[laughs]
We argue every day about every facet of the business.
narrator: For over 30 years,
Jon Taffer has traveled the country
saving hundreds of bars from failure and ruin.
The past two years are unlike anything
I've seen in our industry.
But we're bouncing back.
People are going out again
and restaurants need to get ready.
narrator: Now, Jon is faced with a new set of problems.
There are supply chain issues.
Why are we out of this shit?
Staffing shortages.
Every week, we get a new staff.
We have to crash course them.
And consistent health concerns.
We just can't fail. We just can't.
narrator: Now, Jon is back out on the road
and heading to Gibsonton, Florida
to rescue AJ's on the River.
This is a new era for our country.
So we need to raise the bar and rise to these challenges.
narrator: In 2016, 30-year police veteran,
Jerry Clark bought AJ's on the River
in Gibsonton, Florida.
Through conversations with my son
who had been in the bar business his entire life,
and from watching Bar Rescue,
I became interested and wanted to own a bar.
narrator: Jerry used his retirement
of about $100,000 to buy the bar.
The money to buy the bar and the food truck
came from my police pension.
narrator: And with no experience himself,
hired his son Patrick to run the bar.
I've been working in restaurants about 23 years.
As far as how yesterday went,
we had a bit of an issue with rotating tables
and staying in sections.
I consider myself a really good manager.
- I got it. - Let me see.
narrator: But despite Patrick's expertise,
the bar struggled to turn a profit.
It would be nice to be able to make money,
and we have not been able to do that as of yet.
narrator: So now, Jerry and Patrick
not only have a fractured bar,
but a fractured relationship as well.
Sometimes it's easier to have disagreement
with a business associate than it is with your son.
narrator: And find themselves relying on friends and family
to help run their sinking ship.
The [indistinct] family is a family
that pretty much all work here.
Ashley is my sister-in-law and Alex is my brother-in-law.
Before I worked here, I was actually doing--
I was a cable technician and auto mechanics.
By the fifth hour into it, I'm numb.
narrator: Having no solution to improve the bar,
Jerry finds himself in over $120,000 in debt,
and months away from closing.
After five and a half years of hard work,
I was hoping that we would at least start breaking even.
narrator: Before their bar dream gets washed away,
this father and son duo
have agreed to pull back the doors,
bust open the books,
and make a call for help to Bar Rescue.
Hi, Emily.
Hello, Jon. How are you?
Good to see you. Hey, buddy.
- Good to see you. - Hey, brother.
- How are you, Vic? - How are you?
Good.
narrator: For the kitchen, John brings in Vic Vegas,
an executive chef with over 25 years' experience.
Vic has worked with major food distributors,
while also owning and operating his own successful restaurant.
For the bar, Jon brings in Emily Yett,
an expert mixologist
who has won numerous cocktail competitions
and was voted Best Bartender in Las Vegas in 2018.
Well, a little dockside experience.
And I also wanna thank Bada Bing Marine
for giving me this boat so we could look at the bar.
Look at this place.
All their business comes from the river.
There's three other bars on a whole river,
and only two of them have dock space.
And this is the only bar that has free dock space.
Right.
So this would be my place to go if it was good.
Right.
I'm guessing it's not good.
[laughs]
This bar AJ's was bought by Jerry five years ago.
Jerry's son Patrick works here with him.
[whistles]
Jerry is a retired Tampa cop.
And now he's losing 7,500 a month
and his pension was gone in six months, like, he's broke.
- He's done. He's finished. - Wow.
So there's a couple of other people that work there.
There's Shannon.
Do you want it spicy?
- No, thank you. - All right.
She's a bar manager.
There's Ashley.
She's the bartender.
I'm gonna go drop these menus
and I'll be right with you, okay?
And there's Alex.
He's the cook, Vic.
You notice I said cook, not chef?
Right.
Alex really just got this job a few months ago,
because he's levelheaded.
Kitchen job because he's levelheaded?
Because he's levelheaded.
But not kitchen qualified?
Not kitchen qualified.
I'm not sure he's qualified for anything,
so God knows what you have in the kitchen.
Bring them down.
Good job.
Did they just kiss in the kitchen?
Listen, I didn't ask for my burger
with the side of PDA.
Ashley is Alex, the cook's wife.
Oh.
Now, if you were a customer,
that would start to make you a little uncomfortable,
- wouldn't it? - Right.
The other interesting thing is the bar has no kitchen.
The food is coming from a kitchen housed in a trailer
about 30 feet behind the bar.
