Mein Restaurant Final Tonight

Friday, December 19, 2008


Tonight is the final of “Mein Restaurant” on Vox in Germany. Which restaurant will win and get to stay open, will it be Graurocks in Hamburg or the Grinzektaze in Munich?

Five couples were cast to open restaurants and after a series of competitions, one restaurant would be selected to stay open. Restaurants opened in Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Munich and not it is down to the finalists. Couples had to come up with themes, business models, renovate locations that were in pretty bad shape, all in all you watched the couples pour their hearts into their dreams of owning and operating their own restaurants. It was a lot of work and you can only imagine how it must feel to have put so much blood, sweat, tears, and soul into the restaurant only to have it taken away from you, because only one will stay open.

The concept for the show appears to go back to Australia, where they had two seasons in 2004 and 2005. The concept has also been used in Belgium, Denmark, New Zeeland, and the Netherlands. You might consider this another one of the many reality television series that we’ve seen the last several years like, Big Brother, Survivor, and so on, but it just seems to have taken the genre in a more positive direction.

My early favorites on the German show were the couples from Leipzig and Munich. I was really sad to see the Leipzig couple go, because I really liked the couple and thought that they had a good concept with their family friendly environment complete with a Kiddy corner. In the episode that aired 16 December, a consultant estimated and showed the remaining two restaurants how much money they might earn in profit if they were to win based on how they’ve performed so far. The Grinzekatze incorporated a nice cocktail bar into their restaurant from the very beginning and were expected to make a nice profit, while the Graurocks appears to be catering to a more upscale crowd that doesn’t want cocktails (or so Conny seemed to think). It should be noted that the jury on the German series includes celebrity cook Tim Mälzer.

I’m looking forward to see who wins and wonder if there will be another season. Tonight we’ll find out if the Grinzekatze or the Graurocks will stay open. Gutten appetite!

Photo credit: "Dining Restaurants" courtesy of savensail

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