busy. They recommend calling ahead for reservations. I recommend that you try to get in there before the show airs, and it’s certain to get a bit harder to find a table once word it out.
As for Justin and Sarah, they have signed a confidentiality agreement that prevents them from sharing the experience until five days after the episode first airs, so their lips are sealed.
Having eaten there before and after the experience, I can tell you that it’s not just a new menu and some new decor that this little restaurant received from this ordeal; It’s also hope and confidence in their new identity.