Whoa, whoa, Patrick.
- [laughs] - Whoa, yeah.
And they're running their food from that trailer
- into the bar to serve it. - Wow.
All right.
I could do a Bloody Mary. We don't have hard liquor here.
What we have is wine.
It's been fermented to tastes like vodka.
Are you okay with that?
Now, this bar does not have a liquor license.
- Oh. - What you're looking at--
- Yeah. - --are low proof alcohols.
They're made with a neutral wine base.
And then they create a vodka flavoring--
- Sure. - --a gin flavoring,
a whiskey flavoring. You know this well, Emily.
They're 40 proof, so that's 20% alcohol.
But because it's low proof,
you can serve it in a beer and wine environment.
- Margarita. - Are you sure with it?
Yeah.
So for recon this week,
I got us two boat captains,
Mitch and John.
They know every bar on this river.
narrator: Jon's spies enter AJ's on the River.
A 2,500 square foot bar
sitting on the banks of the Alafia River,
with docks outside for boats to pull up to,
a small L-shaped bar inside,
and a detached trailer that acts as a kitchen.
So there's John and Mitch.
Hey, how's it going?
- Good. How are you? - Good.
I don't have, uh, a drink menu. I have a food menu.
- Uh... - I'll do a Margarita.
Yeah, you want salt?
Salt would be great. Thank you.
I'm gonna start with a Bloody Mary.
Can I start you a tab?
Yeah. Yes.
Uh, and then we're also gonna need some food.
I'm just gonna do a classic burger.
I'd like the fish sandwich.
Uh-hmm.
And then a Philly cheesesteak as well.
- Yeah. - Hey, there's one.
Okay.
[tense music]
That's the fish.
It's pretty firm.
Because it's frozen.
Now when you put the seasoning and then drop it on the grill,
what happens to the seasoning?
Burn, baby, burn.
That's why we marinate instead.
Okay, you see no gloves.
- Protein on the hands-- - Wait.
- --and a rectangular steak. - Oh.
You see those in the freezer station,
they're about as cheap as cheap can be.
Look at that burger,
squeezed every ounce of juice out of there.
Look at that smoke, man, that's unbelievable.
They're gonna set that kitchen on fire.
Oh, yeah. We're dipping with butter now.
Tuck it all the way in.
Look at this.
Is that the same hand that touched all that everything?
- It is. It is. - Yes.
- Hitting the roll now, the-- - Yes.
- --hand that touched the meat? - Holding a roll.
Oh, geez, brother.
Philly cheesesteak and chips?
- That's for my friend. - You can set that right here.
Right here, fish sandwich with coleslaw.
- That's me. - That guy.
And then bacon cheeseburger.
This bar doesn't realize that the third guest is me.
So I'm gonna go in there.
I'm gonna sit next to these guys
and I'm gonna taste this food.
And I'm gonna give you the scoop myself.
- Oh, oh. - Here we go.
[laughs] I promise you.
[tense music]
Hey, guys.
both: Hey, how's it going?
When I saw Jon sit at the bar,
uh, I knew, uh, it was time for a reckoning.
I'm really curious to see what you think of that fish sandwich.
It's a little soggy.
They took two frozen fish fillets
and dropped them on the flat top.
Hmm.
And when you cook fish frozen, it gets all soggy on the inside.
And then this... [makes sound]
oh, boy, I'm scared to eat this, to be honest with you,
because I watched them make it.
Jerry.
Uh-huh.
- Hi. - Sir, hi.
- Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
Well, I want you to hear what happened here,
because we ordered this food.
These are two friends of mine, uh, Mitch and John.
Both captains from the area.
I want you to hear what I saw.
Your cook took two pieces of frozen fish.
- Correct. - In his bare hands,
no glove,
put them both on the grill.
See all that black on the top of that fish?
That's burned seasoning.
You don't put the seasoning on it
and then put it down on a grill.
This has the cheapest frozen meat you can possibly buy.
How was the burger?
Very average.
This burger was pressed so much.
Look at this.
They ruined it.
This had a chance of being good.
It had a shot, that never did.
This never did.
Then he took that same hand that had the raw fish,
the raw burger, and the raw beef,
picked up my bun with his hands covered in raw product.
That entire kitchen is completely cross contaminated.
You're gonna kill somebody.
[tense music]
You're gonna kill somebody.
How experienced is Alex in the kitchen?
He's brand--I mean, he's been here a year.
But this is his only restaurant job [indistinct]
So he's never worked in a kitchen before?
