Bake Or Break: Cast, Episodes, Release Date, And More
Shows that focus on helping restaurant owners get back on their feet have become increasingly popular over the years. One successful example is "Restaurant Impossible," which aired from 2011 through 2016 and followed celebrity chef Robert Irvine and his team work with struggling eateries to help them bounce back. Per Food Sided, the team must stick to a budget of $10,000 and work on things like switching up the menu at the eatery and modifying its décor to appeal to customers. Irvine explained, "My job is to build them up in order to teach them new tricks and new things about their business, about their relationships with the staff and their families."
Another popular series, Gordon Ramsay's "Kitchen Nightmares" explored a similar concept — Ramsay would attempt to improve a restaurant in three days by offering suggestions and tackling problems (via Reality TV Revisited).
A new series, "Bake or Break," is set to launch on the Food Network soon and it will focus on helping "crashing bakeries" as they attempt to stay afloat in a cutthroat market.
Who will be in the cast of Bake or Break?
According to the Food Network, "Bake or Break" will feature renowned pastry chef Stephanie Boswell and her team as they work on strategies to save struggling bakeries from shutting down by introducing a "complete makeover" to their shop, modifying "stale recipes" and working on the ambiance of the store to ensure that customers have something to look forward to. The reality TV show will also include HGTV designers, Lauren Makk and Breegan Jane, who will assist Boswell as she comes up with a plan to salvage bakeries.
Courtney White, President, Food Network and Streaming Food Content, Discovery Inc. praised Boswell and said in a statement, "Bake or Brake busts out of the studio into real-life bakeries all over the country. Stephanie Boswell is smart, funny, warm, and amazingly skilled and experienced." According to The Wrap, Boswell has been previously spotted on "Halloween Baking Championship" as a judge, is the executive pastry chef at the Peninsula Beverly Hills, and is the "mastermind" of Las Vegas hot spots the Faberge Egg and the Foie Cras Candy Bar.
The show also will feature several ambitious business owners such as Olympic athlete, Jeanette Bolden Pickens, who currently runs a family business in Los Angeles.
What will the episodes of Bake or Break entail?
According to the Food Network, the episodes will take a look at bakeries such as The Cookie Jar in Flint, Michigan. Owner and baker Teressa Morris will work with Stephanie Boswell and her team to learn what she can do to "capitalize on her signature cookie" and make her menu a lot more appealing to attract more customers.
Boswell and her crew will also be seen heading to Los Angeles to support a family-owned business called 27th Street Bakery that is currently managed by Olympic athlete Jeanette Golden Pickens, whose family has been in the industry for almost a century. The store will be renovated and the menu will receive a complete makeover as Boswell tries to decode how to save Pickens' store from shutting down. Viewers can also look forward to watching Boswell step into a Greek bakery that is the brainchild of a molecular geneticist and a cake store that's known for its "over-the-top celebrity cake orders."
When will Bake or Break be released?
Viewers will get to watch "Bake or Break" next month. The show will make its debut on the Food Network, as well as Discovery Plus, on April 11. According to the Food Network, there are four 60-minute episodes that will take viewers on an emotional rollercoaster as they watch worried entrepreneurs rely on Stephanie Boswell and her crew for some much-needed support.
Boswell is empathetic and knows that it's not easy for the bakery owners because "there is so much on the line both personally and professionally" for them. She said, "I see the potential in these struggling bakeries, and encouragement is the ingredient these owners need to believe in themselves so they can turn their businesses around." She added that they will work with each store to introduce fresh flavors to the business and "fill counters with bounties of colorful baked goods to make each shop fun, vibrant, and inviting so customers pour in."
With the help of Boswell, perhaps one of these struggling businesses will end up being the best bakery in its state!