Restaurant Revisited: Gusanoz by Sara Levine in Shows, August 29th, 2012
When Robert Irvine arrived at Gusanoz in Lebanon, N.H., husband-and-wife owners Nick Yager and Maria Limon were struggling to keep their six-year-old restaurant afloat. Locals once flocked to Gusanoz to taste Maria’s authentic Mexican food, but growing pains got the best of the restaurant and Maria had all but lost her passion for the business. Robert faced a big and expensive mess to clean up, from the decor to the tired menu. A few months after their Restaurant: Impossible makeover, Nick filled us in on how the new-and-improved Gusanoz is doing.
After a slow start, Nick reports that sales at Gusanoz are now steadily growing. To improve their bottom line, the owners took Robert’s advice and cut down on labor costs significantly: “Our total labor is approximately 28% weekly, slightly higher than the 27% Robert asked us for, but definitely in the right ballpark,” says Nick.
The owners have also brought down their food costs without sacrificing the quality of the food. Maria and Nick are overseeing the kitchen directly and prepping much of the food themselves. “We have been working seven days a week but it is paying off,” says Nick. “Food quality is at an all-time high and we are very happy with the improvements in the ability of our line cooks.”
Nick and Maria’s daughter Alex continues in her role as lead server, and their son Eddie works the line in the kitchen and also bartends once a week.
As the front-of-house manager and Gusanoz’s only salaried employee, Shannon “has been very effective in working with the staff to maintain a higher level of guest service,” says Nick.
Nick and Maria are thrilled with the new dining room: “We have personalized it a little by adding candles and dimming the lights, but the core of what Lynn, Tom and Robert created for us is still there,” Nick says. “Thank you again to the crew and producers of Restaurant: Impossible. You are not just making television, you are changing lives.”
More from Restaurant Revisited:
Stella’s (August 8)
Italian Village (August 1)
Zandi’s (July 25)
The Main Dish (July 18)
Longbranch Steak and Seafood (July 11)
Horton’s Kids (June 13)
Pollard’s (May 30)
University Grill (May 23)
Ristorante Barolo (May 16)
Pappas (May 9)
Mama Lee’s (May 2)
Pelican Grill (April 25)
Valley View (March 14)
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More posts from Sara Levine.
I agree, the floor was terrible and the lighting too light. I didn't like the last decor that Lynn did either.
Those kids were not good kids, they didn't care about their parents or their job. They were very young, too young to have two kids of his own. I have owned restaurants and if all you want to work is 30 to 40 hours a week, you need to find a different job.
This is the first show in the longest time that I enjoyed watching. It was refreshing to see restaurant owners that actually had the skill and knowledge to run a restaurant, but simply made some bad business decisions. It was refreshing to see a restaurant that was not infested with roaches and/or mice and rats. Too many shows in the past featured restaurants that should have been closed by the health department long before Robert came in to help. I was getting tired of restaurants being featured where the owners really had no business being in the restaurant business.
How did the owners come to name their restaurant Gusanoz? Does it really mean “worms” in Spanish? While non-spanish speaking customers may not notice this, a Spanish speaking population would – I’m not sure I’d want to go to a restaurant named “Worms”.
Best wishes to the family and the restaurant on continued success! They seem hardworking, dedicated people that I hope will succeed.
Hi- thank you for the positive comments. We named the restaurant Gusanoz after the maguey catapillar that us found in a mezcal bottle.
I live in the area and can say the table side guacamole was not available and the chicken was bland and tasted canned. This a month AFTER RI came through! The room though bright was very noisy, sound bouncing off the walls and concrete floor.
I agree, not liking the design. Bring Tawnya back!
I thought the understated Mexican decor was great. Way better than a bunch of gaudy sombreros and loud, clashing colors that many of you seem to be looking for and that seem to find their way into every other cookie-cutter Mexican restaurant.
I totally agree with you about the kids. They have no clue what it takes to run a business and "hard work" doesn't seem to apply to them. I was shocked to see how old the boy was – he looks 18. He acts 18. Hopefully with the mother's renewed confidence she'll be able to smack those kids into shape.
rite Tanya is the best she does realygood work
Really? I actually think he's nicer than Ramsey and is able to articulate without saying the F word several times in every sentence. Personally I like both shows. True, Restaurant Impossible copied Ramsey's concept from Kitchen Nightmares, but I like the way each show transforms restaurants.
Ate there today with 2 other friends and the food was awesome! We were greeted by a smiling staff and sat right away. Alex was our waitress and her smiling face told the whole story. Alex even took the time to chat with us about life since the episode was aired and she even made time to take a picture with me inside the restaurant.
Seeing that we were actually there (not watching from home and relying on the camera shot) the decor was bright and colorful but the floor does need something done to it. I loved the idea from one of the other post that suggested a "brick" color on the floor which would probably bring out the other colors even more but then again this is coming from the same person who thinks camo is a color and goes with everything! :)