No.
As he's struggling in a kitchen and screwing everything up,
you go in there to give him a kiss.
Yeah.
You see, I would never allow newlyweds
to work in my business together,
because newlyweds wanna kiss and hug all the time, don't you?
Right? You're newlyweds.
Never.
Because it makes people uncomfortable.
Have you heard that before?
Sure.
- Have you told her that? - Yes.
And has it continued to happen?
Yes.
So she doesn't listen to you?
- No. - How come?
He says he's asked you not to do that,
but you do it anyway.
How come you don't listen?
Force of habit.
So is that acceptable to you?
- No, that's not. - This is pretty horrible.
It is.
- You're Patrick? - I am.
- So you're Jerry's son? - I am.
- So is this under your watch? - Yes.
What do you think when you hear this, Jerry?
It's, uh, disheartening.
You're counting on him?
I do count on him for everything.
And at this moment,
put aside that he's your son,
is he letting you down as an owner?
Yes.
There's nothing I love to do more
than help a cop or an ex-cop.
Thank you.
I live for these moments to be able to give back
to a guy like you who protected us,
for how many years?
- Thirty. - Thirty years.
So you have to get up to the standard
that your dad had when he was protecting us for 30 years.
I'm gonna hold you accountable the next few days, Pat.
I'm gonna make you good, buddy.
Because he deserves it, doesn't he?
Yes, sir.
Tomorrow we go to work. Good night. Thanks, guys.
Of course.
Thank you, sir.
I think Patrick needs to hear it,
my staff needs to hear it, I need to hear it.
I need to hear it as much as Patrick.
I own this bar.
So that's as much on me as it is on Patrick.
[dramatic music]
Didn't sleep too much last night.
A lot going on.
But I'm ready. I feel good.
Hello.
- Hi. - Hi, Jon.
- How are you? - Hi.
Hey, good morning.
- Hey, guys. - Hi.
All right, let's go outside. I wanna talk to everybody.
Last night, I saw an ex-police officer Jerry,
who after 30 years on the force
of risking his life and taking care of everybody
is literally going down the drain,
and nobody around him has the ability to help him.
Right now, he's failing as a leader.
Nobody in this place knows what they're doing.
And today, I got to change that.
It's beautiful here.
It is.
It's not only a special place but there's special people
who live on a property like this.
And when you think about this community,
you'll find this interesting,
the median household income around here
is 10% lower than America here.
But yet the American dream, there it is, right?
They're living on a lake.
They have boats, they have docks,
but they're still dollar conscious, aren't they?
- Uh-hmm. - Very.
Right? So this isn't the yacht club.
- Right. - Yeah.
This is a boat environment.
And it's a different mentality.
So, we got to provide something great at a good price, don't we?
Yes.
Jerry, who I have unbelievable respect for,
police officer, 30 years.
You know, you think of the situations he walked into
that he did not wanna walk into,
but he had the discipline to do it anyway,
- didn't he, Patrick? - Yes, he did.
But he didn't step back.
He stepped forward, didn't he?
Yes, he did.
So, it's the spirit of that that needs to happen here.
I want everybody to hear this.
How much do you have invested in this bar now?
Probably close to $200,000.
$200,000.
And you're blowing your pension
that it took you 30 years to earn, right?
That's correct.
And how much are we losing a month?
Over $5,000 a month.
And how much time do we have
based upon how much money you have left?
About six months.
The money I make here is my living.
From food to housing to everything.
It's my world.
Did you buy this to pass on to your boys?
I did, as a family legacy.
And to make sure that I have a special needs son
who always have a job.
And he loves it here, doesn't he?
- He loves it. He's the man. - What's his name?
- Brandon. - Brandon.
So, this is not about a bar to you--
- No. - --is it, Jerry?
This is much more than that.
This is family.
That's why you took this chance.
That's correct.
That's why you're risking all.
Never looked back.
So we gotta get this right, Patrick.
That's why I beat you up a little last night.
- I understand. - We got to do better.
So, either you're gonna create a family legacy that lives on
or you're gonna own the fact
that you killed that family legacy.
- Hi. - Hi.
- What's your name? - I'm Shannon.
- Shannon. - I've been here three years.
Ashley is my sister-in-law and Alex is my brother-in-law.
Gotcha.
And you guys got married here, correct?
- Yes. Correct. Correct. - We did.
So you met here how long ago?
- Last April. - Yeah.
I've been here for about a year now, yeah.
So, you guys met, fell in love here.
