Casual Joe's vs. The Wrap Trap

FLORENCE: Food courts bring in high traffic and big sales, and owning a food-court restaurant could make you a multimillionaire. Whoo! But the restaurant industry can be ruthless. I burnt this. Only got a few seconds! You guys are working slow today. I'm Tyler Florence, and I've been in the restaurant business for over 25 years. My job each week is to help two teams of aspiring food-court entrepreneurs get one step closer to their dream. Ooh, yeah! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. [ Crowd cheers ] FLORENCE: Over the next three days, our entrepreneurs will prove to me that they have a solid concept along with a concrete marketing plan. Whoo! But, ultimately, the winner will be determined by who brings in the most cash. I'm just gonna cook from the heart right now. R.T.! Opening a restaurant is no easy task. Bottom bacon is burnt. We're screwed. [ Pan clatters ] FLORENCE: But each week, one team will win the opportunity of a lifetime... I don't want to screw up. ...and own their very own food-court restaurant. Come to me, masses. Let me feed you. Welcome to "Food Court Wars." -- Captions by VITAC -- Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC. This week, we're at Wausau Center mall in Wausau, Wisconsin. It's known for its friendly people and world-class cheese, beer, and cranberries. Let's meet our two teams. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I got to grab my keys. I'm Tyler, and I'm the owner of The Black Sheep restaurant. And I'm Sarah. I am the managing waitress. We are gonna have pot de crème, which is that chocolate custard with the freshly whipped cream. We are not a couple. We are business partners. Oh, my God. I started The Black Sheep in 2012, and it's been an incredible journey. It's a fine-dining establishment. But, also, the problem is, I'm passionate about making good Wisconsin comfort food. I want to introduce a new restaurant, and the concept is Casual Joe's. I want it to be a place where anybody can feel comfortable walking in, sitting down, and eating good food. We're gonna go with mac and cheese and the true Wisconsin classic -- brats. I brought some wine. SARAH: Tyler's definitely been a very strong mentor and a brother or father figure. He has lifted me up, and he has shown me that I am worth something and I can do whatever I set my mind to. I think, logistically, the cranberry lemonade is not gonna work. I went to college, but it wasn't really for me, and so I dropped out. I made the decision to just kind of go with my gut and figure out what my life... would be, and working for Tyler, I really found that. He really pulled me in and made me realize that hospitality was definitely something I wanted to do. But it's hard for me because, you know, my dad was never very supportive of me dropping out, didn't really think that the restaurant business was necessarily a career path for me. This is where I belong, is in the restaurant business, and it's a way to prove to those who are unsure of me that I made the right decision and, you know, I followed my heart, and that's leading to great things for me. Okay. Casual Joe's is my project, my baby. This will create a livelihood. This will create a happiness for me. This will be my biggest accomplishment. Oh, man. I got a lot of fight in me. Come at me. Come at me. [ Laughing ] I'm not gonna cheers to that, but I'll cheers to our success. Cheers. R.V.R.T.! Hi, I'm Carlie. BRIANNA: And I'm Brianna. Carlie and I met through Roller Derby, and we have been together for three years. We are girlfriends. Our restaurant concept is fresh-made wraps and salads with homemade dressings with no preservatives in them. I'm going jalapeño, honey mustard, and French. I'm getting crazy up in here with the sauces. The Wrap Trap. Your wrap looks way better than mine looked. Maybe next time, you should make mine. Our food is meant to be health-conscious. Let's load it up with fresh veggies. There is a freshly-cooked protein on there. It's not something that's been sitting, then thrown in a microwave. All of those things are what we want to bring to people. Mm-hmm. Carlie has a lot of kitchen experience, and she's taught me a lot in the kitchen. Opening The Wrap Trap will be a goal that we've developed together, that we can nurture together. CARLIE: Right now, I'm working as a cook and server. There is a lot of respect on the line in this, for me, because I have had a business in this community, and I am no longer a part of it. I used to own a little bar and grill with my ex-girlfriend. And when we did split up, she bought me out of the business. Enjoy, guys. Oh, we shall. Thank you. You're welcome. Being bought out, I've been knocked backwards. I only make $8.25 an hour, and I'm definitely not where I would like to be financially. So, winning this opportunity to get The Wrap Trap going really is my second chance. I want this so badly. I have to win this. Thank you. SARAH: