''America's Next Great Restaurant'' is an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show featuring contestants pitching restaurant ideas to a panel of judges, where the winner receives financial backing for their restaurant concept. Three locations were opened across the nation — Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and New York—on Monday, May 2, 2011, the day after the May 1 season finale. The judges included chefs

Curtis Stone Curtis Travis Stone (born 4 November 1975) is an Australian celebrity chef, author, and television personality. Stone has been the fresh food and recipes ambassador for Coles Supermarkets in Australia since 2010. Early life Stone was born ...

Bobby Flay Robert William "Bobby" Flay (born December 10, 1964) is an American celebrity chef, food writer, restaurateur, and Television presenter, television personality. Flay is the owner and Chef de cuisine, executive chef of several restaurants and fr ...

Lorena Garcia Lorena Garcia is a Venezuelan chef who has opened multiple restaurants and became famous through appearances on multiple television shows. She is known for the restaurants she currently owns in airports across the United States, and for competi ...

, and

Chipotle Mexican Grill Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. ( ), often known simply as Chipotle, is an American multinational chain of fast casual restaurants specializing in bowls, tacos, and Mission burritos made to order in front of the customer. As of March 31, 2025, C ...

founder Steve Ells,Best, Jason. (2010-12-23)
'America's Next Great Restaurant' Video Sneak Peek
Slashfood. Retrieved 2010-12-28. who were the investors in the winning concept.Vestal, Shannon. (2010-01-13). Yumsugar.com. Retrieved 2010-01-18. The production company behind the show was Magical Elves, the same company that produces ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo in March 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs ...

''. The show, which has been described as a cross between ''

The Apprentice An apprentice is someone who is in training for a trade, profession. The Apprentice or Apprentice may also refer to: Television * ''The Apprentice'' (American TV series), the original reality television series * ''The Apprentice'' (franchise), ...

'' and ''Top Chef'', premiered on March 6, 2011. The first-season finale aired on Sunday, May 1, 2011, with Jamawn Woods' concept, a

soul food Soul food is the ethnic cuisine of African Americans. Originating in the Southern United States, American South from the cuisines of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans transported from Africa through the Atlantic slave trade, sou ...

restaurant concept called

Soul Daddy Soul Daddy was an American fast casual restaurant founded by Jamawn Woods, with a focus on a soul food-centered menu. As a contestant on the reality television show '' America's Next Great Restaurant'', which aired in 2011, he created the concept ...

, judged the winner. The season finale, which drew a 2.0 viewership rating, was rebroadcast on May 6, as viewers in the

Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

did not learn the winner during the original broadcast, due to the breaking news of the

death of Osama bin Laden Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

.Gorman, Bill
"NBC Announces The Winner Of 'America's Next Great Restaurant' On Last Night's (May 1) Season Finale Episode"
, TV By the Numbers, May 2, 2011 Due to low ratings, on May 13, 2011, NBC cancelled the show after the first season. The three Soul Daddy restaurants that were opened (in Minneapolis, Manhattan and Los Angeles) closed within two months of their May 2, 2011 grand opening.

Contestants

Episode elimination chart

Episode 7 was an unaired episode that had contestants create a mini-website. : The contestant was the winner of ''America's Next Great Restaurant'' and won three restaurants in three cities across the country. : The contestant(s) were the runners-up of ''America's Next Great Restaurant''. : The contestant won the challenge for the week. : The contestant made it into the Top 10. : The contestant was safe from elimination but did not win the challenge of the week. : The contestant was in the bottom group for the week. : The contestant was eliminated.

Episodes

Each episode combines a business challenge with a food challenge.

Opened restaurants

ANGR Holdings is the company that ran

's restaurants. It also holds registered trademarks on several of the other restaurant concepts' names (marked ® in the first table above). The Minneapolis Soul Daddy was housed in the

Mall of America Mall of America (MoA) is a large shopping mall located in Bloomington, Minnesota. Located within the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, the mall lies southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north ...

, while the Manhattan location was at the

South Street Seaport The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, within the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district. It is p ...

, at 189 Front Street.Shapiro, Julie
"'America's Next Great Restaurant' Coming to South Street Seaport"
, DNAinfo, April 29, 2011 The Los Angeles restaurant was located at

Hollywood and Highland Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, in the same grand center as the

Kodak Theatre The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

. On June 14, 2011, the Manhattan and Los Angeles locations were closed in order for Woods to focus on the Minneapolis location, which itself closed on June 28. Woods was vocal in blaming Chipotle's management team for the failure of the chain, and said that the company owed him a year's salary. He reached a settlement with Chipotle by September 27 of that year. As of early October 2011 the top three contestants were all working on opening restaurants based on their ''Next Great Restaurant'' concepts. While on leave from his job at

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

, Woods split his time constructing a Soul Daddy in his hometown of Detroit, while catering from his home and pursuing an

associate's degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree. ...

at Schoolcraft College, a school in

Livonia, Michigan Livonia ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western suburb of Detroit, Livonia is located roughly northwest of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 95,535. Originally organized as ...

known for its

culinary arts Culinary arts are the cuisine arts of food preparation, cooking, and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. People working in this field – especially in establishments such as restaurants – are commonly called chefs or ...

program. Runner-up Joey Galluzzi intended to pursue his restaurant concept, and enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (; French: " The Blue Ribbon"; LCB) is a French hospitality and culinary education institution, teaching haute cuisine. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The institution consists ...

to improve his knowledge of the business. Runner-up Sudhir Kandula joined a San Francisco-based start-up called . as their vice president of sales, advised a friend on his software/food venture called GlassCart, and worked with friends on a stealth food project called American Dirt.Sudhir Kandula
''America's Next Great Restaurant'' Official Site at NBC.com. accessed October 8, 2011. Of all of the contestants, Galluzzi was the only contestant that had successfully opened a restaurant based on his original concept and that business had operated continuously for more than five years.

References

External links

Official site
*{{IMDb title, id=1853840
Meltworks
Official website of one of the competitors. 2011 American television series debuts 2011 American television series endings 2010s American reality television series NBC reality television shows American English-language television shows Television series by Magical Elves Food reality television series Reality competition television series