10 Rules Restaurants Must Follow To Appear On Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives is prime comfort viewing. Spiky-haired host Guy Fieri is a beacon of relentless positivity, and the restaurant owners always appear thrilled to have the popular chef in their midst. The food is nearly always a hit, the customers are always happy, and the chefs seem to genuinely love what they do. What's not to love? It's not surprising that the show, often nicknamed Triple D, regularly pulls in hundreds of thousands of viewers.

But making such a comforting, joyful watch isn't easy. While rewarding, for the crew and the restaurants, the whole experience can actually be quite intense and tough. Despite the free spirited nature that these type of establishments embody, there are rules and procedures that restaurants must follow to appear on Triple D. Just a warning, but some of this might take a little bit of the shine out of your next comfort watch. That said, maybe taking a peek behind the curtain will make the whole thing more interesting. Actually, our money's on the latter. Let's roll.

Most appearances on Triple D start off with a phone call. While viewers and restaurants can email suggestions to Food Network, often, a team of researchers and producers will scout out the eateries they want to feature and contact them themselves. If the owners agree to start the process of appearing on the show, they must then take part in a long series of interviews.

According to restaurant owners who have been through the process, the initial interview covers everything from the type of ingredients used in the kitchen to the most popular dishes, and proprietors must also confirm that they are willing to provide records of health inspection reports. It makes sense: Food Network doesn't want to get caught promoting an unsanitary business.

After that initial phone call, restaurant owners usually have one or two more phone calls with producers, before they get an in-person visit. Some have to wait weeks on end to find out if they're going on the show, and if they land a spot, guess what? Yep, it's yet more phone calls with producers before filming begins.

All of those phone calls might be time consuming for restaurant owners, but they are vital. Ultimately, they help writers and producers to build a story around each business, which makes each episode more engaging for viewers at home.

For example, at Cafe Nooner, in Eureka, CA, the story for season five, episode 19 was built around co-owners Joe and Lorrena Filgas both having zero experience before deciding to open up their own restaurant. In an account of the entire filming process on the restaurant's website, Joe explains that the couple were also asked in advance who they would like to be the main character of their segment (they chose Lorrena, by the way).

Restaurant owners say that, even if they have been scouted out by Triple D production, they still have to do the work in terms of actually convincing the team to let them go on the show. "In our case, the producers called a bunch of food writers in Denver to find some good local places," Emily N. Biederman told Thrillist. The owner of Steuben's in Denver, Colorado, which featured in Season 11, said, "They reached out to us and we basically had to sell them on our place over the course of a few weeks."

Filming an episode of "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" is a meticulous process. The camera crew arrives early on the first day to set up all of their equipment; for each restaurant, they must get opening shots, food shots, service shots, and when Fieri arrives to film (typically a day or two into the process), they have to get all of the shots of him in the kitchen with the chefs and owners, of course.

Now, imagine trying to do all of this, with customers, inevitably gawping and fascinated by the whole ordeal, coming in and out of the restaurant. Nightmare, right? This is how Triple D used to film, but not anymore. Nowadays, to help everything run smoothly, restaurants must be prepared to close to the public for the entire filming process. Inevitably though, this means taking a big financial hit, as restaurants often have to shut the doors to the paying public for around four days.

Restaurant owners don't just have to shut down for days on end, they also have to agree to pay for all of the ingredients they use during the filming process. We'll come on to this shortly, but that's a heck of a lot of food, considering every restaurant owner and chef has to cook the entire menu. According to some business owners who have appeared on the show, the filming process actually ended up costing them around $12,000 to $15,000. Yes, really.

However, it's important to note that most businesses that appear on the Food Network get a major boost in business, so in the long run, it all works out for the best. Some have even claimed that featuring on the show helped to save their business from closure. It's not just a one-time boost, either, as the Food Network loves a re-run.

"We can always tell the day after our episode has been re-run," said Sarah Sanneh, the co-owner of Brooklyn-based Pies 'n' Thighs, which appeared on the show back in 2013, to Thrillist. "Like, all of a sudden we'll be slammed on some random Tuesday, then we'll realize, 'Oh, they just replayed our show... that makes sense.'"

Okay, we promised we'd come on to it, and here we are. When filming for "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," participants have to be prepared to cook everything on the menu for Fieri to try. In fact, some chefs say that, during their time on the show, they had to cook everything not once or even twice, but three times. It's extremely labor intensive, but it ultimately means that production will have lots to choose from when it comes to editing the whole episode together.

Unfortunately, even after all of that effort, there is no guarantee that Fieri will actually like everything that the chefs cook for him. Still, he's never rude to anyone on camera. He once said on The Moment with Brian Koppelman podcast that if he just says an item is "good" rather than something like "this is off the hook," it means that he's probably not a huge fan. He's also happy to give chefs advice and cooking tips, but he also stresses that it's not his job to tell people how to run their own kitchen.