This opportunity is beyond my dreams, didn't think it was possible, but if I can win this, I can win anything. CARLIE: Owning a restaurant would definitely give me back my self-worth. I know where I should be, and I know what I'm capable of, so it's just a matter of getting myself to that place. Good morning, guys. Welcome to Wausau Center in Wausau, Wisconsin. Whoo! Casual Joe's, The Wrap Trap -- One of these spaces behind you could become your permanent restaurant home. That is so awesome! [ Chuckles ] But only one team will be the winner. Three days from now is opening day. The food court will be packed with hundreds of people dying to try your food. Over the next three days, we'll first test your restaurant concept, then on day two, work on your marketing. Day three is opening day. The team that earns the most money on opening day will win their space rent-free for one year. A year's rent free in a food court -- That's an amazing opportunity. FLORENCE: Today you're gonna be tested on your concepts. This food court opens up at 8:00 a.m. for one reason -- The mall walker's program. Every day, the halls of this mall are filled with people looking to get some exercise first thing in the morning. If you can win over that group of people, you'll have a solid base -- The mall walkers are here every single day. You have one hour to create a breakfast dish that fully represents your brand. The mall walkers will eat both of your meals, and they will choose a winner via ballot card. The restaurant that rates the highest will win this challenge. And I bet you're wondering what's at stake here. TYLER: Yes. The winner will get an extra five minutes at the beginning of service on opening day. Aw! [ Laughter ] Five extra minutes of service could be the difference between winning and losing, so that's huge. This will most definitely help you on opening day. Get to work. The mall walkers are on their way. The challenge starts now. Okay, let's go. I'm definitely thinking that we want to do Comfort food. So it's go time in the kitchen. My mind just blanks. I don't do breakfast. I don't eat breakfast myself. Okay. And then once we can look at it -- 'cause you know I'm visual. I start thinking, "Okay, what would I do at The Black Sheep?" I'm thinking, you know, skillets are really popular right now. So we're making a jalapeño and green onion corn cake with scrambled eggs with chutneys and cranberries in it. It's got some jalapeño with a little bit of sweet and a little bit of mild from the Greek yogurt and the blueberry. All right. You got to slow down a little bit with your talking. Well... I'm just kidding. I think we're doing breakfast burritos. I'm feeling pretty confident that people will love our food. What we're putting in our breakfast wrap are pork sausage, peppers, onions, scrambled eggs with chives, and lots of fresh spinach. We are also serving a fruit salad made with blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and topped with a sauce made with sour cream and honey. We got to time this right so that it's still warm. I wish we would've cooked together before this. [ Both laugh ] I am the front of the house. I'm doing all I can, but I am out of my element. All right. I am, like, not great at chopping food. I'm incredibly nervous. Two hands on the blade. I've never worked with a knife under pressure. I'm trying to chop this up, but I'm trying not to cut my finger off. You're doing great. You're doing great. Don't worry about it. How do I put this on the burner? CARLIE: Yeah. Brianna has never done a lot of these things in the kitchen, so I'm the one with the knowledge and the experience. If I'm not a good leader, our team will fail. We're get this in the pan, and we're gonna start cracking eggs, okay? Do you think you can come up with a recipe for pancakes? Sure. We can do pancakes. Can you try to remember what was in that batter and just double that amount of batter? Tyler is just throwing words out there, but he doesn't really tell me much about how to make it. You know what? I'm just gonna cook from the heart right now. Yes. Okay. Just checking. We are serving breakfast for the mall walkers. We need to win this, because owning my own restaurant in the food court would mean financial freedom. SARAH: We have five minutes until we're gonna be serving mall walkers. I'm incredibly excited, because I run the front of the house. This is where I can shine. This is one of my strengths. All right. All right. Okay. Good enough's not good enough -- I'm a little nervous here. SARAH: This is my life, too -- Not just yours. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. [ Timer beeping ] Time's up. Time's up. All right. TYLER: I don't know. TYLER: If the mall walkers don't love our food, we're gonna lose the advantage. I think, maybe, we should have done things that were a little bit more casual. But, I really hope they like our food. [ Chuckling ] All right. People are coming! You need to get ready! You need to be able to start handing out food. I'm gonna keep assembling, all right? All right. I'm ready for them. Thank you. CARLIE: This is the first time we're going live with this concept and serving people for real. My name is Brianna. We're The Wrap Trap. Holy cow. We have to really make this count. We want to win every one of those customers over! They mean all the difference to us right now. "How are you guys doing? Welcome. Thanks so much." You don't need to coach me on people, man. I'm trying to help you. We are The Wrap Trap. [ Laughing ] R-a-t. [ Laughter ] Hello, ladies! Hi! Welcome! Welcome to Casual Joe's. I am ready -- If we can win this, we might be able to win the whole thing. Welcome, and enjoy the great food. BRIANNA: Thank you. We hope you enjoy. We're getting backed up. We're getting in the weeds. Carlie, how are we doing? I've got a lineup. This train is coming fast. Hello, ladies! Welcome. Welcome to Casual Joe's. Hi! TYLER: We might have made it too pretentious, and I hate that, because that's something I struggle with. This could be our downfall. Thank you. Come back anytime. So, we need to win them over with our charm and get them to understand that they do want this. Do we have MSG? No MSG. Okay. Just lots of smiles. How's it coming, Car? Carlie and I are not communicating at this point. She's not moving her hands to wrap. "What are you doing right there, Carlie? I don't understand." Like, what are you doing, Car? Next time, just tell me, "I need this many." CARLIE: Brianna is not calling out numbers to me. She's not telling me how many plates of food that I need. I need to hear these things, and she thinks I can see the customers, but I can't. You just got to tell me how many you need. Okay. I can do that. Brianna really needs to drive home to me what she needs out front, because we want to win this challenge. Thank you very much for waiting. I was wondering what she was doing back there. Hi. So, between the two restaurants, which one do you think would have the best chance of succeeding? The Wrap. It was just very, very flavorful. If I said this food came from a restaurant called Casual Joe's, No. I wouldn't make that association. Thank you so much, guys, I really appreciate it. Hope you guys have a great day. Wonderful. Thank you. TYLER: Thank you so much. Again, we so appreciate your vote here, guys. SARAH: I'm trying to connect with the mall walkers, but Tyler is overshadowing me at this point. Casual Joe's, and we're fresh food -- So we want good, unique food, but we want it -- Good, unique food. I have to fight this, because I can't let him overpower me in the kitchen and in the front, where that is supposed to be my skill set. Okay, I'm a little upset. What are you upset about? I think you tried to -- I mean, like, the control, I gave -- You're doing it right now. And then, like, you're overpowering me in the front. If that's my speciality, you can't overpower me in the front, man. Tyler knows I'm right. It's hard for him to let go of control, but he's gonna have to get over that if this partnership is gonna work. We need to make this challenge work so we can move on to the next one. Well, we have to. Otherwise, there's no Casual Joe's. Not next year, not, you know... We need every stinking advantage we can get. I mean, I might make wraps at home for the family, whereas the corn cake would be something Sure. Interesting. Yeah. If you got that plate of food and you knew it was from a place called Casual Joe's, No. No. And The Wrap Trap, that's like right across the plate. You understand it? Wrap Trap, though, I had to ask her a couple of times what the name was, 'cause it sounded like "rat." It sounded like "rat trap." I'll take your cards from you, and we'll make sure all of these votes count. Thank you very much for participating. Really appreciate it. Thanks. Feel like I did a job up front. Yes. CARLIE: I'm nervous and anxious because I know what a huge opportunity this is. I would like to have a stable career that I could feel good about, and not have my family worry what I'm gonna do. It's all on the line. I love you. Hi, guys. How you doing? Good. Really good. Nice job, everybody. So, Sarah and Tyler -- The mall walkers really liked the fact that Casual Joe's offered something interesting and unique. However, it wasn't the traditional Wisconsin comfort food that they were expecting. Brianna and Carlie, the mall walkers really appreciated a healthy option for breakfast. They liked the clear concept of Wrap Trap, but they felt the name was off-putting. I've gathered the ballots, and I've got the results. [ Sighs ] I've gathered the ballots, and I've got the results. [ Sighs ] The restaurant with the highest rating from the mall walkers, which are gonna be your clients every day, is... ...Wrap Trap. Oh. Awesome. Great job. Great job. Oh, my God. I can't believe we won. And it gives us a little bit of confidence to know that, yes, this is a product