Celebrity chef Robert Irvine is emphatic about one thing in life: “Nothing is impossible,” saying when you break the word apart, it forms two words — I’m possible.
So he held on to that belief and it has become a brand name of sorts for whatever he does to promote himself and his business ventures that includes reality TV shows on Food Network such as “Dinner: Impossible” and the more famed and now wrapped up, “Restaurant: Impossible.” The latter sought to boost the business at failing restaurants including three in the Pittsburgh area — Broadstreet Bistro in North Versailles, Stella’s Dine-Inn in New Kensington and Del’s Bar and Ristorante in Bloomfield. (Since the segments aired on the restaurants, Broadstreet’s menu has shifted more toward pub fare and Del’s has closed.) Keeping with the “impossible” theme, he even took charge of his own wedding in 2012 to pro wrestler Gail Kim in the TV show, “Wedding Impossible.”
When he spread his wings into the fitness world to focus on eating well and getting fit, he came out with the book, “Fit Fuel,” and Fit Crunch protein bars that are made at Bakery Barns in Pleasant Hills. Mr. Irvine’s newest launch is the Fit Crunch protein powder, which he will be promoting when he visits Settler’s Ridge Market District at 4 p.m. on Saturday.
Mr. Irvine is taping for a new show that he did not want to talk about, but he shared his views in an email interview about why he wasn’t his own best adviser when his restaurants closed and what really makes him angry.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: You are in Pittsburgh on Saturday to promote your protein powder, and in Harrisburg next week to promote Boardroom Spirits and then in California soon after that for a live cooking demo. How do you keep it all together?
A: I’m on the road upward of 340 days a year and it’s important for me to stay healthy and energized. I travel with a blender, look up a good gym in the area to get a complete workout or just use my hotel room when none is available. I load up on veggies when dining out, and try to take the stairs when available. I hear people say all the time, “I don’t have the energy for all that.” No one just “has” the energy. When you commit to a healthy, active lifestyle and really follow through, then you get the energy.
Q: What kind of advice did you give yourself when you had to close Robert Irvine’s Eat and Nosh in South Carolina in 2014 and 2015?
A: One of the most important things as a business owner is to be personally invested in the business, and as my travel schedule continued to increase, I wasn’t able to stay as fully committed as I hoped to be. It was a difficult decision to close the restaurants, but it was the right decision. When I opened my new restaurant [Robert Irvine’s Public House] in Las Vegas last year, I was at a different point in my life. Yes, I still travel a lot, but I’m able to come through Vegas pretty often. I was also in a place where I was able to recruit, train and hire some of the very best people in the world to run the day-to-day operations.
Q: Are you really an angry man or was all that yelling and talking down to the owners on “Restaurant Impossible” for reality TV?
A: I’m not an angry man. I’m admittedly tough, but that’s because I’m passionate about what I do.
Q: What ticks you off the most and gets you truly angry?
A: Well, just as you see on my shows, if I’m not breaking through with someone, that might come across as anger, but I’m not angry at the person. On “Restaurant: Impossible,” I would get angry because I didn’t want someone to miss out on a truly great opportunity. This happens with my own staff sometimes, but it’s not because I’m personally angry at them. I live life at 100 percent every day and I want to make the most of every opportunity. In turn, I want the same for the people around me. If I see someone failing or missing an opportunity, I’m angry on their behalf. I want them to make the most of everything in this life.
Q: Was there a restaurant owner who you thought was a dumbbell and impossible to work with?
A: I honestly can’t point to a single restaurant or owner who was worse than any other. Now, certainly I ran into folks who were more stubborn than others, people who thought, even though they were failing and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, that they knew better than me. But then I would ask them one question, “If you know better than me, then why are you failing?” That usually cut right through the nonsense and got them on board.
Q: Some restaurants on the show had broken the Food Network contract and changed the menu before the stipulated time as your menu wasn’t drawing customers. What do you have to say about that?
A: I’m not worried about the contract per se; that’s in place because we wanted to give them the best possible opportunity to succeed. I’ve spoken to several of the restaurants who changed the menu, but in all instances it was on an item-by-item basis. I’m not aware of any situation where it was a wholesale change — where they got rid of every menu item I introduced and completely went back to the old menu.
Look, you have to respond to what customers are and aren’t buying. If you’re not paying attention to that and responding quickly, that’s the surest way to failure. I might also add that menu items are only part of what I offered kitchen staffs. I gave them the tools to keep better inventory, keep the kitchen clean and streamline the process from prep to service. I’m not aware of any restaurant throwing that process out the window, and in my opinion it’s more valuable than any single menu item.
Q: Is there anything in your life that you think is impossible for you to do?
A: I can’t fly, but I can’t say it’s impossible because I haven’t tried yet. That’s the thing with impossible, isn’t it? A lot of things can seem impossible until you actually try. Where would the human race be if we took the word impossible as an ironclad fact? Certainly not where we are today.
Arthi Subramaniam: asubramaniam@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1494 or on Twitter @arthisub.
First Published: March 21, 2018, 3:00 p.m.
