Plot Synopsis

Restaurateur Geoffrey Zakarian is looking to invest $250,000 for the next rising star in the restaurant world, and he presents eight chefs with a series of challenges to determine who has what it takes to run their first restaurant. In the premiere, the promising chefs are invited to Geoffrey's home base in beautiful seaside Florida as they take on their first test -- create a simple, one-bite dish that best showcases who they are and what their restaurant concept is. Geoffrey needs to know each chef, not just on a skill level but also on a personal level, to be certain that the person he chooses is the right fit for him and his hospitality group. With the help of his wife and business partner Margaret Zakarian and hospitality consultant and renowned executive chef Eric Haugen as judges, the chef whose dish is not up to par is sent home. Next, the chefs return to the kitchen to prove they are capable of cooking the basics, as defined by Geoffrey. Another chef is eliminated while the chefs that can impress the judges with their dishes are one step closer to working with Geoffrey to become tomorrow's restaurant mogul. Throughout the competition the aspiring restaurateurs must prove they can develop a restaurant and make it profitable from the ground up in real world challenges that put their culinary and business expertise to the test, including the creation of a full menu for their proposed restaurant in a grand tasting to impress Geoffrey and his advisors. In another episode, the chefs tackle the challenges associated with running a restaurant's front of house as they each take turns helping the guests. But what the chefs don't know is Geoffrey has filled the restaurant with actors meant to cause havoc and see how the competitors react on their worst day. The two chefs who advance to the finale take on the hardest test of their life, operating their dream culinary concept in a restaurant takeover, complete with overseeing staffing and cooking for real diners. Which chef will Geoffrey decide to invest his time and energy into and make their dreams come true? The eight chefs competing on BIG RESTAURANT BET include: Mariana Alvarado, Founder of Masazul (Las Vegas, NV); Demetrius Baxter, Owner/Operator of Chef Demetrius LLC (Phoenix, AZ); Leo Davila, Chef/Owner of Stixs & Stone (San Antonio, TX); Coby Farrow, Chef/Partner (Burlington, NJ); Torrece 'Chef T' Gregoire, Owner of Chef T Culinary Concepts (Draper, VA); Jesa Henneberry, Consultant & Private Chef (Westfield, NJ); Brett Vibber, Caterer/Consultant of Wild Arizona Cuisine (Arizona); and Alicia Watson, Chef/Owner and Plant-Based Entrepreneur @ Vito and Vera (Little Rock, AR).
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On Tuesday, May 10, 2022 at 10pm ET/PT, Food Network premiered "It's Yours to Lose!," the season finale of BIG RESTAURANT BET. Geoffrey lets each of the final two chefs do a full restaurant takeover, setting up their restaurant with a full staff and real diners (including Geoffrey, of course). Both chefs may succeed in showing their stuff, but only one will earn Geoffrey's investment of time and energy. It's time to find out who is the next great restaurateur.