that people are wanting, and it feels great. Carlie and Brianna, the mall walkers liked your concept the most, so you have won the advantage. You are gonna get an extra five minutes at the beginning of service on opening day. I'm excited about that. Yeah. You could make an extra $25 to $30, and these competitions are always very close. That means, Tyler and Sarah, you'll open five minutes after Wrap Trap. SARAH: The other team gets the advantage. They get five extra minutes of service. That's huge. That could break us. Tomorrow, you'll be tested on the second element of operating a successful restaurant, and it's marketing. You need to let the people of Wausau know that you're here. You will each plan a marketing event to attract customers to your restaurant on opening day. Make sure you plan a marketing event that appeals to your demographic. Remember, the restaurant that makes the most money on opening day wins. I'd like to meet with both of you to add some additional support and advice. Awesome. Thank you. Well, congratulations. Thank you. It's very nice. And you've put something out, and you feel like people get what you're talking about? Definitely. So, I really feel there's a couple of things about your brand, and I think it's really off base. I think The Wrap Trap sounds like "rat trap," and I think that's the last thing in the world that you ever want to associate with your food, Okay. Who is the driving force behind the brand, between the two of you? I would say Carlie is. You want people to recognize who you are and what you're doing. I think having a face to that brand -- I think it's really great. It makes it very personal to you, as far as what you are. I think the brand is called Carlie & Company. Carlie & Company sounds good. Yeah. BRIANNA: I love the name Carlie & Company, because it is her food, and it's her love that makes her food so good. I think the food that you serve is salads, soups, and wraps. Okay. I want you to come up with two soups, three signature salads, and a salad bar that is basically all three of those salads deconstructed... ...and let people pick and choose their stuff Yes. All right. Good luck. Thank you. Casual Joe's -- Thank you. Thank you. But you're throwing it way over the head of everybody here. My question with the diners today -- If that plate of food came out with a brand called Casual Joe's, would you make that connection? And they all said, "No." Our breakfast item was fine dining -- It was not casual. The menu really has to fit the brand. Okay, so, we've got the beer and brat, which I think will translate well. We've got the Wisconsin grilled cheese. Grilled cheese would be fantastic. Macaroni and cheese would be fantastic. I think the brat could play out really well. To me, that sounds really delicious and simple and something that -- a couple of things -- I'd want to get in a mall, and then some dishes that would feel very comfortable. It's a lot to think about. Is that good? Is that good? It's good. We can look here, see what there is in the community, see what's gonna be the biggest going on, and what's gonna draw the most crowd. Let's look and see what is happening. "Events." This is an event. "Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA." I think this fits right in to what we want to do. It's healthy. It's active. It's everything we want to promote. Do we need to look at any other events, or are you happy with this one? No, I'm set. I am feeling really great about Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA, and this is gonna be great, because it's gonna have a lot of people at it, and it's more of an opportunity for us to bring our concept to health-conscious individuals. Get them all to come visit us and buy our food on Sunday. That's what we are going to do. I don't know what to say. I mean, we screwed up. We didn't know our brand, and we put a product out there that didn't get votes. Yep. We were thinking more about The Black Sheep than Casual Joe's. Our marketing has to be off-the-wall. SARAH: Today we failed, but tomorrow is a new day, and we're gonna come up with a focused, concrete plan, and we're gonna market the hell out of this. "Events in Wausau." So, Sarah and I are brainstorming -- What event will meet our key demographic and have a huge audience where we can pull people from? Oh. Check this out. There is a race tomorrow. Oh. This is our audience. You know, if we're gonna be doing Wisconsin brats and mac and cheese, this is the audience that we want, Yeah, absolutely. TYLER: We miserably failed the first challenge. We cannot afford to lose this competition. We cannot afford to start off as the underdog. This is what we have to do to make up for yesterday. Yesterday, we got kicked down. But today, we get to go out to the community and market our brand. This is where we have to kill it. Oh, my goodness! Oh! TYLER: Oh, my goodness. TYLER: We're excited -- The Casual Joe racecar is on the track, and we see