It's a great story.
And you got married when?
- January 26. - That was January 26.
- January 26. - This year.
This year?
So you've only been married, heck, six weeks?
- Yeah. - About.
You wanna kiss her all the time, don't you?
[laughter]
You wanna hug her all the time, don't you?
Yeah.
If there was a bed in the backroom,
you guys would probably be there, right?
I get it.
- But you can't do it here. - Yeah.
- I get that. - You can't do it here.
And the fact of the matter is
here, you need to be completely professional.
- Makes sense? - Yeah.
Patrick, I see this guy grabbed two frozen pieces of fish
with your bare hand and flappin' them down on a grill.
And then that fish frozen set on that grill
it becomes soggy and really terrible in the center.
No matter what you do to it, it's gonna be bad.
And then I saw you cook a burger.
This guy pressed on that burger so much,
it was a hockey puck, right, when it came out.
You've never been taught not to do that.
So, think about this.
The fish could have been good if we did it right.
Yeah.
The burger could have been good if we did it right.
- Right. - So training, Jerry.
You always revert back to your training.
Is there any friction as to who leads the place day to day?
Um, yes.
We argue back and forth about principles and ideas
on where we should go with things.
Like what?
- Pricing. - Okay.
One, because I look at the cost of goods of everything.
I know how low our pricing is.
He has the heart of a cop.
He wants everyone to be able to come in
and get a burger and a beer.
Well, I'm out here with the customers
and I understand the income level
that we deal with at times.
I try to suppress the pricing and he tries to raise it.
And how's that working out?
It doesn't.
I try to suppress the pricing and he tries to raise it.
And how's that working out?
It doesn't.
Let me show you how I would deal
with your father on this topic.
Jerry, I happen to have costed out on hamburger,
and I found that the tomato is $0.07 for the slice.
The lettuce is about $0.09.
The red onion about $0.06.
The burger is about $2.50.
The cheddar cheese is about $0.17.
The Kaiser roll was incredibly expensive at over $4.00.
And the potato salad costs $0.44 cents.
So, your burger costs to make--
read that number for me, Shannon.
$9.24.
And what do you sell it for?
$9.50.
You make $0.26
every time you sell a hamburger.
Whoa.
I did not realize the cost margin was that small.
I knew we needed to up the food prices.
That was an obvious thing in my head but $0.26,
there was no way I thought it was that.
So, who's right and who's wrong?
He's a hundred percent right.
But you never took the time to do this
- and show it to your father. - Right.
That's the way you communicate to a one man like this.
But Jerry, you got to open your mind.
Okay, guys, let's go to work. Let me get my experts in here.
- Emily. - Hello, hi.
Emily and Vic Vegas.
- Hi. - Hey.
So, we're gonna create a menu that's fun,
has personalities, easy to execute
and will be dollar conscious.
And to make you money, we're gonna make it simple,
but we're gonna make it smart.
We got a lot to do and a short time to do it.
- Okay? - Okay.
- You guys ready? all: Yeah, yes.
Okay, let's go to work.
- Hi, guys. - Hi.
How you guys feeling today?
- Feeling good. - Very good.
Good, good.
One thing that we have to get through
is the fact that inconsistencies
- create animosity. - Uh-hmm.
And this is something that will kill a bar.
- Number one, okay? - Oh, it happens a lot.
I have people and they're like,
can you get so and so to make my drink?
'Cause, you know, it's-- everybody does it different.
Bingo.
Okay, let me show you a fun way
to make a Bloody Mary that utilizes technique.
So, here we go.
Here's our glass, yeah?
Let's do two solid ounces.
We're gonna crush in a dash of Worcestershire,
a couple of dashes...
of hot sauce,
a crack of pepper,
four ounces of Bloody Mary mix.
Now what we want with this is not to be super thick,
but we want it to be rich and savory.
So what I'm gonna do is what's called a roll.
Back and forth.
See how much thinner that is?
So now let's try this.
- Let's go for it. - I'm ready.
Yeah.
Hmm, the Bloody Mary that Emily showed us was perfect.
All the girls think they make the best Bloody Mary.
None of them make it the same way.
That's gonna be AJ's Bloody Mary from now on.
- That's so nice. - Yes.
- How we doin'? - Hey.
- Hey, what's up, man? - Hey, how are you?
Wow, everybody's here.
Last night, we saw a high level of kitchen incompetence.
Alex is a good guy,
but he's not quite sure what he's doing.
And that can be very dangerous as you can see.
