Last week, the now-infamous owners of Amy’s Baking Company Bakery, Boutique and Bistro took to their Facebook page to tell the majority of their new and totally ironic fans that the embattled restaurant would be re-opening this week. Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, with the help of the Rose+Moser+Allyn Public & Online Relations firm, wanted their loyal customers and the many other people that had witnessed their strange Facebook meltdown to know that chef Gordon Ramsay and his show, “Kitchen Nightmares”, had presented them in an incorrect light.
Of the purpose of tonight’s re-opening, the owners wrote:
Customers will be able to decide who is correct: a famous celebrity chef or the marketplace that has supported the small, locally-owned business for six years.
Hold on, stop, hold your laughter until the end. They also wrote that they would “likely” hold a press conference and “answer falsehoods depicted on a reality television show, including assertions that the restaurant confiscates tips from servers.” Except, according to the Arizona Republic, that press conference never happened.
And unless you hear from someone who ate there tonight or has reservations this week – the Republic just reported that tonight’s crowd was “thin” – chances are there won’t be too many other follow-up articles about the re-opening, because Amy and Samy won’t be letting any media types into their restaurant. But it’s not because they’re jerks, it’s just because they could be sued by the producers of “Kitchen Nightmares”, as they sent a rather stern letter to the couple.
“If you disparage the show, its host, or its producers, you will breach your obligations under Paragraph 10 of your Personal Release and Paragraph 14 of your Participant Agreement,” states the letter from the Los Angeles office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. A breach would expose the Bouzaglos to damages of $100,000 each, according to the law firm.
“That’s not a hollow threat,” said Jason Rose, president and founder of Rose+Moser+Allyn, which is parting with the Bouzaglos after a short-lived attempt to restore their reputation. “That would get anybody’s attention.”
In fairness to Amy and Samy, the Scottsdale Police Department is actually investigating a report of computer tampering at the restaurant, because Amy and Samy (who is facing deportation, by the way) stand behind their claim that they were hacked and never wrote those incredibly hilarious lunatic rants. But at the same time, I imagine the investigation looks something like this…
