I drunkenly bought this place just as a belligerent Irish man.
I mean, that's the truth.
I wish--I wish it was different
but that's the truth. That's what happened.
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.
The 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: So, now, Jon is back out on the road
and heading to Sanford, Florida to rescue Throwbacks.
This is a new era for our country,
so we need to raise the bar and rise to these challenges.
narrator: In 2019,
Robbie Kennerney decided to buy Throwbacks
in the historic district of Downtown Sanford, Florida.
It was a real British bar at the time.
A friend of mine brought me in here
while I was really drunk one night
knowing that they would get a rise out of me.
I woke up the next morning to a text message
from the owner of the place saying,
"Hi, Robbie. Thanks for reaching out.
I'm prepared to accept your offer."
narrator: Despite his spontaneous purchase,
Robbie decided to stick with the bar
when the residents of Sanford rallied to help him
after a tragic event later that year.
Murphy is my beagle. That's my dog.
I was out front with him and we had a driver hit Murphy.
Murphy ended up losing his leg.
The bills racked up pretty quickly
and one of my staff set up a GoFundMe.
But what happened next was, was special.
There were so many people from Sanford
who owed me nothing, who didn't know me very well,
and they were contributing large sums of money
to this GoFundMe campaign.
That's when I saw Sanford's true colors.
narrator: However, Robbie's laidback attitude
and inexperience in running a bar
was highlighted with untrained bartenders
and a lack of any clear manager in the bar.
Every one of my bartenders
probably could do with some training.
Let's see.
There's a lot of drinks on our menu
that I don't know how to make,
and I feel bad when the customers come in
and they want this certain drink.
I don't have managers in the sense of a hierarchy
behind the bar. Timmy would be
an obvious candidate for some of the--
maybe I could give him a bit more authority.
I mean, yes, I would like to know
if Timmy is the manager.
I try to assess any problem.
Like I always make sure the ice machine is working
because we've had a lot of issues with the ice machines.
Then I'll make sure like if certain lighting
isn't working, you know, 'cause our electricity here
sometimes is crazy. Like our breaker will shock you.
narrator: And the futile efforts
to satisfy the party-centric area
of Downtown Sanford have caused Robbie and his staff
to miss out on potential income.
People don't come in here for our food.
It's not the easiest thing, yeah.
There's definitely no kitchen person.
- Yeah. - So it's just like...
You're kind of juggling both, serving guests and cooking.
I can say last Thursday,
we missed out probably maybe like
200 or 300 on just food sales.
narrator: Even the retro arcade nostalgia
that once drew in guests
is waning from the poor upkeep.
I think people love to bring their kids in
to play these games,
but then they look around, they're like,
"Oh, this is just kind of a rundown bar.
I don't wanna take my kids here."
There's no, really, consistency.
People love our Skee-Ball machine.
Half the time, it's down.
And I have tear-- tore this all apart
and put it back together.
It works for a day or two and then...
narrator: And the failure in executing the concept
has led to financial struggles
as well as doubt about Robbie's future in America.
At the moment, I'm still holding
$75,000 in debt.
Without anything changing,
that would give us 18 months.
And if this bar doesn't work,
then my future in this country is in jeopardy.
narrator: So to save Robbie's investment
and keep a permanent home in the States,
Robbie has made the decision to pull back the doors,
bust open the books, and make a call for help
to Bar Rescue.
Guys, welcome to Sanford, Florida.
narrator: For the bar, Jon brings in Nick Ortega.
With over 20 years' experience
in the food and beverage industry,
Nick is consulted for some of the largest spirits brands
in the country and created cocktails
for major entertainment award shows and events.
This bar has an incredible story.
It's owned by a guy by name Robbie.
There he is right there.
He's from Ireland.
Two and a half years ago,
Robbie was sitting at the bar,
incredibly drunk.
He came out and said,
"I'm gonna buy this place,"
in his drunken state of mind.
The next morning, he got a text that the owner
accepted his offer.
- You're married. - You're in bar business.
So much for being married, right?
narrator: For the kitchen, Jon 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.
The story goes further.
He's walking across the street one day with his dog, Murphy,
- gets hit by a car. - Oh, God.
Murphy the dog loses a leg but survives.
When this happened, the local community
established a GoFundMe account.
And during that process,
Robbie fell in love with this town of Sanford.
So he wants to come through for the community
but he obviously is unable to do so.
Wow.
Vic, look at that kitchen wall up there.
Oh, good lord.
Mysterious yellow brown rust color.
Now, that's dust and spider webs
and everything on that wall.