Of course, my main focus is gonna be on you, Alex.
We got the stress test coming up.
And we're gonna give you guys something
that cooks very fast, but that people will appreciate
and they'll start giving hope for that new identity.
All right, let's do something to the bread.
Take your garlic butter.
Make your toast.
Now, pulled pork.
We slow cooked this for you earlier.
Take your meat.
Grill it up.
Aioli, aioli. Goes on to the bread.
Yeah.
Put your meat on top of the bread, okay?
Now, a little barbecue sauce,
add the slaw,
add your green onion, close it up.
We cut it now in half.
Barbecue pulled pork sandwich with some slaw.
This was a three-minute item and it will fill anybody up.
Oh, wow.
Really good.
It's amazing.
- Had you moved on? - Jerry approved.
- Okay.
I mean, the sweet and savory is amazing.
And it doesn't sit heavy on you when you take a bite of it.
Yeah, I like the crunch from everything
that's actually in it.
The coleslaw is actually crunchy.
Every flavor is just--
it's bursting with flavor, actually.
Now, it's time to get ready.
Get ready for stress test.
Get your prep done and be prepared.
- Okay, guys? - Yes, sir.
A lot of stuff coming this way.
- See you guys in a bit. - Thank you.
[tense music]
Okay, guys.
So Patrick, are we set for tonight?
- Yes, sir. - Does everybody have a station?
- Everybody does. - Yes.
Jerry, anything you wanna say to them before we do this?
I'm confident my team's gonna rise up.
Excellent.
Okay, so let's go to the fire tonight.
- Yes, sir. - Okay.
Jerry, you want to invite everybody in?
- Let's go. - Okay. Let's do it.
I'm not nervous at all. I'm excited.
I'm looking forward to it.
Can't wait for it to happen.
I think they're gonna hit homeruns.
I've got four.
And there's some over on the left side, too.
Um, heading into the stress test,
I'm a little nervous.
It's a little out of my element.
But I'm excited to get pushed
and test my strengths as a bartender.
Good evening. Welcome, everybody.
Welcome to AJ's.
Come on in. Let's eat.
All right!
- Okay. - All right, guys.
Here we go.
Thank you. Welcome.
Appreciate this. Thank you.
What would you like to try tonight?
The baked breast is really good.
I'm gonna try that.
Well, here it goes. We're slammed.
Everybody's looking at the menu.
Everybody's staring at the bartenders.
Now the bartenders need to step up, get the orders,
and let's see what happens.
I think we have a table sitting here,
table sitting there that doesn't have any service
so we need to hit those like right now.
- Any food orders? - Uh, not yet.
- I just got the drinks. - Okay.
Get food orders in now. They're waiting in the kitchen.
Any orders in there?
Uh, I'm just sending two back.
And I know Shannon sent one, okay?
Yeah.
Oh, they're at it.
Order in, man.
- Alex, how we doing? - Pretty good so far.
Okay. So I noticed you didn't season the side
that you dropped on the grill, did you?
Ashley, you getting your [indistinct] on time?
- You didn't, did you? - It was a force of habit.
Let's get this right, right?
It's those little details that'll make a difference.
- Pull it off. - Okay.
- Start it over. - Let's do it right.
We're behind on tables.
So, what are they supposed to do? I need to ask.
Elaine, when you get a food order, what do you do?
Do you write it on the ticket?
Write it on ticket, take it to the computer, yeah.
- Over here? This one? - Um,
this one doesn't work really well.
Okay. So you take it to that one?
- Yes. - And then you send it
- to the kitchen? - Yes.
But what is this for then?
This is because we're taking drinks out
because normally we all do our own drinks.
- So, now-- - So normally, you would go out,
do your own drink, come in and make it.
And so we come in and do our drink
and then, we take care of our own tables.
But since we're doing it how everyone's coming in,
we're trying to figure out another way,
that's why we kind of went into that.
So, I wanna understand something.
- Yeah. - So in the past,
each girl would leave the bar, get an order,
come back and make her drinks?
That's how it goes.
There has never been a consistent bartender.
- Yeah, you know that's crazy. - And we've never done that.
- You know that's crazy. - It is crazy.
Set it off to your side, so your block and fish is ready
and your pulled pork is ready.
So we don't drag food.
- Crazy, like-- - They still
don't have drinks over there?
- Zero drinks. - What happens to that table?
They still don't have drinks?
Yeah, what are we doing with that Bloody Mary?
Um, we're working on 'em.
