Philly connections on 'Restaurant Startup'
"The Rarest" is an idea for a restaurant that specializes in minimal cooking. "Smoke Kitchen" is a rotisserie restaurant.
CNBC has fired up Season 2 of Restaurant Startup, and two teams from Philadelphia are in the hunt for a green light from investors/hosts Tim Love and Joe Bastianich.
One each episode, two teams go before the men to pitch their food ideas. The chosen team gets the keys to a restaurant in Los Angeles. They are given 36 hours and $7,500 to create a business plan, come up with a branding campaign, and present a pop-up restaurant.
Up at 10 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20 is chef Anthony Marini, who is partnered with his lifelong buddy Chris Gaskill with an idea for a small restaurant called The Rarest, which specializes in minimally cooked food (e.g. crudo and ceviche).
"It's like Shark Tank, but it goes further than that," Marini says of Restaurant Startup. "It's very different than most of the food competition shows. This one revolves around business."
The idea is that Bastianich (whose holdings include Eataly) and Love (whose holdings are in Texas) might invest in one of these concepts. Marini and Gaskill are competing against a food truck.
Marini, now a teacher and consultant, was chef at the old Philadelphia Fish & Company and Cork before moving to Birmingham, Ala. He said he had to choose between his restaurants and waging a custody battle over his young son. He chose his son and won custody.
Also due up this season - date is TBA - is an appearance by
, a Main Line rotisserie restaurant from veteran chefs Stephen Latona and Mark Bellini.