One Failing Family Establishment, Two Concepts, One Night

STRUGGLING FAMILY RESTAURANTS COME TOGETHER BY DIVIDING IN TWO IN NEW PRIMETIME SERIES "RESTAURANT DIVIDED" HOSTED BY CHEF ROCCO DISPIRITO

Six-Episode Series Premieres on Thursday, October 24th at 10pm ET/PT

NEW YORK - September 24, 2013 - Family restaurants on the brink of failure are given a unique chance to turn their fortunes around with the help of celebrated chef and restaurateur Rocco DiSpirito in the six-episode series Restaurant Divided, premiering Thursday, October 24th at 10pm ET/PT on Food Network. Each struggling restaurant is run by a family torn apart by conflicting ideas on how to save their establishment. Rocco puts them both to the test by dividing the space into two restaurant concepts open side-by-side, serving real customers and critics for one night. Based on profitability, customer reviews and his own expertise, Rocco ultimately decides which vision is most successful and stays open.

Rocco DiSpirito is an award-winning chef and author of nine highly-acclaimed cookbooks, including back-to-back #1 New York Times bestsellers Now Eat This! and Now Eat This! Diet. His current book, Now Eat This! Italian, is a New York Times bestseller which features classic Italian dishes reimagined, all under 350 calories. Rocco has been a television mainstay for over 20 years. He is on a mission to change people's perception of healthy food by making low-fat and low-calorie dishes flavorful and healthy, while dispelling the myth that healthy is more expensive. Rocco's revolutionary new book The Pound a Day Diet debuts January 7, 2014. The Pound a Day Diet is designed to help you lose up to five pounds every five days - without frustrating plateaus - while enjoying your favorite foods. In 2012 Rocco founded Savory Place Media, his production house. Its first project Now Eat This! Italy for AOL Originals became an instant hit with millions of views and is a Top 10 series on AOL ON.

Restaurant Divided is produced by Leopard USA.

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