So how long have you guys been waiting?
Half hour?
- So, you're failing. - Here you go, honey.
So, guys, we have tables
we haven't served in a half hour?
Where are our systems?
How do we know what's going on here?
First in, first out, there needs to be some logic.
You guys haven't been served food.
You guys haven't been served at all either.
Guys, we can't succeed like this.
It's a fricking--excuse me,
it's a [bleep] free for all.
Your rail is full.
Now, who's gonna pick this food up, man?
The systems out there are just nonexistent.
There is not one system in place to cause us anything to happen.
They don't know how to take a food order.
They take your drink order, come back 15 minutes later
and take the food order.
They put 'em all in at once.
And this is what happens, they kill you, guys.
Because they don't know how to do it and stage it correctly.
It is so disorganized out there.
Alex, I hope the food lands in the right place.
I have huge respect for police officers
and police veterans, huge respect.
So, I don't wanna scream. I don't wanna yell.
I don't wanna diminish Jerry.
I don't wanna take his dignity away from him.
But if he doesn't step up, he's gonna lose everything.
I just told him and I'm gonna tell him again
and again, and I'll get louder each time.
Jerry needs to be the enforcer or he's gonna lose everything.
Come on, let's tighten this up.
Please get these people food and drinks.
Two dashes.
- I hear you. - Let's do, uh, agave.
All right. We gotta [indistinct]
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry! Are you okay?
Come on, let's tighten this up.
Please get these people food and drinks.
- I hear you. - Let's do, uh, agave.
All right. We gotta [indistinct]
Jerry, Jerry, Jerry! Are you okay?
Yeah. I'm all right. I'm all right.
- Ready? - Yeah. Let me see.
- Hold on. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Thank you. - River Mary?
River Mary?
- Got it? - Yeah.
I saw this burger cooking on the line,
so I know it's not right.
And here's the reason why,
the top of it is so charred
from that burnt up dirty grill
that it's like a hockey puck this thing.
Look at that.
Does that look appetizing to you?
- No. - No.
A lot of work to do.
- Patrick? - Yes, sir.
Can you come out here for a minute?
- Yes, sir. - Come with me.
So, this isn't edible.
I mean, I even showed it to the--
these are your regular customers.
I even showed it to them.
And I said, "Do you wanna eat this?"
They said no. Look at that.
And if you take a bite in it, it's like biting
into a piece of leather almost because it's been pressed,
and pressed, and pressed, and pressed.
It doesn't even have the consistency
of a burger anymore.
Terrible.
So guys, I gotta get this team trained.
I gotta get you up to speed to elevate all of this,
and I gotta make you the enforcer.
And we got 24 hours to do it, you in?
- I'm in. Hell yeah. - Okay.
Let's close this down. Let's see what we need to see.
Let's go to work, guys. Okay? Shut it down.
All right, folks, we're gonna shut it down.
I'm sorry. Please come back Friday night.
Hopefully we'll do better.
[dramatic music]
So, uh, last night, let's talk about it.
Stress test last night.
Woof.
Really was just a major failure all the way around
from technique, to communication,
to not understanding how to manage a busy bar.
One of the number one ordered drinks
in the world is margarita.
So we're gonna make our version of a margarita today.
Start with three quarters of an ounce of agave syrup,
sweet sour,
some oranges liqueur,
and two ounces of our tequila.
Add ice all the way to the top and shake.
Pour over fresh ice.
So that's--that's pretty cool.
- Wanna see cooler? - Yeah.
Okay.
We're gonna smoke this baby up.
Okay?
Stundenglass, 360 smoker.
So I'm gonna light her up.
When I flip it, the water is going to use gravity
to push the smoke into the cloche.
That's our Harbor Fog.
This is for multiple uses?
Multiple uses. Check this out.
If wanna smoke another cocktail, here it goes.
So you just put another one and then another one?
Yup. We can do seven, eight, to ten drinks in one go.
And it just sits on your bar and looks beautiful, okay?
All right. Thank you so much, you guys.
Hey, guys.
We got ourselves some new toys to play with.
During stress test last night, we saw no systems.
We got the Perfect Fry.
We got the TurboChef Double Decker.
So the type of food we're giving these guys tonight,
efficient, tasty, fast.
This is what they were lacking.
I'm gonna show you your bacon flatbread.
Quality flatbread sheets, olive oil,
caramelized onion jam spread,
mozzarella and provolone blend.
Bit of bacon, and a little red onion.
Now...
we're going into the...
