The VFW is much more than a, a bar.
It's a philosophy of helping
other veterans and their families.
It's community involvement, pull together as a team,
and make our lives and our neighborhoods better.
P.J. King: For over 30 years,
Jon Taffer has traveled the country,
saving hundreds of bars from failure and ruin.
Jon: I started rescuing bars decades ago
because they're part of the backbone of America.
Go, we're doing it. We're doing it.
But as the industry continues to explode,
the amount of failing bars is increasing
at an alarming rate.
When do I have you to say, that's not gonna work!
So, I'm on a mission to save as many bars as possible,
and give worthy owners a second chance at success.
I'm gaining more respect for you by the minute.
P.J. King: Now Jon's heading to Jacksonville, Florida,
to rescue VFW Post 1689.
We are determined to raise the bar,
and rise to the occasion.
P.J. King: VFW Post 1689 was established in 1921,
and is one of the oldest VFW posts in the country.
What branch of service was she in?
She's not allowed in here.
[both gasps]
[laughter]
I was in the navy from August of '69 to August of '73.
My first tour of duty was Vietnam.
I've been involved with the VFW as a member,
as an officer, for 49 years.
Holy catfish. Is that on your diet?
I joined the VFW because I thought it was a way
to make our veterans lives better.
P.J. King: In June of 2023,
VFW District Commander Pete Lacomb
decided to partner with his friend Jeff Lincoln,
and volunteer for the role of post commander
at the struggling VFW Post, 1689.
I talked with Jeff, and I said,
"Jeff, you take over the quartermaster.
I can assume the duties as commander.
And I think together we make a good team."
When Pete and I started working together,
we wanted to make changes happen here.
To make the post more appealing,
have it more reliable and functional,
and have it attract younger veterans.
You pain in the neck.
Hey!
P.J. King: VFW Post 1689
had already been struggling financially
when the pandemic hit, draining
what was left of its modest reserve.
The canteen is the main source of revenue for this post,
and so, we probably had about an $18,000 deficit
because of COVID that was a devastating loss to the post.
P.J. King: And the aging building, and lack of upkeep
has contributed to declining membership,
especially, among younger veterans.
Just about everything in this post is old.
The chairs, the stools behind the bar.
We don't have sodas on the gun, we're buying soda cans.
The oven doesn't work.
There's no coolers for the beer, we're using ice bins.
Pete: We've got to do something to improve
the appearance of an inside and out.
P.J. King: Now, with an important anniversary looming,
the pressure is on for Pete and Jeff
to keep the post stores open,
and the local veteran community supported.
This post is just over five years away
from being a hundred years old.
I don't wanna be the commander that says, "We can't make it,"
but we're at the bottom of the barrel now.
We're surviving month-to-month, just to keep the doors open.
Jeff: But with finances and post,
if something really bad happens,
we're kind of done for.
P.J. King: With everything on the line for VFW Post, 1689,
and the veterans it serves,
Pete and Jeff have agreed to pull back the doors,
bust open the books, and make a call for help...
to "The Bar Rescue."
Well, guys, welcome to Jacksonville.
P.J. King: For the bar, Jon brings in Derrick Turner,
a mixologist from New York City
who's named a top ten bartender by Time Out magazine.
Derrick has worked with both, Craft Spirit brands,
and major breweries across the country.
This is a VFW, veterans of foreign wars.
I love rescuing these.
I know you guys wanted to help out
on one for a long time, so, here we are.
P.J. King: For the kitchen, Jon brings in
Chef Anthony Lamas.
As a four-time James Beard nominee,
and owner of Seviche Restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky,
Chef Lamas brings an uncommon voice
to any bar's menu.
This is post 1689.
It's one of the oldest VFW posts
in the entire country.
In five years, it has its hundredth anniversary.
- That's historic. Jon: And look at it, guys.
It looks like they haven't done a damn thing to it since 1985.
We're going to serve some tacos tonight.
Anybody want to place an order?
But these aren't employees, these are volunteers.
And you're here to serve our veterans as we are this week.
- Absolutely. Jon: So there's Pete.
Jon: He's the base commander. He used to be
a district commander, and during the pandemic
they almost didn't make it.
Pete came back just to save the base.
Anthony: He's a good man. - He's a hero in this base.
- Your next order's right here. - There's Del, canteen manager.
Canteen is their word for restaurant.
Right now you got one, two, three, four.
- They're in this order. - There's Jeff.
Jeff is the quartermaster.
The quartermaster handles all financial matters,
the business end of the base.
Alright. Mudslide-ish.
There's Kirsten. She's one of our bartenders.
It works. Bam!
There's Beverly, another bartender.
Again. Say one more time.
- Malibu. - Malibu rum.
And pineapple juice in a tall glass.
Jon: Look at the size of the back of that bar.