Right below that
is a turbo chef oven
and those are crisping pans
with the dust all over them.
Oh. On the crisping pans.
- On the crisping pan. - The food goes in those.
And that's the cooking environment.
Wow. How many years have they've gone
without even trying to wipe that wall down?
My man, they've never clean that wall.
Anything you need? You okay back here?
- Thank you. - Good?
Look at the cases of vodka standing.
He doesn't even put his liquor away.
Is that his liquor storage room?
- That's the storage room. - Just abrasively out
for the guests to see.
The corner the bar is the most valuable seats in the bar.
Yes. Wow.
Let's say-- we'll take another one.
- Another margarita? Got you. - Yeah.
So there's two employees tonight.
Two bartenders.
Carly, she's been there about a year or so,
and then there's Destiny.
She's been here about five months.
Now, if somebody orders food,
there's no cook in the kitchen.
So the bartender has to run back there
in that disgusting kitchen and cook that food,
and then run back out and make a drink.
Run back, check the food. Run out, make another drink.
Run back, get the food, serve the food,
make another drink.
[indistinct chatter]
Look at the juice bottles on top of the bar.
Look at the stickiness on that bar.
You can see the syrups underneath
the bar mats.
- This place is disgusting. - It's sticky right there.
You can--you can smell it from here.
- How you guys doing? - Hi. We're good.
So tonight for recon, I got Melissa
and [indistinct] Melissa won Bartender of the Year
in Orlando.
So these girls know their bars. They're both bartenders.
They--they're young. They go all around town.
So I thought they'd be perfect for recon tonight.
narrator: Jon's spies enter Throwbacks,
a small bar with capacity for a hundred and fifty people,
that features free-to-play arcade games
and Skee-Ball on one end,
an elevated karaoke stage on the other,
and a tiny makeshift kitchen in the back.
Let's see what they order.
Do you do like a watermelon margarita?
I don't know if we have watermelon.
Do you have raspberries?
Yeah?
Now, look, she just asked
for a watermelon margarita,
and call me crazy,
in a perfect world, you're doing fresh watermelon,
but I did see watermelon liquor on the back bar.
So she could have made watermelon.
She could have made it.
Is this together? You're gonna do cash?
Yeah. We'll do cash, please. Thank you.
See any smiles in the interaction there?
Why, she looks like she's at a funeral, doesn't she?
She looks miserable.
Yeah. Got you.
There you go. Pop.
Is that funk in the soda gun?
Sure is.
No, that looks bad.
- That looks bad. - That was real bad.
Here's the drink.
Oh, it's okay. No worries. Thanks.
When she opened the ice well to get ice,
I could have sworn I saw
just a blackness and I hope it's not mold.
Oh, man. If that's mold,
then we can't let our bar--
our bartenders have the cocktail.
When she was scooping ice to put into her well...
- Yeah. - That's where I saw it, so...
- I'm gonna run in, guys. - Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
[tense music]
- Robbie. - Hi, Jon.
- Jon Taffer. - Absolute pleasure to meet you.
Nice to meet you. Come back with me for a moment.
- Sure. Sure. - First of all,
I don't want you guys to drink that.
Come with me, Rob.
You know when I hear your story
and I hear how you love the community--
- Uh-hmm. - --right, and how much
his town means to you,
and then I see things like
filth that is unbelievable,
that if you guys drink this, you will get sick.
You know what this is?
See those little chunks?
Feces from cockroaches and fruit flies?
So come with me, Rob.
[tense music]
This is mold in this ice machine.
This will get every single one of you sick.
Now, you girls are bartenders.
Would you work here knowing that?
Absolutely not.
So that's the filth just here.
I mean, look at this freaking place.
I mean, it's unbelievable.
There's just junk everywhere.
And I haven't even got in the kitchen yet.
So this is a guy who loves the community
but serves you bacteria.
This is a guy who cares about his employees, right,
who let you work in disgusting filth?
That is unbelievable.
So do you care about this community
or you're full of shit?
'Cause somebody who cares doesn't do this.
So do you care about this community
or you're full of shit?
'Cause somebody who cares doesn't do this, right?
- Sure. - So answer me, Robbie.
How does this happen?
How do you take nice people like this
and serve them a cocktail
that's filled with bacteria?
How do you do that?
And look her in the eyes
and think you're a good guy?
I mean, no one gets sick here.
Like they're not-- it's not like we're getting
- people sick every night. - No.
She won't get sick for about 21 hours.
And you're gonna go home with bacteria
all over your hands.
It's gonna be on the steering wheel of your car.
It's gonna be in your hair.
It's gonna be on your clothes.
'Cause you don't care.
