New CNBC Food Shows Include Joe Bastianich and Tim Love's Restaurant Kickstart

Two new shows from CNBC— Restaurant Kickstart and Restaurant Confidential: New York — will soon be added to the ever-expanding food television fray. Restaurant Kickstart will pit restauranteur and MasterChef judge Joe Bastianich and Fort Worth chef Tim Love against each other as they vie to invest in a variety of food concepts.

Eat, Drink, Love's Waylynn Lucas will consult with the contestants as they launch a "pop-up restaurant, or a store, or a product presentation" over two days with $7,500. At the end of the period, Bastianich and Love will decide whether or not to invest their own money. The show, which essentially fuses Top Chef's restaurant wars with Shark Tank, will premiere in July.

The press release below notes that though the show is currently in the development phase, Restaurant Confidential: New York will be a "docu-series that follows the money" and "chronicles the struggles and triumphs of various restaurants in the ultra-competitive New York Food Scene."

Here are the relevant bits of CNBC's press release:

NEW SERIES GREENLIGHTS:

RESTAURANT KICKSTART is on a quest to discover, invest in and launch America's next generation of epicurean superstars. Each week, two teams will make their case to our investors, Bastianich and Love, for a shot at launching a temporary version of their great concept for a restaurant or a specialty food shop ... be it a bakery, a cotton candy bar, a sausage shop. Under the watchful eye of restaurateur and culinary consultant, Waylynn Lucas, the chosen team has two days and $7,500 to launch a pop-up restaurant, or a store, or a product presentation, come up with a branding campaign and research and write-up a business plan.  Then we'll open the doors and test the concept on the public. At the end of the process, our two investors will decide whether or not they will put their own money on the line to make someone's dreams come true. And, if everything goes according to plan, make millions for the entrepreneurs and, even more importantly, for themselves!

RESTAURANT KICKSTART is produced for CNBC by Shine America and JB Crushed, LLC with James Bruce, Eden Gaha, Paul Franklin, Robin Feinberg and Joe Bastianich as executive producers.   

RESTAURANT CONFIDENTIAL: NEW YORK (working title) is a docu-series that follows the money and chronicles the struggles and triumphs of various restaurants in the ultra-competitive New York Food Scene.  The series dives into the New York restaurant world as hot and not so hot spots compete to survive and thrive while showcasing chefs, restaurateurs, investors and everyone in between as they work tirelessly to make a place for themselves in the culinary scene.  The pay-off takes place in the final minutes with real register tallies and hard facts that expose the truth of each business' health. 

RESTAURANT CONFIDENTIAL: NEW YORK (working title) is produced by All3Media America with Eli Holzman, Stephen Lambert and Aaron Saidman as executive producers.

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