These restaurateur couples must choose between ‘Me or the Menu’

Business and pleasure don’t always mix, even — or especially — when the business is delicious. 

In the new reality series “Me or the Menu,” which premieres Thursday at 10 p.m. on Food Network, couples find that running a restaurant with your significant other can leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Each pair featured on the show seems to have a common issue: One person dreams of being in the food industry, while the other is merely helping out. Major fights ensue.

For Randi Lee, 46, his Brooklyn restaurant, Leland, is a dream that was over twenty years in the making. His finances are tied up in it, as are those of his fiancée, Jeanette Zinno. The 35-year-old invested $70,000 of her own money in the eatery, even though she has no interest in being in the food business. Zinno previously worked in public relations and travel writing, and she put her own career plans aside for Lee.

“Even though you want to support your partner’s dream and do whatever it takes, at the same time, I have my own dreams,” she told The Post. “That’s definitely an area of frustration for me.”

Another issue: They’ve been engaged for two years, but they haven’t planned their wedding, since Lee has been so focused on the restaurant.

“Leland has been open for 11 months, and I haven’t had a day off since,” Lee says on-screen. “Every nook and cranny, I am involved in. If there’s no dishwasher, I’m a dishwasher. If there’s no bartender, I’m a bartender.”

Zinno’s role in the business is unclear. She’s an investor who helps with public relations, but on the show, Lee is shown telling her to “see how the staff is doing, and see if you can help out anywhere.”

“I have many titles,” she told The Post.

Their biggest fights are about the limited hours they spend not working.

“Not having time together is frustrating, and Randi does prioritize the restaurant a lot. So that was a struggle,” Zinno said. “And also me just wanting to do my own thing and follow my passion and travel more. That’s what I care about. He cares about the restaurant. I don’t want to be hosting brunch; I want to be in Portugal right now.” 

They had plans to open the restaurant with a full workforce — hiring front-of-house staff and kitchen management. But, due to widespread staffing issues in the pandemic, they’ve had to do everything themselves.

“I feel like you’re working hundred-hour weeks,” Zinno tells Lee on the show as she leaves the restaurant at 11:30 one night and he stays behind working for several more hours. “It’s not sustainable.”

While the couple won’t reveal where their head space is now, Lee said their story should be a cautionary tale to others with similar ambitions.

“Every couple that works together should really analyze who they are and how they work. I don’t think every couple is meant to do it,” he told The Post. “We had a different idea, that we’d be up and running and having general managers and chefs … and those people just were not available.” 

Illinois couple Kathleen Murray, 45, and Nate Albert, 30, said that in retrospect, they never would have gone into business together. Instead of an engagement ring, Albert gave Murray a food truck, which she named Saucy Kat.

“Our relationship was beautiful, it was like a fairy tale for me, he was the man of my dreams, everything was perfect,” Murray, a former tech exec, told The Post. 

Although she was initially hesitant about dating a man who’s 15 years younger than her, and therefore might not be as driven or ready to settle down, “he was mature and surprised me with his commitment toward me,” she said. “Then we got this idea to go into business together to maximize our time together. I thought it was going to be something positive, and instead our love turned into a war. Everything positive in our relationship became overshadowed by this negative dynamic.”

On the show, they’re seen in a tiny hot truck together all day. She loses it at him for several perceived errors, including forgetting cups and straws for lemonade they’re planning to sell and washing tomatoes too slowly.

A key issue, Murray said, was that they didn’t define their roles in the business clearly enough.

“I don’t think Nate was sure what his role was going to be, and I saw that as him not motivated and focused on the success of the business,” she told The Post. “I felt a tremendous amount of resentment, because I felt like the work and responsibility was on my shoulders … It led to stress, and taking it out on him.”

Albert agreed.

“I would do things, and it wouldn’t be to her standards. So she’d get upset with me, and she’d say, ‘I’m doing it myself.’”

In hindsight, Murray said she wouldn’t put herself in this situation.

“Looking back … I wouldn’t have gotten involved in the business with him.”