Season 1
America's Next Great Restaurant is an American reality competition television series produced by Magical Elves which features contestants pitching restaurant ideas to a panel of judges, where the winner receives financial backing for their restaurant concept.
The series aired in the USA on NBC from 6 March to 1 May, 2011. There are nine hour-long episodes in one season.
America's Next Great Restaurant premiered in South Africa on DStv's Vuzu channel on Friday 16 December 2011, at 20h00. New episodes broadcast weekly.
Synopsis
From Emmy Award-winning producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves comes America's Next Great Restaurant.
In this delectable new alternative series, people from every walk of life will vie for the opportunity of a lifetime to see their original restaurant concept spring to life - starting with the opening of a restaurant chain in three locations: Hollywood, Minneapolis and New York City.
Funding the restaurant concepts are four accredited investors: Bobby Flay, distinguished restaurateur; Curtis Stone, internationally renowned chef; Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle; and Lorena Garcia, executive chef and restaurateur.
Flay, Stone, Ells and Garcia not only serve as investors who put their money into the winning restaurant idea, but they also serve as mentors.
They will be working side by side with the competitors to further develop their concepts and put each competitor's restaurant concept through rigorous business and cooking challenges to determine which idea has what it takes to become America's next great restaurant.
After a nationwide search, the top 21 competitors will present their restaurant concepts to the investors and 11 will be quickly eliminated - leaving the top 10 competitors to battle it out over the course of the season.
The investors will determine which competitor's concept has the greatest potential for success, and those who do not rise to the challenge will be sent home.
In the final episode, someone will fully savour his or her great American dream of launching his or her own restaurant chain, and viewers will have the opportunity to experience it for themselves.
America's Next Great Restaurant is produced by the Emmy Award-winning Magical Elves. Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz, Ross Jacobson, Nan Strait, and Amy Chacon serve as executive producers.
Casey Kriley and Gayle Gawlowski serve as co-executive producers.