- TurboChef. - TurboChef.
After the flatbread is in, press cook.
Oh, yes.
There's your bacon flatbread.
Something with a little bit of extra salt content
makes people want to order that next drink.
See, you can be strategic as a business owner
and still make people happy.
- It's amazing. - Jerry's not saying a word.
'Cause he's still eating.
[laughs]
I'm gonna give you a hug.
So it's now time for relaunch.
And that's what we need to focus on now
more than everything.
Let's go because I hear 'em coming.
[tense music]
[seagulls squeaking]
I am so concerned about last night.
Patrick blew it, he didn't step up at all.
Every system unraveled,
the entire business couldn't function.
- How you doin', sir? - Hey, Patrick.
Hey, Jerry, how you doin'?
Jerry watches this and never corrects his son.
Jerry needs to step up and act like an owner
and have some demands and enforce some standards.
And Patrick needs to be the facilitator
of those standards.
Neither of them are doing that.
And I need to talk to them about that today.
You guys aren't communicating right.
See, a great dad pushes his son to be better, doesn't he?
- Yes. - Right?
A good dad doesn't let his son sink into failure.
You got to kick him in the ass some more, Jerry.
- You hear what I'm saying? - I hear what you're saying.
Because you're a man of high standards.
Yes.
Is this bar life or death for you the next six months?
It is.
Is there any difference between what you were doing then
as a police officer and your objective
the next six months?
- None. - None.
You're fighting for fricking life.
- And you need to get that. - Yes, sir.
Because you burned a lot of his money on the way, Patrick,
- do you agree? - Absolutely.
What are you gonna do different?
What have you learned this week
that are your most powerful lessons, Patrick?
We're gonna make sure that our team feels like a team
and no longer runs off to do their own thing
and support the higher needs of a staff
from a management perspective and actually support them
rather than just getting lost in the day to day operations.
- Rather than trying to-- - I'm gonna say
you gotta run it, don't let it run you.
Correct.
This is big.
I'm gonna ask you to do something
that's not gonna be easy to do.
Sure.
I want you to look your father in the eyes and say,
"Dad, I let you down.
And I'm not gonna do that again."
He needs to hear that
and you need to say it, don't you?
I do.
Tell him, look in his eyes and tell him.
Dad, I've let you down
and I won't let it happen again.
It had to be said, didn't it?
And now we grow from that, don't we?
Well, I'm gonna come through for him.
- I'm gonna hand the-- - Thank you.
--baton to you and then you're gonna come through.
- Damn right. - Okay.
I gotta get back to work, guys.
- Great. Thank you, Jon. - Hey, thank you.
- See you guys tomorrow. - I appreciate it.
I'm proud of you.
That was tough.
I'm proud of you, dude.
I love you, man.
Love you. I'm proud of you.
[upbeat music]
[cheers and applause]
- Hello. - Hello, Jerry.
- Hey, Patrick. - How you doing?
How are you feeling, buddy?
Excited.
How proud are you of your son today, Jerry?
I'm amazed that the whole experience has been fantastic.
I look at a community like this.
I'm a boater. I have a boat.
Boaters, there's a certain camaraderie, isn't there?
Yeah.
And a great meeting place on the river
is an important thing to us.
Oh, yeah!
I wanted this bar visible all the way down the river.
Most important, I had to pick
just the right name and I think I did.
- You guys ready? - Ready!
One, two, three.
[cheering]
Insane!
One, two, three!
[cheering and applauding]
Insane!
Wow.
It's kind of an old [indistinct]
- What do you think? - I love it.
So I got Jason Hulfish with Grand Theming
to hand-make that sign for you, Jerry.
You know, I wanted this place to be special, Jerry,
- are you feeling it? - You--you--
you kept the heart of the place and built it from there.
- It's beautiful. - Right.
Well, that's what I wanted it to be,
keep the past but create a future.
You're gonna be proud to run this?
Absolutely.
- Well, go see it, everybody. - Oh, wow.
Oh, my gosh!
- Oh, my gosh. - What happened?
Oh, my gosh.
Oh, my God, look.
Oh, my gosh.
Hey, look at your bar stool.
- How cool! - [laughing]
I can go to work here every day.
This is--look! Look!
- Oh! - Aww!
Looking at this bar, it makes everything worth it.
I'd go through it a hundred more times
knowing this would be the outcome.
- Well, what do you think? - You made it, Jerry.
- This is amazing. - This is so cool.
So we got a holding area with heat lights.
Right? We got a great TurboChef.