Before they even make it on to the show, chefs and restaurateurs have to clearly explain to producers how they make their dishes. It's not just about the kind of ingredients they use, but the entire cooking process. This is because, when Fieri comes to film, he wants to see talented chefs who make their food entirely from scratch without cutting corners. "They are really focused on scratch cooking," Ann Kim — co-owner of Pizzeria Lola in Minneapolis, which appeared on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" in 2014 — told Twin Cities Business. "I was surprised and impressed. They vetted us very carefully."

Producer David Page also confirmed this in an interview with Heavy Table. He explained that it's not enough for a chef to hand make just one or two specials, but everything that leaves the kitchen has to be fresh. "It's not like we want to walk into a joint that has 75 percent frozen Sysco pre-prepared product, but they make two specials a week that will knock you on your butt," he said. "That's not good enough." He added that restaurants that don't make everything from scratch usually won't make it anywhere near the short list for the show.

If you're a Triple D fan, you'll know that on-camera interviews with customers are a big part of the show. At the beginning of each restaurant's segment, there are usually snippets of people commenting on why they love the restaurant's food, vibe, and decor intertwined with shots of Fieri talking to the camera. 

But, wait, didn't we just say that the entire restaurant has to be closed to the public? Yes, you're not imagining things. It turns out, technically, those people aren't real paying customers on the day, but don't worry, they're not actors, either. Nope, these people are usually loyal regulars and fans of the restaurant who have been invited by the owners specially to take part in the show.

While the restaurant might seem packed in the intros, those who have taken part in Triple D in the past say they were only allowed to invite around 10-15 guests for each day of filming. As well as regulars, restaurant owners are also allowed to invite family members and friends along, too.

The interactions between Guy Fieri and restaurant owners on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" usually come across as relaxed and authentic, and there's a reason for that. Fieri doesn't speak with any of the restaurant owners before he meets them. Yep, everything, even the introductions, are saved for the cameras, and nothing is overly rehearsed, either. According to Fieri, he's concerned that if he looks like he's reading a script, he'll come across to the viewers at home as "contrived," per People Magazine.

But it hasn't always been this way. Fieri used to regularly interact with chefs and restaurant owners before filming, but production realized that the quality of the content just wasn't as good. People often came off as awkward or uncomfortable, which, let's be honest, just isn't all that entertaining to watch. But this doesn't mean that the entirety of Triple D is authentic. You know Fieri's iconic red Chevy Camaro? Yeah, he doesn't actually drive that to every restaurant. A member of the crew is responsible for transporting the vehicle between shoots, and Fieri just hops in to get the shot. We're sorry if that's tainted the Triple D magic a little bit, but that's showbusiness.

From duck tongue tacos to platters of pig's head, Fieri has eaten some seriously unique grub in his time. But, while he clearly has a pretty uninhibited palate, he does have limits, and there are a few foods that he hates.

Fieri doesn't like to be served liver on Triple D, for example, because, as he told People Magazine, he thinks it's "nasty." He's not alone; most modern Americans aren't big fans of offal these days. However, the other food that Fieri can't stand is a little more surprising. It turns out, this renowned chef and foodie can't stand the look or texture of eggs. "I eat them in dressings, but sunny-side up, over-easy, or scrambled? No, thank you," he said.

So, if you're a restaurateur hoping to appear on "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives," it's a good idea to avoid anything to do with eggs. That said, if you're brave enough, you might be able to convince him to give them a chance. When Kim at Pizzeria Lola served Fieri and fellow celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern an egg pizza (yes, it's a thing), Fieri actually gave it a try and declared it "off the hook."

Filming "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" is a huge operation; it requires a lot of people, from producers and assistants to camera operators and audio engineers to, of course, the restaurant owners themselves. But ultimately, Fieri is in charge of how the show ends up looking. And that's because he picks everything. Not just the dishes, but also the restaurants that make the final cut.

Usually, researchers and producers will whittle down a shortlist for each area. This final list then gets presented to Fieri for him to make the final selection; usually, he makes the final list based on the most interesting meals and unique preparation methods. For the most part, this selection process happens around two months before filming, but it can be sooner. According to the Filgas, they were given less than a week to prepare for Fieri before he arrived to start filming for episode five of season 19.

Before appearing on Triple D, some restaurant owners say they heard rumors of Fieri arriving to film, and then deciding that actually, it's not a fit, and backing out of the whole thing. It's enough to turn anyone into a bag of nerves, but it's not unfounded. 

Page told Heavy Table that there have been occasions when the entire production crew has turned up to film, only to realize that the vibe just isn't right. "We're very, very good in the research department, but still you can be surprised," he explained. "And to be candid, we have gotten to town and canceled places because the key to the show is that they have to meet that bar." Sometimes, according to participants, production and Fieri will still try to persevere with filming, but things go so wrong that the segment for that restaurant gets scrapped. Ouch.