all of these banners with our name on it. They can't not see us. TYLER: Once you get those going, can you please put the two red-pepper sauces in the squirt bottles and make sure there's no chunks? We got to cut the tips off on those. All right. Slow down. We decided to make beer brats with caramelized onions and bacon mac and cheese. Ooh, baby! That smells good! That is completely Wisconsin. That is what's gonna get those people to Casual Joe's tomorrow. I can hear the cars gearing up, which means we need to be gearing up here. I know. I know. We've really got to get a move on, babe. We have so many veggies that we haven't even touched yet. I'm freaking out because it's a lot to do for a lot of people in a little amount of time. We have got to get moving. We've only got an hour and a half before we've got to get to our marketing event. We got to pack up, ship out, move them out. Chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop, chop. We're planning on going to the local community center that's having a Healthy Kids Day, and our wrap station includes different greens, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and chicken. We are like at the end of our time. You've got this. Carlie is feeling frazzled. Oh, my God. But I am staying as positive as I can, because we've got to keep it together and head over to the YMCA. Yep. SARAH: Tyler! Do you know where our girls are yet? I have no idea where our girls are, but they need to get over here. We made some calls, and we get models lined up, and our street team is gonna get the word out for opening day. I know. We need these girls. They're a huge part of this. Having these models is like an extra set of hands. They're going out, and they're directing people in our direction so Sarah and I can do what we need to do -- Cooking and handing out samples. Oh, hey! Are you our girls? I'm Sadie. Samantha. We're Casual Joe's. What we really want you to do is represent us, and we have these awesome flags here. No problem. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. I like it. I like it, too. We need tape. CARLIE: Looking at the sign and seeing "Carlie & Company," I feel really good about this shift in our name. I'm embracing it, and it feels great. Wow! In order for us to win this competition and for this marketing event to be successful, we need to be memorable. Hi! Thanks for being here. We had to call our Derby team in. Thank you guys so much for your help. Love you! Here they come, guys. Here we go. BRIANNA: Hi. Hey, how are you? Local business tomorrow at 3:00 at the mall. Oh, so what's happening here? Yep. Casual Joe's -- You got to vote for them. Oh, Casual Joe's. And so what's Casual Joe's? It's a restaurant that's opening tomorrow in Wausau. Amazing food. That's what I know. [ Chuckles ] And where is the opening? Um, I'm not sure exactly [Chuckles] where. So you don't know where it is? It's in Wausau. Okay. All right. Thanks so much. Thanks. TYLER: It's going well over here. Making a connection with customers, We are. Absolutely. The lovely woman who is at the front entrance, she doesn't know where your restaurant is gonna be tomorrow. Okay. My street team isn't prepped and doesn't know anything about Casual Joe's. This is a problem. Yeah. Yeah. Great, 'cause this is your one opportunity Absolutely. Thank you so much. All right. I'm gonna go find her. I have to step up. I am not going to let this event fail. Really good. Do you get, like, the idea of Casual Joe's? Yeah. Mm-hmm. And if you heard of a restaurant called Casual Joe's, what do you think would be on the menu? Right, right, right. So tell me what you guys would look for in a brat. Sure. It's about the ***. It's about the onions, about the mustard. Where would you rank this? A 9.5. Thank you. BRIANNA: The event at the "Y" is awesome. It's full of life. This is the best event we could have picked. CARLIE: That's the beauty of it -- You can have it any which way you want it. How about you, buddy? What would you like? At our marketing event, we are serving a dried cranberry salad, and we're also having a build-your-own-wrap station for the kids. Good. We are Carlie & Company, and we are debuting at the Wausau Center mall tomorrow. We are soups, salads, and wraps, and we do all homemade dressings. So if you like what we do, please come support tomorrow, This is a home run. Awesome. Thank you. What do you think about the food? WOMAN: We really like it. Good vegetables for the girls? Girls, do you like that? [ Chuckles ] See that? See that? Thank you. TYLER: It's just incredible -- These people know us, and they're coming with us to the mall on Sunday. That was such a cool experience! I can't believe it! That went really well. I don't foresee it going any better. We're gonna win this. We are gonna have a restaurant in Wausau Center mall. Awesome. I'm proud of you. Thank you. You guys were glowing today. When I walked up today, there was this energy that was humming out