What happens when the cameras stop filming on a reality television show
This is the only place that you will read about this interesting story, and you won't find this news anywhere else, to include the Internet. The action doesn't necessarily stop once the reality television show finishes filming, and departs the area leaving town. This is true for many of the reality television shows that we all see on television these days. It doesn't matter if it's the cast members being arrested and locked up during the off season on "Welcome to Myrtle Manor", a bar owner changing the name of the bar back to the original dull name on "Bar Rescue", or the total failure of a restaurant on "Restaurant Impossible". The latter is exactly what happened in this story.
Chef Robert Irvine attempted his very best in trying to help out the owners (All of whom are pictured above) of the University Grill in Burlington, North Carolina on season three's episode #11 of Restaurant Impossible. However his contributions in attempting to turn around a local restaurant were short lived. Once the show was finished filming, it wasn't long before the restaurant started to back slide once again, and shuttered it's doors for good.
The first indication of failure was the return of the buffet after Chef Robert Irvine had it completely removed from the restaurant. It was only about seven months later that a banner suddenly appeared on the front wall of the restaurant advertising a $6.95 lunch buffet. During the filming of this Restaurant Impossible episode Chef Robert Irvine insisted that the owners stop serving a buffet in their restaurant. He was really concerned about the food temperatures of the buffet food not being properly maintained hot enough, which imposed a health risk to the customers who are dining at the restaurant.
Something worth mentioning is that the reemergence of the lunch buffet could be possibly attributed to the local economy of the area not being capable of sustaining a fancy upscale restaurant in the long term. Chef Robert Irvinve's introduction of brightly colored fresh salmon in place of dark looking frozen salmon was a spectacular idea. Unfortunately according to some of the locals in the area they just couldn't afford to eat such fancy dishes on a daily or even a weekly basis. This may have contributed and just may be the very reason for the University Grill's demise, along with some of the other expensive items on the restaurant's menu.
After the airing of this episode sales were reported to be up for the restaurant. However it wasn't too long before the service was unenthusiastic, and the conditions inside the restaurant followed suit. Shortly after the filming stopped, there never was a parking lot full of customer's car who were all dining inside of the University Grill. A matter of fact many times the parking lot only had a few cars parked in it during what should have been one of the restaurant's most busiest times of the day. Eventually enough was enough, and after a long tailspin the University Grill closed it's doors to customers for the very last time.
This mural is the saddest chapter in this entire restaurant saga
I really wonder if the producers of Restaurant Impossible keep track of the numbers on the show's successes and Failures?