- Thank you. Middleby. - Oh, my God.
- For giving us that equipment. - Thank you so much.
- That is amazing. - That a life changer.
And did you see the paging system?
I did. That was the last thing I saw walking out the door.
When your food is ready, it'll vibrate
and you know to go get your food.
- Oh, my God. - come on over to this side.
Let me back here.
I wanna show you guys everything I did.
Look behind me,
does it even look like I'm in your bar?
No.
It's like a new real bar.
So think of people who take pictures here now
and you have a Harbortouch POS System
over there for servers.
You have another one over here,
and you have a third one over here,
and you have two Sky Tabs.
- Yeah. - That you can take out
on the deck with you
so you can order drinks and food right from the deck.
So we have the system to get the orders in
and the system to get the orders out now.
So I got Signs Now of Brandon
to help us with some of the signage and the menus in here.
And I got PathSpot for you.
This is one of my favorite things.
When you wash your hands, you put them under the scanner.
If the light comes up red,
there's viral or bacterial matter on your hands,
go wash again.
If it comes up green, your hands are perfectly clean,
no bacteria, no viral matter.
We got the cleanest hands on the river.
I got you Partender.
Partender does inventory behind the bar
that'll track all your beer, all your products for you.
I got you something else that I think
is one of my favorites.
You see that computer over there in the corner?
That's an Orange Door entertainment system.
In that computer is over 50,000 songs.
The music is programmed by age group and by type.
If you want to do a '60s happy hour,
you push a button.
So your music can be good now.
- [laughter] - It can target properly.
It can flow as it should, right guys?
And you're laughing, I'm guessing
it wasn't so right before, was it?
- [laughing] - I think that was hard
in the music.
And then I got Tektronix to work on the video system
and the sound system so it sounds great.
I got Draft Medic out here to make sure
the system is cleaned,
I overhauled it, it's flawless,
no way she probably got the best draft beer on the river.
Nice.
And let's keep this family legacy going
and it starts tonight, okay?
- Yeah. - All right. Let's get ready.
[upbeat music]
Hey, everyone, how are we doing tonight?
[cheering and applauding]
All right.
I am so proud to welcome you guys to Jerry's Dockside.
Come on in, guys. Let's go!
Sit inside. Sit wherever you like.
[indistinct chatter]
Hello, welcome in.
Can I start you all with anything to drink?
Who's hungry?
[customers cheering]
Come on, guys. Let's get food orders in.
Which way would you like to work with your ticket system?
- Oh, here to there. - Yes, sir.
[indistinct]
That's how it runs for tonight.
- Hey, Jon. - Talk to me. How we doing?
Jon, we immediately got hit with stuff
but since there's more of a system already
and we got some training going on, we're coming in.
So far so good.
No errors yet and everything is in place.
Excellent.
It even smells better in here, doesn't it, guys?
This rescue feels good.
You know, these guys got this.
They have the heart, they so want to achieve it.
By giving them the tools,
I can't imagine they don't succeed.
[upbeat music]
- Emily. - They got it. Yeah.
- How we doin'? - Let me tell you,
look at how happy these guests are in front of us.
Who doesn't have a drink? Who's waiting for a drink still?
Only a couple?
So, this room has all been served.
[cheering and applauding]
Almost there, let's keep it going.
Guys, get more flatbreads going for sure too.
We did it.
Food has hit the tables,
drinks have hit the tables.
There's a calm because this bar
is working now physically and the team
is making it a success.
Gigi, may I?
Can you please check on this table
and give them some napkins, see if they want a drink?
My girl Shannon in the house!
You know, coming through for you meant a lot to me,
you know that.
What you've done for me and my family,
I can--I can never repay.
- You don't have to repay it. - And I mean that
from the bottom of my heart.
Your success is my repayment.
Awesome. Thank you, Jon.
[cheering and applauding]
Smartest thing I ever did was calling Jon Taffer.
Everyone loves the new look of the bar,
they're loving the new drinks.
The food is outstanding.
We're gonna pick up some speed, get used to handling the volume.
We're gonna rock 'n roll.
[cheering and applauding]
[upbeat music]
narrator: Promotional consideration provided
by Harbortouch, PathSpot, Partender, Orange Door,
Draft Medic, Tektronix, LoweGear,
The American Clean, LLC, Maid in Brasil, LLC,
Grand Theming, Middleby, Signs Now of Brandon, One Stone,
Bada Bing Charters, Three Bulls Tavern, and ESRI.