Two of my favorite shows are Restaurant Impossible and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. If you haven’t seen them, and you’re in the restaurant business, you’re missing out on a lot of free lessons.

Gordon Ramsay is a bit of bully. He likes to push people’s buttons. I think one of his other shows, Hell’s Kitchen, is just a stage for him to berate future chefs for ratings and money. Robert Irvine is a bit more respectful, but still tough. That said, I still think those two show are the most important shows on television for current and would-be restaurateurs.

If you watch Kitchen Nightmares or Restaurant Impossible, you’ll notice a reoccuring theme with many of the failed restaurants Ramsay or Irvine help; large, unfocused, unmanageable menus. I’m not sure what it is about the restaurant business that turns an average cook into an overbearing, pretentious egomaniac chef or restaurant owner that thinks they can stick something on a…