The venue for the first programme is La Lanterna in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. Twenty-eight-year-old owner and head chef Alex offers modern Italian cuisine, a taste of Little Italy in England's first garden city, and the restaurant is run by his best mate, maitre d' Gavin, helped by Alex's ex-air hostess girlfriend Emily.

Alex has no customers, cookers that don't work and an expensive menu that's about as authentically Italian as a Hawaiian Pizza. He re-mortgaged his house to buy the business, it's losing £1,000 a week, he hasn't slept for months but still runs round town in a flash car (number plate: A1CHEF) that's worth more than the restaurant. Running out of money, inspiration and energy, Alex is on the verge of losing EVERYTHING.

It's a prime restaurant for a dose of TOUGH LOVE - Ramsay-style. But can a strict diet of brutal honesty, radical food surgery and undiluted energy turn things round, or is it only a matter of time before the lights go out at La Lanterna for good?

Mexican-born Israel and his English partner Tara have sunk a cool £150,000 of their own money into their trendy cafe bar D-Place, which offers a vast selection of fusion cuisine.

They believed they had found the WINNING FORMULA: great place, great music, great service, great food... and all at the right price.

Sounds promising... but from there on it's all DOWNHILL.

For the first two years, it all went swimmingly as Israel built up a mini-empire of five businesses... but the success didn't last long. Just three years later and they are all GONE - only D-Place remains and it's hanging by a thread.

It's a 24-carat NIGHTMARE.

The staff are at WAR, the plastic food is DIRE, the customers have evaporated, the restaurant is losing MONEY and the owners are at their WITS END. Something simply has to give or everyone is out of a job.

Faced with dysfunctional staff and a disastrous menu, Gordon is about to face the LONGEST WEEK of his professional life. Can he quell the panic, banish the deep fa

Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack has hit ROCK BOTTOM.

It's sounds SO GOOD: an intimate 40-seater a stone's throw from Brighton's sea front with loads of hungry locals and a steady stream of tourists. Big soul momma, owner Charita Jones produces a menu of irresistibly unique classics from the Deep South.

Should be a surefire MONEYSPINNER, right?

Wrong... the shack is in a hole... a very deep FINANCIAL HOLE.

Despite three and a half years of hard graft it's a SPLITTING HEADACHE of a cafe.

The food's hard to fault but the punters are nowhere to be seen, Head Chef Brian and a rag-tag collection of part-timers are taking the mickey - and despite working a seven-day week Charita's got an empty restaurant and owes the bank £65,000. If ever there was a case of too many cooks, this is it. Charita's a natural, but she's never made a profit on the restaurant and is now facing financial disaster.

It's time to get SERIOUS... else the Soul Food Shack is finished.

Can Gordon successfully shut her out o

What's the BEST RECIPE for a successful restaurant? Top French chefs, the finest ingredients, food fit for a king...

Fine dining restaurant La Riviera in Inverness has it all and more.

All except one teeny weeny thing... CUSTOMERS. Without them, you don't stand a CHANCE.

And La Riviera is running out of TIME and MONEY.

La Riviera is on a MISSION: to bring sophisticated French cuisine to the home of haggis, tatties and deep-fried Mars bars. So it's the BEST of everything. It boasts a real DREAM COOKING TEAM: top French chef Loic Lefebvre who's worked in some of the best restaurants in the world and an impeccably-trained kitchen staff with Michelin star-studded backgrounds. The produce is ultra-fresh and top quality - the veg is flown in from France. Even the equipment is top of the league. So far, so good.

But delivering the very best costs... BIG TIME. Multi-millionaire owner Barry Larson is tearing his hair out as La Riviera is costing him a cool £8,000 a week to run - and that's on t

Have things gotten any better since Gordon left?

What's happened since the last time Gordon was here?

Gordon Ramsey returns to Moore Place.

Gordon Ramsey returns to Bonaparte's Restaurant.