of the two of you, and I thought it was really fabulous. At this point, it's your game to lose. What's at stake here? You know, this is kind of a big deal, for me especially. Because I used to have my own business, and then it was gone. We don't have the money to do it on our own. I want this to be something that you did together as a couple, Never. ...that you'll have for the rest of your lives. All right. Good luck tomorrow. Thank you. You're welcome. [ Sighs ] This competition means the world to me. This means the difference between having no retirement and being my own boss. [ Voice breaking ] We're gonna do so good. [ Chuckles ] I think tomorrow is my opportunity to really grab what I've wanted. We got this. Yeah, we do. We got this. Doing great. Good. Good. So, when I walked into the racetrack, the first point of connection with your brand was part of your street team, and I said, "Where is the restaurant gonna open up?" And she said, "I don't know." Yeah. Absolutely. That was our... inability to make sure that we got her excited for us. Yeah, you got one shot at this. This is my only chance, 'cause I have a lot of debt, you know, from school, and I dropped out. I don't have a degree. I was at a really dark place where I didn't think that I could do anything. And this is my chance to prove everyone wrong who didn't believe in me. I want you to take this opportunity. I want you to take all of these things that -- When no one believed in you -- and I want you to take that energy, and I want you to put it into this restaurant. Yeah? It's your shot tomorrow. Appreciate it. Thanks. It got real [Sighs] just now. You know, I mean... We're here for a reason. You're here for a reason. Yeah. And I don't think I ever believed that until now. I completely doubted my decisions many times. It was really rough dropping out of school, but I will fight for anything I believe in, and I believe in Casual Joe's, I believe in myself, and I believe in Tyler. Get in here. Love you. CARLIE: Over the past few days, Beki Lemke, from Decorating Den Interiors, has been making over our restaurant. I'm really excited to see what Carlie & Company looks like. Yay! It's us. This is fresh. This is clean. Carlie & Company's storefront is beautiful. It's a dream come true. It's a blessing. It's everything that we wanted it to be. Yeah, this is so pretty. Thank you. No way! SARAH: We walk into the mall on opening day, and we see our space, and I love it. It's exactly what I want, it's casual, and it represents us. I finally feel like our brand and our business is coming together. Wow. This is it -- The moment of truth. Good morning, teams. How are you? Good. Good morning. FLORENCE: There is a lot on the line today. The team that wins today will walk away with their restaurant rent-free for one year. So, Carlie and Brianna, you won the mall challenge, so you get an extra five minutes of service. Use it wisely. If you blow that, you've blown the advantage. In just a couple of hours, the food court will be filled with hundreds of people eager to try your food. So let the food-court war begin, and may the best restaurant win. Let's go. Yep. Let's get to hustling. It's opening day. It's up to me to step up. This is my chance to prove to my dad that I made the right decision dropping out of school. Okay. I'm feeling a little bit rattled, because our dreams, our future -- Everything's at stake. We need to win this. The first thing we're making is mac and cheese. SARAH: We're doing a beef brat, and we're gonna do a chicken brat. Yep, so we're gonna want to make sure we pair a side with those, so french fries. The problem is, I don't want to run low because we're pairing. You know, and we've got the fries on as their own thing. SARAH: Tyler and I are butting heads. He's trying to give our fries away with the brat. I mean, what is he thinking?! We have to sell those fries! I am absolutely not comfortable in putting the potatoes down. Okay, so... If we run out of fries, we're going to lose this. Yeah. TYLER: And I had to let go and really trust her judgment and have her be a partner and not just an employee. CARLIE: As soon as I get these potatoes in, I got to get those steaks marinated, and I want to start cooking that chicken. On our menu, we are serving freshly made wraps and salads, homemade soup. We've got our dried cranberry salad... our sweet and spicy chicken salad... our steak and blue salad... our cucumber, onion, and tomato salad... our coleslaw... and our potato leek soup. I'm about halfway through this pan of potatoes. Um, I hope it's okay, 'cause I just put the whole thing in there. TYLER: That's fine. Today we are making beef brats, and we're gonna do a chicken brat. With that brat, the onions are gonna be sautéed in Marsala and caramelized. And fresh bacon, you know, for our mac and cheese. And then grilled cheese... fried cheese curds... and hand-cut fries. Hey, girls. Mom! Hi! Hey! Oh, you're here! I'm happy to see you! CARLIE: My mom comes to help us, and I couldn't be happier to see her, because we need all the extra hands we can get. I got the aoli -- I'm gonna let that sit TYLER: Okay. Hey, you guys need a little help? Oh, my God! Hey. Hey, nice shirt, man. I am so thankful Joe is here, you know. I mean, he works at The Black Sheep, he knows how to work the kitchen, and Joe just gets things done. Are you trusting me right now? I'm not doing the fries, so I'm trusting you. Like, do you like honestly trust me right now? 