Come on, man.
Right now, honestly, I despise
what you represent in this industry.
You're the guy who gets people sick.
You're the guy who gives us a bad name.
You're the guy who does everything
in this industry that I freaking hate.
So prove me wrong
and clean this [bleep] place tonight.
And I'll come back here tomorrow morning
with my chef and my mixologist.
We will inspect this bar.
We will inspect the kitchen.
And if it isn't clean, I'm gone.
And, at least, I left him with a cleaner place
- than when I got here, right? - Right.
And that might be all you get out of me,
is being forced to clean your bar.
Please, I wouldn't drink any more of that
if I were you, guys. I mean that very, very much.
You start cleaning. It's gonna be a long night.
He was right about everything
he said back here and it's a disaster.
I didn't know any of that was back there.
Fair enough.
But there isn't a customer and there isn't a staff member
who wouldn't tell you that I'm not genuine.
Will we be able to clean up in time?
I hope so.
I didn't know it was actually this dirty
when I first started working here.
[tense music]
Uh, where's Robbie?
He's in the kitchen,
trying to get the last finishing touches.
We moved those old oven
off of there and got the wall going good.
He had some like mold brush.
We got all of that stuff off.
- We could spray it with bleach. - We did too.
Kept spraying and spraying and I couldn't get it
- and I was just... - Hello.
- How you doing? - Hello. Good. Good to meet you.
Come on over, guys. Let's go talk.
I think Jon was doubtful
as to whether we were committed enough to this place.
Last night, everyone just rolled up their sleeves
and got after every nook and cranny.
So this is definitely that the cleanest the bar has been.
Let's jump in. Hi. What's your name?
My name is Amanda.
So how long have you been here?
- About a year. - And what do you do here?
- I'm a bartender? - Hi.
- What's your name?
- Carly. - Carly, how long
- you've been here? - About a year and a half,
- almost two, two, yeah. - About a year and a half? Okay.
So when you cleaned up that bar last night,
you guys were here till what,
3:00 in the morning or something?
'Cause when you look back at it now,
does it surprise you that you worked
in a place that was that dirty?
Yeah, I had no idea it was that dirty.
- You glad it's cleaned? - Yeah.
- Hi. - Hi.
- What's your name? - Christine.
Christine, how long you've been here?
- Two years. - Two years? A long time.
What days do you work?
Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.
How many customers on a Saturday?
It's like hit or miss.
The weather plays a factor,
the what--if people have been day drinking all day
and then go home, so...
Okay. You think that the bar
is a shithole might play a little bit into it?
Possibly.
I think so, maybe. We haven't met at all.
- What's your name? - Timmy.
- What do you do here, Tim? - Bar manager.
Bar manager? So you do the schedules?
- No. I don't do the schedules. - You do the purchasing?
- Nope. - You do the inventory?
Is he your manager, yes or no?
Is he your manager?
So it's interesting. You think you're the manager
but they don't think that you're the manager, so...
- Yeah. - You can't manage somebody
who doesn't think you're the manager, can you?
No.
Who is your manager, Robbie?
Well, Tim and I just kind of had a discussion
about that last night.
So that's why there was some confusion.
For the last while, Tim has been helping me
in terms of the, the upkeep of the bar,
kind of helping the aesthetics improve.
So he was in charge of the upkeep of the bar,
but things like paint peeling didn't matter.
The filth back there didn't matter.
So I'm trying to understand
where is the point
of somebody walking by something
that is so egregiously filthy
and thinking it's okay.
I don't think it's okay.
- But you walk by it. - Well, I'm only one person.
How do other bars do it, Tim? They have leaks.
They have maintenance issues.
They have cleanliness issues.
Their bars aren't pieces of shit.
No, they have maintenance people that fix those.
People? So you think with a bar this size,
we should have a maintenance team?
You're [bleep] nuts, man.
- It's you. - Okay.
Is that reasonable, Robbie?
I can completely understand where you're all coming from,
but it has been a monumental task,
the amount of things that have--needed doing here.
You know, I know-- I know it doesn't look like it
but the bar has really come a long way
since we-- since we purchased it.
You know what's interesting is
I looked at the team and I said clean this place.
Six hours later, it's cleaner than it's ever been, right?
Because I asked for it.
Let me ask a question.
Had he asked you to come in for a couple hours
and clean or fix something, would you do it?
- I would. - Did he ever ask you?
- No. - If he asked you to come in
for an hour or two and help clean or fix something,
- would you? - Yes.
- Did he ask you? - No.
If you created a priority of cleanliness,
this place would be clean.
