Newberry Park, California, just 45 minutes from Los Angeles, California, is the home of a single mother, Laura.

Laura, the owner of Mama Rita’s, used to own a catering business. Due to her good reputation and growth in her catering business, she decided to buy her own restaurant for $1.5 million.

Brad, the head waiter, feels Laura is not a good boss. Other staff members say that she doesn’t know how to direct her employees well, and they are often confused in their duties. She doesn’t have much experience in the restaurant industry as well as she is now in debt. She doesn’t know what is wrong with the restaurant as well as what she is doing wrong. But she is strongly committed to her restaurant and she wants to fix the problems in order to help her restaurant succeed.

Chef Gordon Ramsay enters the Mama Rita’s Mexican Cuisine, and he meets Laura’s mother at the front desk. He loves the lobby, the decor and the furniture, calling it “stunning.” He meets Laura, and she recommends some food dishes for Ramsay to try.

Brad, the head waiter, seats Ramsay at a table, and they chat about the restaurant, food and Laura. Brad tells Ramsay to stay away from certain food because they are too dry. Ramsay orders three dishes to sample. The manager comes to Ramsay’s table in order to chat about the restaurant’s problems. The manager feels that their biggest problem is lack of customers, but she is not sure why they can’t get enough customers. The manager also tells Ramsay that the recipes they use belong to Laura’s late grandmother.

The food dishes arrive at Ramsay’s table. Ramsay tastes the Tamale dish, and he comments that it is soaking, like a wet newspaper. It tastes dry as well as not fresh. It is an embarrassment because it is inedible. The Chicken Chimichanga tastes dry. He remarks, “What a shame.” He then tastes the Steak Burrito, and he says that it looks gross, like a diaper ad. It tastes disgusting, similar to wet cardboard. After dinner service, he tells Laura and her staff that he hates the food. It tastes like processed food.

Day 1: 5:30PM. Ramsay observes the dinner service. The kitchen staff seem to work fast, faster than most restaurant employees, that they have some free time to hang out. Although the customers like the fast service, they are not happy with the food they received. Customers complain that the food is either dry or salty, and most of the dishes are returned to the kitchen. After the dinner service, Ramsay tells Laura and her staff that the restaurant is like a fast food factory. He decides to do further investigating inside the restaurant to see what kinds of shortcuts they are doing to create their food dishes. He checks the freezer and the refrigerator, and he notices frozen food that is sealed. He is told that this food was made two months ago before it was stored in the freezer. He checks out the sealed food, and some of this food is leaking. There are hundreds of stock of precooked and frozen food that is sealed and stored. The staff just needs to defrost and serve. It doesn’t look like good quality food. He talks to Laura, telling her that she needs to change in order to fix and improve her situation. She tells him that it worked well for her catering business. Ramsay decides to take out all of the frozen food that is stored in the freezer. He notes that the freezer has $12,000 worth of food, and most of this food is either rotten, rotting or too old as well as it stinks. Some of this food is from last year. The freezer and refrigerator is now empty.

Ramsay goes outside and places ads on the trees in order to gather former customers for feedback. A group of customers meet Laura and Ramsay at a specified outdoor location, and they each tell Laura what they don’t like about the restaurant. The restaurant lacks in service, creativity and quality. A woman says that she ate there twice, and she got sick from the food, both times. For health reasons, she decided not to eat there again.

Back at the restaurant, Ramsay tells Laura and Perla, the head chef, to each cook a dish using shrimp, chicken or steak as well as fresh ingredients. He will also cook one of his specialities. He asks the staff to taste all three of these dishes. They love Ramsay and Laura’s dishes. But they feel that Perla’s dish doesn’t have any flavor. It is too bland.

Day 2: For tonight’s dinner service, Ramsay decides to use Laura’s dish as well as his dish as the specials. He watches how the dinner service goes, and he notices that Perla lacks confidence, but Laura is fighting for her life to save the restaurant.

Day 3: 10AM. When all of the employees arrive at the restaurant, Ramsay tells them that they will now undergo a big change. He introduces Norice, a consultant chef. She joins the staff to help them install a proper kitchen service as well as teach Perla to be a better chef. He also tells them that they will now change the menu.

They lay out new food dishes on the table. He tells the staff to taste all of the dishes. They all love the new menu. They prepare for the dinner service, which will be the biggest night ever for them. At the beginning of the night, the kitchen is slow. Perla gets frustrated and lost because she is used to working for a catering business and she can’t handle working for a restaurant. They work harder together, including Norice; and the appetizers are finally leaving the kitchen and arriving at the customers’ tables. But some of the dishes are returned because they are either not cooked all the way through or there isn’t enough of a certain ingredient. Perla becomes absent and she shuts down. She is confused, and she just can’t change with the new changes. The customers love the new menu. They are satisfied with their food dish. That night, the restaurant experiences success. After the customers leave, Chef Ramsay talks to Laura, telling her that she now needs to make staff changes with Perla and the kitchen team. Perla is not head chef material. She is just Laura’s close friend. After Ramsay leaves the restaurant, Norice stays with them for a little longer, helping Laura reorganize the kitchen. Two weeks pass, and Laura decides to hire a new head chef, while she moves Perla to the catering division. Everyone is now happy that they are working in a job level and area that they can handle.