'Cause I need to feel that. If we go with my partner's plan, we're gonna run out, and that's the end of Casual Joe's. This is where I have to stand my ground. I do honestly trust you. I wish we had the potatoes. I'm not frustrated or mad at you. Okay. All right. All right. Let's just work with what we have. Is the macaroni in the water? Probably not -- I can't tell if it's boiling. No. Nothing. What? I didn't turn these ones on, Car. I told you I turned these four on. I thought you had when you put the stuff there. It's all right. Get a sheet pan over that, please. That's gonna screw us royally. CARLIE: Right now the communication between us is not very good. There is so much going on. BRIANNA: I burnt this. This competition is ours to lose. If we can just get our organization down, we've got this. CARLIE: You want to do the menu board? I want to accentuate salads. I wish you could do it. CARLIE: I wish I had another me to do it. Carlie is expecting me to write these menu boards right now, and I have no direction, I have no vision, because we had planned that she would do it. Okay. This needs to get melted. TYLER: Yeah. No joke. TAMMY: Do all that. They're gonna get five minutes to serve while we sit here quietly waiting. Okay, can you go a little faster, get that out of there? Use the ladle. There's big ladles everywhere. BRIANNA: Where is the big ladle? Here -- There's multiple big ladles. SARAH: All right! All right! You're almost burning your [bleep] here again. I was just right there, Carlie. We got to bust it -- Bust it out. Got it -- We're working on it. Yes. Your five minutes of service starts right now. Okay. Thank you. Oh. All right. CARLIE: We get five extra minutes of service, and this advantage over the other team could be the difference between winning and losing, and I want to make the most of it. Hi! I'm really good. My name is Brianna, and we're Carlie & Company, and we have soups, salads, and wraps. It's time for our five minutes to start, and I'm not even out front. I'm still cutting and chopping and prepping all of this produce. I'm really behind. How are you doing? We are not ready. We have to start a little bit after them. And this wait is much more agonizing for us than you -- [ Laughing ] I promise you. We only have three minutes left. Losing five minutes at the beginning of service, it's a tough thing, because they can sell their food. If they can push it out in a hurry, we're gonna be crippled, and I can't let that happen. As our line is building up and our service is going slowly, I'm thinking, "Here I am blowing a five-minute lead." I am so upset with myself right now I can't even stand it. Thank you for bearing with me. CARLIE: It's opening day, and customers are coming in. BRIANNA: Thank you for bearing with me. We blew our five-minute lead. Brianna was out there all by herself. I've got to get on that line to serve them food. Hi, ladies. How's it going? Sorry about the holdup. 3, 2, 1. Get those cooking. All right. We are open! Finally, we get to start service. My first Casual Joe's customer. We're serving a couple different things. We're gonna start off with some brats with mac and cheese. There is also grilled cheese, and a true Wisconsin classic, cheese curds, and fries. Those are all homemade sauces -- no preservatives. On our menu, we have three salads that you can turn into wraps. We've got the dried cranberry salad, we've got the sweet and spicy chicken salad, and then we've got the black and blue steak salad. In addition, we have a potato leek soup, and we have a side, which is tomato, cucumber, and red onion salad. You know, this is perfect for summer. This is, like, I am so excited. I'm excited about it. Yeah. Hey! SARAH: People from the racetrack are here, and I think we have a chance. Yeah! That's awesome that you're here. I had to come back for the really good food. As our line is building up and our service is going, we're getting great feedback. I'm thinking maybe I made up for the lost time. You can't have a beer brat without having fried cheese curds. [ Tyler chuckles ] This is Wisconsin. Whoop. SARAH: Thank you so much. There you go. Thank you. I am really nervous about these cheese curds. They are not looking like they're supposed to. They are a mess. It is hard to look at. [ Chuckling ] I'm worried. Joe, have you fixed the problem with the cheese curds? I know they were kind of soft here, so... I tried to. They're not popping as much