It would be important to you so it would happen.
Now, you're a marketing guy, right?
So you understand building a brand, right?
Isn't the premise of building a brand quality?
I mean, if I have a bar like this
and it's a shithole, can I build a brand like that?
- No. - No.
I look at you standing there, you're a man of pride.
You're a marketer. You're a successful marketer
and this is what you did.
And that makes no freaking sense to me.
So somehow I gotta make this get you angry
so you, "Look what the [bleep] I did to myself here.
Look at the money I'm losing.
Look at it up there for Christ's sakes.
I could have hung a black curtain
for $20 and hid it but I didn't.
Look at the filth everywhere."
I could have. I could have.
But you didn't.
Let them know how much in debt you are over this.
A hundred and ninety thousand up front.
Hundred ninety thousand?
And how much are we losing a month?
About four grand.
So how many more months can we go on like this?
Probably about 18, but that would be me
personally exposing myself.
I didn't expect it to be this bad.
I mean, this is my only source of income
so if Throwbacks closed, then,
I don't know, I would be in a tough spot.
This is gonna end at some point if we don't turn it around.
Do you agree with me that you have to act differently
to make this place successful?
Absolutely. Like we have been building.
We have been improving.
I just can't do it in one--in one fell swoop.
I just don't buy it.
'Cause I've been in your position.
When I started my first bar, I had no money.
And I bought a piece of garbage bar,
and I was fixing pipes myself.
But I never would expose my customers to filth.
So I disagree with you.
You have a team of five people
standing next to you that you're not using
effectively to make the business better,
and you're coming up with more excuses.
- But I've been here. - Got it.
And I didn't make those excuses.
I fixed mine. And look at me,
I stand here now a millionaire
because I chose to fix mine.
You with me?
If I chose to do what he did,
I wouldn't be standing here today.
So, Robbie, it's on you.
And I need you to look at me and be honest with me
and tell me straight out,
"This bar is failing because of me." Say it.
This bar is failing because of who?
Who makes the decision?
Why is this bar failing?
I know this isn't easy for you
but I need you to own the failure.
Tell me straight out,
"This bar is failing because of me." Say it.
Own the failure.
- Right. - Why is this bar failing?
Because of me.
Bingo.
So if I change you,
I can change the course of this bar.
The only thing I would wanna say to you,
like I may be doing the wrong things,
I'm prioritizing the wrong things,
but I promise you,
whatever you ask of me, I'll do it.
I just--I just want you to know that it's not
because I'm an apathetic owner, so...
You know, when I look in your eyes,
I believe every word you just said.
So are you ready to go to work?
- Absolutely. - Let's dive in and do this.
Let me bring my experts in.
Two dear, dear friends of mine.
Vic Vegas and I had been working together about eight years.
We've rescued I can't even count how many bars together.
Nick Ortega, my mixologist.
One of the favorite in the country.
So, Tim, you wanna be manager of this place, right?
- Yes, sir. - So right now
we don't have a cook in the kitchen.
So would you be cook today and tomorrow?
- If I need to, yeah. - 'Cause we can train you
in that, make you competent.
And that's putting you one step closer
to being a manager. Makes sense?
- Yes, sir. - Okay. Let's go to work, guys.
- Got you. - We got this.
[upbeat music]
What's happening, everyone?
- all: Hey. - So some of the things I saw
last night was the inconsistencies
in some of the pours.
So we have to make sure
that we're pouring appropriately
every single time.
And that being said,
one and a half ounce, it's a five count.
One, two, three, four, five.
So that's something that we will work on
from now through the stress test.
So, Robbie, you sell a lot of Irish whisky.
So this is gonna be a riff on an Irish whisky sour.
Irish whisky, one and a half ounce.
Half ounce of lemon juice.
So rather than doing egg whites,
we're gonna do a half ounce of Aquafaba protein liquid.
A half ounce of blood orange simple syrup.
And shake.
[bottle rattles]
And this is our final product.
Amanda, let's start with you and see what your thoughts are.
- Oh. - Oh. We got an oh.
It's tart but like
it's also like not sweet.
That's really good.
I think it's very refreshing.
And we do get a lot of crowd on the weekends
that are day drinking,
so I feel like it'd be something new to try
and may bring in new customers.
Let's be consistent. That's what we'll work on.
And let's knock this out.
- Hell yeah. - Yeah?
Good luck to you guys, all right?
So moving forward, you need more handheld food.
Yeah.
Something that someone
can drink with, play a game,
eat, take a bite of, put down, cut up, share.
That's where we're going.
The flavors of a pizza is amazing,
but you gotta do it the right way
and you gotta make it yours.
