Reštaurácia Novohrad

The restaurant & setting. We are in Lučenec, at the Novohrad restaurant, named after the Novohrad region. The Bojtoš couple have been running it as tenants for five years, after another five years spent on the Halier roadside diner, which they had to close for poor results. The place runs on an „eat as much as you can" concept, all you can eat, where for 6.20 euros a guest gets unlimited access to the buffet. The space is large and there really are plenty of guests, yet the 1990s rubber tablecloths on the terrace and the general shabbiness immediately hint that something is wrong.

The people. It was not the owner who called Martin, but his wife Martina, who already sounded very sad on the phone. The owner and head cook is Ján Bojtoš, a trained cook and waiter who comes to work before five in the morning and insists nothing works there without him. The operation is held together by floor manager Danka, who has worked for the Bojtošes since Ján was an apprentice. In the kitchen stand cook Naďa and cook Zolo with over twenty years of experience, while waitress Katka runs the service. Martin senses at once that the team is out of tune and that the owner commands no respect among them.

Why they called Martin. Lunch takings are falling, Ján is behind on invoices and admits the place is more or less without profit. The core problem, though, is not the price but the people: Ján set the relationships up far too matey, the staff do not respect him, they smoke whenever they like and ignore his instructions. „Some of them still do not know we even have freezers," he complains. Martina wants the rescuer to teach her husband to manage the kitchen and lead the whole restaurant.

The first visit. Martin sits down as an ordinary guest and orders half the menu, mostly deep-fried dishes. He waits forty minutes and the result is a disaster. The shepherd's cheese in batter is a cold, flavourless rubbery lump, the chicken is dried out like sand, the bryndza strapačky with extremely sour cabbage score zero points, and the „natural" chicken with peach and cheese is dry meat under unmelted „plasticine". The peak is a potato pancake with a burnt edge and a suspicious decorative tuft: „I do not know whether it is made of a rag or what it is trying to be." The only bright spot is the Montenegrin schnitzel. Martin is deeply disappointed.

The diagnosis. Martin sits down with Ján and lists three faults: cleanliness, staff respect, and the menu itself. The harshest moment comes in the storeroom, where Martin finds mouldy carrots, a rag soaked in blood and frozen cured meats and convenience products thrown together in one pile. „Do you realise you are gambling with human health?" he asks while Ján stays silent. Hygiene inspectors apparently had not been there for a whole year. Ján finally takes the blame: „It is my fault," admitting he should have been firmer and that his wife was right. On hygiene grounds Martin empties the restaurant on the spot and sends the guests home.

The reset. The next day Martin takes Ján aside and teaches him to be a boss: to raise his voice, give clear orders and impose fines for smoking and mess. He also checks the toilets with a UV lamp and the result is revolting. He closes the kitchen for the whole night and orders a deep clean that must be finished before he is satisfied. A human layer opens up too: Danka reveals she recently lost a close person and work is her therapy, and Martin tries to support both her and the whole exhausted team. To end the day he prepares a romantic dinner for Ján and Martina, so the couple can finally find a moment for themselves after years of grind.

New concept & menu. Martin does not change the name of the place, he changes its heart. He shows Ján that not everything has to be done in the fryer and builds a new menu: two soups to choose from, penne arabiata, braised cabbage with potato dumplings filled with smoked meat, homemade black pudding, pork belly, half a grilled chicken and a sweet finish of doughnuts with strawberry foam. Alongside it he brings an à la carte list with homemade sviečková, grilled chicken breast and above all a large Viennese veal schnitzel from the loin with a honey beer glaze as the hook meant to draw new guests to Lučenec. He also replaces the all you can eat price with a system where a guest pays three extra euros for each additional plate.

The big night. During the first live service the old bad habits return: the counters stay empty, the kitchen falls behind, guests serve themselves and Ján at first is again afraid to take command. Martin pushes until he is a small step from getting in his car and leaving. In the end something clicks in Ján, he starts giving clear orders and the kitchen gets moving. Guests like the new style, though they take the change in self-serving with mixed feelings. The evening takings reach 876 euros and both Danka and Ján breathe out after a long time.

One month later. The closing summary shows a mixed picture. The „eat as much as you can" system lasted only seven days, then Ján returned to the old model and set the price at 6.50 euros, so lunches are loss-making again. Part of Martin's changes did stick, though: staff wear uniforms by rule, smoking is banned in the kitchen, the restaurant closes the first Monday of every month for cleaning, and Ján hired a new cook, Ondrej. Danka keeps the place afloat, even buying flowers for the tables out of her own pocket. And Ján took his wife Martina on holiday to Cyprus and promised to give her more of his time.

Verdict: Martin leaves with mixed feelings. He showed Ján and his team that it can be done, yet he himself admits he is not entirely convinced the place will go the right way. He sees the biggest shift in Ján, who finally stepped into the role of boss that evening, but the question remains whether it will last once Martin drives off to Bratislava.