now. Got them. WOMAN: Are they all create-your-own, or are they pre-made? Actually, we have a couple of our own pre-made ones. We have... CARLIE: I asked Brianna to do the menu board, and our signature salads aren't even on the menu board. Are you kidding me? I don't even have time to get up there and change it. They're not up there, but we have a dried cranberry salad, we have a sweet and spicy chicken salad, and we also have a steak and blue cheese salad. And so, because we didn't have our signature salads up on the board, we have to explain to every single customer what we're offering, which takes 10 times as long. SARAH: Two beer brats. I'm not gonna call out to you, because I think that's confusing things. Anything else for you? Okay. Service is crazy. I'm incredibly exhausted, and my knees are buckling. What can I get for you? [ Chuckles ] Then I see my father. This is just really hard. Is it? I know. This is too much. [ Sniffles ] [ Voice breaking ] I need you to help. I was trying not to break down in front of my dad. [ Sniffles ] And I couldn't hide. [ Sniffles ] I know he loves me, but I really want for him to be proud of me. You're doing so great. [ Crying ] It's been nonstop all day. I don't even know what time it is. Hey. It's okay. Wow. You're almost done. Run through the tape. Run through the tape. I'm freaking out. But if I don't step up, we can lose everything. Brianna, how are you? How you doing? Are you feeling all right? You got one last, little push -- Service is almost over. CARLIE: Okay. Thank you so much. So service is almost over. Thanks, Tyler. These are two beer brats. $5, please. Chicken for Logan. Okay. Joe, where are we at with these cheese curds? And $8. Thank you very, very much. Oh, okay. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? [ Crowd cheering ] It's over. Thank you so much for all your hard work. I want us to be here. CARLIE: I want us to be here, too. I just hope that we have enough sales to do it. I think I did everything I could. I don't know if it was enough, though. Congratulations, everybody. You've done an amazing job. I'm very proud of you. It is not easy running a restaurant. As you can see, your friends and family are here to support you. Sarah and Tyler, how do you think you did? We worked hard. We sold a lot of food. Carlie and Brianna, how do you think you did? We feel we did the best we could, also, under the circumstances. Sarah and Tyler, you say you're the real taste of Wisconsin, but you messed up a classic Wisconsin dish -- That's fried cheese curds. Mm-hmm. Fortunately, your brats were a huge success. The customers loved your selection of meats, and they thought the sauces were delicious. Thank you. But you cracked under the pressure. Carlie and Brianna, you had an extra five minutes at the beginning of service. If executed properly, you could've earned an extra $20 or $30, but, instead, you made $8. You forgot to tell your customers about your three signature salads and wraps, and because of that, customers didn't know what to order, and it cost you time, and it cost you money. [ Sighs ] Luckily, customers loved your ingredients, and they loved your salads. This is a big deal. One of you is about to win a restaurant rent-free for one year, which is worth $100,000. I've tallied up the money. The restaurant that earned the most will win. With a grand total of $1,524, the winner of "Food Court Wars" is... Casual Joe's. [ Cheers and applause ] SARAH: [ Voice breaking ] We did it. We did it. [ Sniffles ] We did it. Made myself... and my family so proud. WOMAN: You won. Wonderful! I'm so proud of you. This was my opportunity, and I made it work, and I made it happen. [ Applause ] We did our best. [ Voice breaking ] I know. It's okay. CARLIE: [ Voice breaking ] We really needed this, and we really wanted some financial stability. I really did want to know that our hard work was really gonna pay off. I'm sorry, guys. SARAH: I'm sorry. CARLIE: This is not the end for Carlie & Company. We may not have the money to do it now, we may not be business owners of Carlie & Company right now, but we will be. I'm not willing to let our dream die. I hope you're ready for some long nights Ohh. I can't believe we just won a restaurant. We won a restaurant. Is that not crazy? Oh, my God. We just won a restaurant. I would like to introduce you to your new best friend. This is the Wausau Center general manager, and she has a lease for you to sign. Megan Lawrence. Thank you. Nice to meet you, Megan. Thank you so much. Wow. So on top of a lease for you to sign, I would like to also present you with the first dollar you ever made. [ Laughing ] Yeah! That is so cool. "From Tyler Florence." Nope. [ Laughter ] SARAH: This is huge for me. This is my chance to become more than an employee... ...to own a restaurant. FLORENCE: It's official! You've got a restaurant! [ Cheers and applause ] Whoo-hoo! FLORENCE: So happy for you guys. I'm so happy. [ Laughs ]