So we've come up with a few things for you.
We are gonna do pizza rolls.
We're gonna do it three different ways.
We're still gonna use your fresh dough.
A little pizza sauce.
One with mushrooms, one with meatballs,
one with pepperoni.
Mozzarella.
Give it a little roll.
Roll, roll, roll.
Take a little bit of garlic butter.
Then take your knife and do a couple slits.
Five hundred and fifty degrees for eight minutes.
It's great. I love that it's nice and light.
I think now we're headed in the right direction
if you guys can just hold the wheel.
- Thanks. - Thanks again so much.
[dramatic music]
Robbie, you wanna pull everybody together?
Let's just talk real quickly.
I expect things in the kitchen tonight
to go as good as it can.
That's it. We're gonna get our butts kicked
but we're gonna do it as well as we can,
as fast as we can, and as consistent as we can.
So, tonight, we're gonna do our stress test.
I'm not trying to kill you.
I'm gonna bring in 28 people.
Serve those people as quickly as you can
and as accurately as you can.
- You with me, Robbie? - Yeah.
You know, when I used to own my sports bars
and the bars would close at 2:00 in the morning,
I would sit here till 5:00 in the morning
playing all of these games.
So do all of you have a favorite game, each of you?
- Yeah. - Good.
'Cause I have an idea tonight that'll turn this
into somewhat of a game.
I'm gonna have a screen
that has five Throwback logos on it.
Those are the five lives of your game.
- Oh, Lord. - Nice.
[laughs]
Every time we make a mistake, we lose a life.
I want you to serve all 28 people
before we run out of lives.
You with me, guys?
- Yes. - Yeah.
What are you looking for tonight?
What's the most important thing to you, Nick?
I'm looking for consistency.
I can tell they care, but I really wanna see them
own the drink recipes and knock them out
to the best of their ability.
Let's go at this with a smile on our faces
and do the best we can, okay?
- Yeah. - Let's go do it.
I'm stressed. [chuckles]
You know, this is a situation.
I'm like I'm the owner. But I'm confident in the staff.
I think that they, they will handle it okay.
[cheers and applause]
Welcome to Throwbacks. Thank you guys so much.
Come on in.
- Hey, all, welcome in. - How you guys doing?
Take a seat. We got some menus for you guys.
As you can see, tonight, we, we, we have three cocktails
on the menu that we're--that we're trying for the first time.
I'll, I'll do a Risky Sour.
- Risky Sour. That looks good. - Yeah.
I'll go for the watermelon.
Two watermelons, one old fashion.
Can you start a appetizer platter and two corn nuggets?
Looks lovely. I wish you could have made them
two at the same time. So multitasking, right?
Don't they have a printer back here?
No printer, Jon.
So how many tickets have you had?
None. They--she told me before--I asked her to tell me
- before she gonna need them-- - No. We get verbal.
--so I can get started.
So one thing I'm seeing is we have no system
- to order food in the kitchen. - Yeah. Absolutely.
I have the, the printer during COVID.
I just couldn't get anyone out to install them.
Boy, you are--you are really accepting failure.
We're using two different mixing glasses.
Ooh, girl, you're killing me.
Now, we just gotta taste them.
You can't serve it.
Those are heavy for sure.
Well, I think I get it right and then I'm not sure.
Hey, Jon, too strong, not balanced.
Here we go. That's one life.
Guys, every time they make a mistake,
we lose a life, just like in a video game.
We just lost one life. There's a failure up here.
If we run out of lives before you get your drink,
you're SOL, buddy.
- You know what I'm saying? - Sure.
Well, we just opened.
We lost our first life already.
I'm really worried. These bartenders
have no clue what they're doing.
It's like they've never done it before.
Keep going. A little faster.
Where's your model?
[bleep] up.
They don't know how to tend a bar [indistinct]
Their memories are good as far as the recipe goes,
but they're not able to multitask
and do multiple cocktails, especially when--
I'm not even sure what she's trying to do
to salvage this right now.
Remember, those are going into mason jars.
- What's going on? - So this cocktail
lives in a mason jar.
She's making it in two mixing glasses right now.
But you can't bottle it from here to there.
This has been--you agree it's too long.
- Yeah. - One more.
We're down to three. Come on, guys.
Let's be careful.
Yeah. So this is one order,
14, and this is 13, a different order.
So this--since Christine's not here, do you wanna help me?
Yeah. I'll make the pizza.
You got this. Come on, Carly.
There we go.
They came from the same can, right?
Yeah.
That's lovely. This one's good and this one isn't.
Look, you can see the discoloration.