It's massive. Behind the bar, you don't want to keep on
walking, you just want to be there, reach it around,
turn back and be done with it.
We have two tacos.
And there's Danny, who's both a bartender and a cook.
They're working with residential equipment.
- Look at that taco. Anthony : It's not appetizing.
Kudos for volunteering their time,
but they need some correction.
Hey, you guys, tacos are coming out, okay.
So for recon, I got two locals.
I have Elizabeth, whose dad was in the military,
and she manages a construction company that hires vets.
And then Misty Brochart was deployed in Iraq
and was a service person.
So there's Elizabeth in the vest,
and there's Misty in the dark jacket behind her.
They've been to other VFW's,
so they know what a post should be or what a post can be.
Can I help you?
Misty: Uh, do you have a drink menu?
Uh, no.
What type of rum cocktails can you do?
Um, yes.
[laughs]
Do you have to have any rum, like a cocktail special,
or like, uh...
Elizabeth: That's fine. Rum and diet Coke.
Beverly: Can I help you?
- Can I get a dirty martini? - Okay.
- Dirty martini. - Dirty martini.
- Pretty simple drink. - Super, super simple.
Two ingredients, and one of the most
popular cocktails in America.
Look at those pores. That's terrible.
Derrick: Your measurements is completely off.
Jon: Okay. She's putting some olive juice.
So did you put any vermouth in there at all?
No. And she's shaking the cocktail, what's happening right
now, you're going to break up those molecules.
It's going to get it bitter. It's not gonna be
as flavorful if you stir it out.
And it's gonna get watered down.
- It's going to get bruised. - Exactly.
Derrick: Is that.. Jon: That's sweet vermouth.
- Is that sweet vermouth? - That's sweet vermouth.
Derrick: Oh, no, no, no, no.
- It's completely wrong. Jon: That color on that...
Derrick: That is the dirtiest,
most wrong martini I've ever seen in my life.
I do make them a little strong.
That's okay. A little bit strong. Here's our warning.
Here we go. Let's see what we got here.
Wow.
I hope you don't have a match.
You'll light my breath on fire.
This is the quality that's being served to our vets.
That's a big problem.
- Where would... Navy, army...? - Army.
Man 1: Oh, really? We're both army.
- Oh, really? Oh, did you? - Somalia.
See this is what's great about a VFW Post.
Those women came in and sat down
and within minutes they're talking to another vet.
What makes VFW Post so important is the camaraderie.
They've been through hell, these guys and these women.
So being able to talk to each other,
relate to each other, care about each other
is a very, very powerful thing.
You were the Division Ready Brigade or whatever...
We had, we had signed it Friday,
and on Monday we were on the ground.
Without these VFW Post, this peer support disappears.
That's why the work that we're doing
is so critically important.
It's more than food and beverage.
It's the conversation that happens
over that food and beverage.
I have a bug in my drink.
Eli: It has a bug hanging out. Misty: That is a bug.
- It is a bug.. Beverly: Okay, hold on.
- They don't have the skills... - Whoopsie!
Jon: But it's more than that guys. Look at the kitchen
we're dealing with, look at the dining room guys.
Look at the bar we're dealing with.
We got to deal with these physical issues.
And most important, we got to make them proficient.
I'm gonna go talk to the commander.
Let me find out some objectives from him
and then let the three of us huddle after,
and then we'll come up with a plan.
Derrick: Sounds great. - Alright? Let's go do it, guys.
Elizabeth: Thank you, ma'am. - There we go. Try again.
Let's see if we have any friends in this one.
[upbeat music]
Woman 1: I think we're clear. - Thank you. That's okay.
It's clear as a martini is gonna look at the VFW.
- Commander. - Pete: Jon.
- Pete Lacomb, how do you do? - Pleasure.
- My pleasure, sir. - My pleasure. Have a seat.
I'll sit and talk with you if that's okay?
Sure.
Jon: You know, I don't want to make you blush,
but I've done my homework on you,
I know about the problems this post had during pandemic
and stuff, you almost went bankrupt, didn't you?
- Almost did, yeah. - Yeah.
We took everything we had out of reserves.
And then you came back now as commander
and you're committed to turning us around.
Pete: Part of the reason I did that was
I'm gonna lose my World War II veteran.
My mentor, he's in specialized care.
He mentored me when I first came into the VFW.
- He's 98 years old, though. - God bless him.
So he's another reason why this post is still here today.
Oh, yes, yes. A big reason.
Pete: He mentored me and I felt I was obligated
to carry on the friendship and pay him back.
Jon: We need to up everything. - Yeah.
- Is Jeff here now? - Sure. I'll get him.
I'll get him. Jeff.
How are you, sir? Jeff Lincoln.
Nice to meet you, Jeff. Please grab a seat.
