The Bear Would Be Considered A Unicorn In The Real-Life Restaurant Industry

Contains spoilers for "The Bear" season 2, episode 1 – "Beef"

FX's and Hulu's TV show "The Bear" is back for Season 2. The new season picks up where the first season left off after following the restaurant journey of chef Carmy Berzatto as he navigated leaving high-end restaurants to return to Chicago to manage The Original Beef of Chicagoland formerly owned by his late brother. In the final episode of Season 1, Carmy announces the closure of the restaurant and the forthcoming opening of a new restaurant to be called The Bear.

At the beginning of Season 2 Episode 1, the staff of The Bear is faced with making a budget for opening the new restaurant. They all gather around Carmy in the kitchen who grabs a piece of cardboard and a Sharpie and starts writing one out as they all chime in with their two cents about what the restaurant will need. It all adds up to about $95,000, which is a totally unrealistic number when it comes to opening a restaurant in the real world.

As he adds up the numbers on the cardboard box, Carmy claims they already have equipment that works, which is a bonus, but the other employees look dubious about that. They note they'll need money for a deep clean, insulation, and drywall, as well as about $5,000 to $10,000 for a new fryer and $10,000 to $20,000 for a new oven. 

Carmy estimates windows, demolition, and brick will set them back $50,000, while Neil notes they'll also need about $10,000 for permits, inspections, and licenses, and about $5,000 for air conditioning and HVAC. Granted, these numbers might seem a bit short. Sydney catches on, asking, "Just out of morbid curiosity, how accurate do we think these numbers are?" She replies with a sarcastic-laden "Fantastic," when Carmy says he thinks he's "pretty much right on a couple of them."

However, in the real world, the costs of opening a restaurant add up to quite a bit more than $95,000. Plus, it often takes something more than a cardboard box and a Sharpie to make the budget. Sage estimates that it costs about $425,000 to both own and open a restaurant. Costs include restaurant equipment, legal fees, furniture, remodeling, and, oh yeah, having to pay your employees — a fact Tina points out to Carmy during the team's budget discussion. If you were leasing the building, you could save some money on opening costs, with it costing about $275,000. It all makes $95,000 sound like a pretty sweet deal.