- You can see the difference. - This one's gotta be dunked.
- Sorry. - Another life, please.
We're down to two. Come on, guys.
- We can do better than this. - Wow.
Can I just grab one of the two menus off you?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
How long does it take you to do that?
Usually like five minutes or so, but it's kind of...
- But you're not out there. - I know. And it's...
So now you're behind when you go out there?
- I am. - Robbie doesn't have a clue
- how to run this place. - No, he doesn't.
Unbelievable.
Robbie, can you come over for a minute?
Sure.
She's been making this pizza for almost five minutes and a half.
If you pull her off the floor to bring her back here,
she's always gonna get hot and she's always gonna fall behind.
How do we run like this?
I mean, you can't deal with 28 people here.
How do you get through a Friday night?
It's usually more streamlined than this.
I don't understand what you mean by streamlined.
This is another freaking life here
[indistinct]
I hate to say it. One more life is gone.
We're down to one life.
Next mistake, we shut it down and it's over.
I hate to say it.
We're down-- one more life is gone.
We're down to one more life.
Next mistake, we shut it down and it's over.
Well, we lost two lives in a matter of about ten minutes.
We're down to our last life.
Bartenders are terribly behind and Robbie,
no clue.
Where's that pizza?
So, Jon, the pizza finally made it in the oven
but there are a few pizzas behind it.
The whole ceremony here that's really taken long
is the appetizer platters.
So there's no logic to the food and food preparation
- or any of this. - Oh, God, no.
Robbie, look what's going on back here.
She's ready to cry because we're setting her up to fail,
Robbie, correct?
She's coming back here. She can't possibly succeed.
And that's happening at every inch of this place.
At the bar too. So don't feel bad, it's not you.
- Let's fix it, okay? - Okay.
- Never-- - Never--
- --glass - --never glass.
- --in the well ever. - Heard.
- What's that? - We had ice in here, right?
And we should have used the strainer.
And we also started to use glass as a ice scoop.
Okay. Last life, gone. Game over.
Robbie!
We ran out of lives quickly.
And almost nobody here is served.
We have no systems to get food orders
in the kitchen or food out.
No systems to get drinks here or drinks out.
Nobody has any of the tools they need to succeed,
and it's none of your employees' fault.
It's your fault.
That's not serving a community.
That's not serving our customers.
This is the epitome of failure.
I would apologize to them 'cause we're closed.
I'm gonna to work training your staff.
You go to work apologizing to them.
I'm sorry, guys.
We're, we're figuring out what's wrong now.
We'll make it right, okay? I promise.
[applause]
I feel very overwhelmed and stressed.
Even now, I know it's like not my fault, but it's my fault.
Like it's just--it's just a lot.
[dramatic music]
It's a tough one, guys.
The low of all lows for us.
Robbie doesn't have a freaking clue.
He doesn't even know what's wrong, nonetheless
have any capacity to fix it.
But here's the toughest part.
Here's us.
Every one of those orange dots is a competitive bar.
- Look at that. - Jeez.
- Wow. - I had never seen
a more competitive environment
than this, ever.
So I see why Robbie can't do an Irish bar
'cause four of these are Irish bars.
So he said, "I'm gonna try something unique.
I'm gonna put these games in here and let people
play for free." Well, it is a unique idea
and there could be a concept around it,
if the guy could serve some decent food and serve drinks.
So I'm gonna try to work out some type of a concept
that keeps some of these games and keeps that feature.
And then we gotta come up with a food item
that's really simple that is competitively unique.
Something that prep, they could just throw in
that's like next level though.
Yeah. That's our challenge. Same thing behind the bar.
How do we make it simple but yet unique--
- Okay. - --so that they stand
on their own?
So we really gotta put our thinking caps on.
I mean, this is not an easy one.
I'll buy the coffee.
Let's go.
[dramatic music]
Let's go ahead and jump in to the first cocktail
of the day, the Capri Spritz.
The idea with this drink solution is that we can have
Instagrammable drinks that make your space special, unique.
I mean, if you see this thing walking by
in a bar, you're gonna want one of these.
One ounce vodka, three quarters ounce Purcell,
two ounces lemonade, ice.
Shake.
We're gonna pour direct.
We're gonna add blueberries, topped with soda,
and last but not least, an LED light.
- What? - [chuckling]
It's a party.
Capri Spritz, ladies and gentlemen.
It's an eye-grabber, for sure.
It's also easy to make.
Talk to me, Robbie.
- Easy drinking? - Sessionable is my word.
Sessionable, right? Christine, come on back.
The staff, they are ready to try it.
