Million Pound Menu

The UK restaurant industry is worth £35 billion a year.[2] The vast majority of restaurants close within a year of opening. Meredith Chambers, managing director of production company Electric Ray, said he came up with the concept after meeting the agent of well known chef who said that it was common practice for prospective restaurateurs seeking investors to make them dinner to demonstrate the concept and their skills. Chambers felt this would translate well to a reality tv format.[3] The show also discussed and depicted trends within the culinary industry in the UK, such as the increasing popularity of vegan food and up-and-coming world cuisines.[4] Million Pound Menu was praised for its depiction of the process of developing a successful restaurant business, with Fred Sirieix commenting: "Everybody in the hospitality industry dreams of owning their own restaurant and they all worry about getting capital but we show it’s important you also meet the right investors and that you have a simple but scalable concept. It’s not just about great cooking, you need knowledge of HR, marketing and basic finance too."[5]

Originally titled Million Pound Menu, in each episode of the first series, a number of participants (it is never shown how many) pitch their ideas via video conference to a table of investors. Two new restaurant ideas are selected to move through to the next stage - their own pop-up restaurant in Manchester for two days in an attempt to gain backing from the investors.[1][6] Each teams gets a restaurant opposite the other on the same street. The two participants/teams are given two weeks and access to an interior design team to produce a concept that aligns with their vision.

On the first evening, the restaurant runs a soft launch evening service (where customers receive a 50% discount) and serves the investors dinner from their menu. The next day, the participants meet with interested investors individually to go through their business plan and answer questions. At this point, investors who are thinking of investing give an indication of what their proposed investment would likely look like - often the investors are looking for promising concepts to gave spaces in their existing developments. After this, the participants then run a lunch service which the investors also attend, often sitting at the bar so they can observe the kitchen operating. Investors can drop out at any point, but after lunch, they have until 8 pm to decide whether they wish to invest or not. If multiple investors make offers, the team picks the investor they want to work with.

In series two, the format was changed to give investors greater opportunities to interact with the different aspects of the concept. Three concept teams of hopeful restaurateurs prepare their signature dish for four potential investors, who make comments to camera about the value of the idea. By majority vote, the investors select one team to open a two-day pop-up restaurant in Manchester. (Investors can drop out at any point). Once in Manchester, the concept team runs a soft-launch dinner service. The investors dine with each other during this service. On the morning of the second day, the concept team has one-hour business meetings with each investor. Afterwards, the team conducts a full-price lunch, where the remaining investors dine alone and also interview customers. Afterwards, the investors are given a deadline of 7pm to return to the restaurant to present an offer.

The panel of investors changed with every episode, but included:

• Atul Kochhar, celebrity chef
• Scott Collins, co-founder of burger and cocktail group MEATliquor
• Darrel Connell, partner at investment group Imbiba Partnership
• Jeremy Roberts, CEO of Living Ventures, a restaurant and bar group
• Tim Gee, Property Director at Allied London, a property development and investment company
• Chris Miller, Founder of White Rabbit Fund, a restaurant investment group
• David Page, Chairman of The Fulham Shore, a restaurant investment group
• Jamie Barber, a restaurateur of several food chains
• Shruti Ajitsaria, angel investor and lawyer for Allen and Overy

Series 2 only:

• Charlie McVeigh, pub chain owner
• Maurice Abboudi, angel investor and executive director of K10 Japanese restaurants
• Jane O'Riordan, angel investor and Group Strategy Director of Nando's
• Matt Farrell, a Liverpool based food and drink investor
• Laura Harper-Hinton, CEO of restaurant group Caravan
• Will Shu, CEO of Deliveroo

• Million Pound Menu at BBC Online
• Million Pound Menu at IMDb
• Million Pound Menu at Rotten Tomatoes