A little light. A quarter ounce more.
But there is a lot more excitement and more enthusiasm.
Perfect.
I think they're more focused in now on the bigger task ahead.
- It's great. - [laughter]
All righty, guys. Great job.
[upbeat music]
After last night's stress test,
I saw Robbie has an excuse for everything.
He needs to hold himself accountable.
And if he does that, he can succeed.
I think I'm building you a heck of a bar.
But I gotta ask you, what do you think about last night?
You, you said something the other day
that, that resonated with me.
I think you said like, "You, you start
from the--from the front and work backwards."
And I started from the back and worked forwards.
- Yeah. - While you're doing that,
I'm figuring out ways to make sure
that all the work that you're putting in
is going to matter because I'm gonna--
I'm putting in work in how I'm gonna operate
that kitchen, how I'm gonna operate
with my staff, and the standards we're gonna set for ourselves.
I gotta tell you, it's incredibly pleasing to me
- to hear that. - Yeah.
But it's been a, a mental journey unlike any other.
This was a real challenge.
I push you hard 'cause there were things
that I had to have you see.
And there's something I wanna share with you.
You always give yourself an excuse to get out
of something.
Don't do that to yourself. You're better than that.
Hold yourself accountable for your own destiny
and your own future.
The only thing that causes success or failure
at the end of the day is you.
And if you hold yourself to that level of accountability
with the things you just said to me, Robbie,
this is gonna be a powerfully good experience for you.
- Yeah. - Do you agree?
Yeah. I also--I also think sometimes maybe trial by fire
is necessary, you know?
I had to kind of look at it and believe that [indistinct]
is kicking my ass because, because he sees
that there's better
and that's what's frustrating him, you know?
Absolutely correct, 'cause you're better than that.
You're better than that bar that I saw.
Yeah.
What's the most powerful lesson you learned
about yourself this week?
I thought that being, being a nice guy
meant that you were doing good things
but that doesn't necessarily equate--
- Uh-hmm. - --you know?
Just because you're a nice guy doesn't mean
you're getting things done right.
That's powerful.
I challenged a lot of things that were very important to you
and you stood there toe-to-toe with an open mind
and an open heart and you listened,
and look at all the reflective progress
that you've made these past couple days.
This is a powerful experience for you
and a very rewarding one for me.
- I'm proud of you, buddy. - I really--thank you as well.
I have trucks driving all night long to get things done.
I have signed companies working all night long.
I'm doing everything I can to come through for you,
and the words that you said to me today
encouraged the hell out of me.
- Thank you so much. - See you tomorrow.
- I look forward-- - I'm going to work.
Thank you.
I've realized you, you can talk yourself
into things at a-- at a small level
and it's hard to accept things that maybe you shouldn't.
I guess step one was accepting responsibility
for that, you know?
There's a sense of relief.
And, you know, it really does feel
like we've, we've turned a corner.
I'm, I'm really excited for, for what's coming next now.
[upbeat music]
[crowd cheering]
Hello, everybody.
Was this a good week together?
Yes.
Was it working for you, Robbie?
Absolutely.
It started pretty rough between us--
- Yeah. - --but we have
a good understanding now, don't we?
We certainly do.
I can't imagine rescuing a bar for a person or a community
more deserving than this.
- So... - [crowd cheering]
I don't wanna make you guys stand out in the rain.
- So are you ready? - Ready.
One...
two, three.
Okay. You guys ready?
both: Yeah. - Yeah.
One, two, three.
[crowd cheering]
Oh, my God. Oh, he's up there.
- He's up there. - There's a picture of Murph.
It's Murph. Aw.
Murphy, how did I do?
- [crowd cheering] - Murphy's like, "Let me in."
Murphy can't wait to go inside.
Signs Now Brandon, by the way,
worked all night long to get that sign done.
A great local company.
Robbie, you happy with the brand?
It looks great.
A little emotional at the moment.
I wasn't expecting that at all.
I want this to mean something to you every time
you walk under the door.
I'm hoping you have the pride in this bar now
and the love you have for Murphy.
- You ready to see it? - Yes.
All right. Go ahead.
Holy cow. No way.
[laughs]
Holy shit.
- Oh, my God. - I love it.
This is so good.
The bar is [bleep] awesome.
You know, there's no doubt about it.
It's, uh--there's so much color,
there's so much energy.
And, I mean, it's, it's really gonna give
the staff a, a great platform which to work off of.
Can I look at the menu?
- It's amazing. - What do you think?
Incredible.
Just I'm blown away. Gotta tell you.
- My God. It's beautiful. - I don't have the words.
Well, let me show you one of my favorite things.
Come here.
Your first-ever double shot chair.
This bar is supposed to be fun now, isn't it?
So rather than the games being the center of the room,
- I created a game area-- - Yeah.
--and a bar area. It was too mixed up before.
And look at all these seats you got, Robbie.
There's so much to take in.
- You like it? - Yeah.
I got lot more to show you. Come over to the bar.
We have a total setup of the workstation.
New ice machine down there, came from Manitowoc.
Keep it clean, buddy. No more mold
- in that baby ever, right? - Yes.
This is a PathSpot. You wash your hands.
If you get a red light, you wash your hands again.
Air is also really important today.
Those are Bluezone systems from Middleby.
They scrub 99.9% bacteria
and viral matter out of the air.
In the kitchen, Middleby double-decker TurboChef oven.
You can cook five, six,
eight of those things at the same time.
I got you brand-new SkyTab POS systems.
And I got you handheld units.
I also got you Partender.
Partender is a liquor inventory system.
You can take inventory behind the bar in a matter of minutes.
And then I got Wave Media Systems to do
a complete overall on the audio-video system.
A nice video content just to communicate your concept.
And then Jim Chelius Art did that for me.
- Robbie, this is your bar. - It's all--it's all together.
So I left you in a good place, buddy. Now--
- Yeah. - --it's up to you
to carry the ball.
We'll build from here, I promise.
- All right, guys. - Thank you, Jon.
Let's go to work.
[crowd cheering]
I'm really delighted to welcome you all
to the new Murphy's Arcade.
[cheers and applause]
Oh, my God.
Brand-new. Sit down.
- This is amazing. - There you are.
If you need anything, just let me know.
I'm right here. Thank you, sir.
I'll, I'll be back and forth.
The girls knocked out all of these drinks
- within five minutes. - [laughs]
They're multitasking. They're doing a really good job.
Yeah. The systems are working for them.
The systems are working.
Okay.
- How we doing, Tim? - Getting them out.
- Look at all those, man.
Isn't this much better than the pizzas, Tim?
We can hold them. We can finish them off.
How long to finish up, Vic?
Oh, Jon, you got about three minutes
for the pre-prep, almost like the blanche.
Then you got like 30 seconds to crisp it up.
- That's it? - That's it, Jon.
- And it goes right out? - Yup.
Hold on. Does that look great or what?
- It looks great. - It looks delicious.
We're staying at what, six, eight-minute ticket times?
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Maybe less.
- Freaking perfect. - Yeah.
Slam dunk. This kitchen was a mess before.
There was filth all over the walls.
We couldn't get food out. There was no printer.
Now, we have this system of printer back there.
Our rolled pizza doesn't take up space.
We can pre-cook them and get them out in a matter of minutes.
System saved the day.
Timmy stepped up.
But with the systems, Timmy had a chance to be successful.
Carly, talk to me. How we doing?
Much better.
Think about how much faster you are
than you were the other night?
- Yeah. Yeah. - Right?
Are you feeling the stress come off you?
- Yeah. Definitely. - Yeah?
Two nights ago, these bartenders couldn't cut their way out
of a paper bag. They couldn't make one drink.
We shut down in complete failure.
Tonight, these bartenders have learned so much so quickly.
But the systems we put in place,
the separate workstation, the pre-mixed cocktails,
all of these things worked to their advantage.
Now, they have the tools to succeed.
- This is delicious. - You like that?
Yeah. This is so good.
I was like, "This is like-- we had the other night."
- Now, it's like-- - It's totally different.
It's, it's totally different. It's so good.
So would you come here for that?
- A hundred percent. - Absolutely.
- Excellent. - A hundred percent.
[barks]
So look at the smiles on your customers' face.
They got food. They got drinks.
They're a fun food item.
They, they worked well with the games.
- Yeah. - And then the drinks are fun
but they're eclectic. Everything's different, so--
- Yeah. - --I, I,
I think these will stick for a long time.
Excellent. Well, Robbie, my work is done.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Jon.
- I really appreciate it. - Okay. Best of luck.
- All the best. Thank you. - Okay. Take care.
- Bye-bye. - Bye!
[cheers and applause]
- I love you, Jon! - [crowd cheering]
[upbeat music]
narrator: Promotional consideration provided by
SkyTab POS, PathSpot, Partender, Real Thread,
Wave Media Systems, LLC, Jim Chelius Art,
Manitowoc, The American Clean, LLC,
Bluezone, Drain Genie Plumbing, Middleby, Signs Now Brandon,
the District of Sanford, One Stone, and Esri.