So, Jeff, if I were to ask you,
what are the three biggest issues in your opinion,
that we need to work on to turn this post around?
We need to make the inside look better.
Jon: Not so dated. Jeff: We need to make the bar...
Jeff: more functional and we need to make sure the equipment,
the facility is reliable.
What do you think are the three biggest problems, Pete?
I think the inside appearance. We need more of a social media,
an Internet, uh, image.
The third is the air conditioners in here.
You know what surprises me? None of you mention training.
Jon: None of you mentioned staff.
You got a bartender back there
who's making a martini with sweet vermouth.
It was served with a bug in it.
It had to be dumped down the drain and remade a second time.
She has no idea what she's doing.
You got guys in the kitchen, you were one of them.
You got a bunch of vets trying to come through
for each other, but they don't know what they're doing.
If we don't make the staff capable
of delivering the experience,
we cannot take this to the next level, guys.
People will not come, and this post will close.
If we don't make the staff capable
of delivering the experience,
we cannot take this to the next level, guys.
So, I look at this as two issues, physical is easy.
Our biggest challenge is going to be staff.
They're volunteers, and we have to train them
and get their expertise up one,
so we sell more, and we sell more profitably.
Yeah. We've let training slip
just because it seems like we're always
fighting the nearest fire.
Well, I got to get you out of that mode, don't I?
This means very much to me, and I can see
it means very much to you.
These guys risk their lives.
Look at the environment they're in.
They deserve better than this.
Look at the food they're eating, they deserve better than this.
Let's make it happen.
It's hard to believe that this is going to happen.
I'll see you guys in the morning.
This post is in dire need of some assistance,
and-- and we're welcoming everything he brings to us.
I'm looking forward to it.
Um, I think I'm ready for the challenge.
Bring it on.
I spent 20 years in the military,
I've spent ten years in the Marine Corps,
and then I transferred to the chaplain's office
in the navy, and retired in 1991.
I am the chaplain of post 1689.
We're a support group. We love the veterans.
We want to provide the kind of support that is needed.
But to do that, we have to have a good place to come.
Jon: Last night, I saw all the operational shortcomings
that are causing this post to fail.
But you know what, VFW posts are all about membership.
- Hello. Hi, there. I'm Jon. - Hey. Barbara.
- Barbara, nice to meet you. - Hey, Jon. Nice to meet you.
Jon: What's your name? - Steve.
So I've asked a few members to come sit and talk with me
before I meet with management.
So how long have you been a member here?
- For about a year and a half. - How long have you been?
- Also a year and a half. - Year and a half?
- Three, almost four. Jon: Almost four.
- Twenty. - Twenty!
So how do you feel when you see what's happened here?
Sad.
It's the second oldest post in the state of Florida.
And my dad actually belonged to this post at one time,
and so it's...
means a whole lot to me.
How often do you come here?
At least, uh, every Taco Tuesday.
You tend to come more when there's an event,
or something going on, like a Taco Tuesday.
- I guess most of the time, yes. - Yeah? How often do you come?
Oh, I'm the senior vice, so I come
probably four times a week, at least.
Take care of a lot of the stuff in the building.
Like fix it, like, you know, just stuff.
When was the last time you came here and just had fun?
Hmm. I don't know.
Jon: That hesitation says everything, doesn't it?
Yeah. It's not inviting. first of all I walked in here
I was like, but why would I want to
eat or drink anything in here, it's disgusting.
Jon: In essence, we're chasing them away, aren't we?
- We are. We are. - Yeah. Yeah.
Steve: I know. I would like it to where we could
watch a football game with a bunch of people.
And in the past, this place used to be
shoulder to shoulder with steak night.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
Other VFW Posts were able to go in
and renovate during COVID.
And they've got beautiful bars now.
And ours needs, you know, so much work done to it.
[somber music]
It's, it's really nice that he's here.
If we bring back the fun, we bring back the money,
we bring back the resources,
and we have a successful post again.
- Absolutely. Barbara: Yeah.
There's a lot of young guys that would love to talk to you.
And if we're not there, where do they go?
Well, unfortunately, a lot of them are
taking the wrong path and, or committing suicide.
I know there are veterans of my era that post 9/11, 9/11 vets,
some of them saw way more combat than some of us.
And I feel we owe it to them to make a place that is
great for them to come hang out and feel safe.
Place like this, it's, it has a social element.
So you might come here to kind of relax
and be around people who understand you,
especially when you're first coming out,
because you're trained to sort of repress
some of those emotions.
And then along the way, you get this wisdom from these
other vets, so that by the time, you know,
maybe life starts changing or some of these smaller injuries
turn into bigger injuries,
you'll have what you need.
That's why this is so darn important
and I am so committed to doing this.
This means so much.
And the fact that it got away this bad
is a terrible, terrible thing.
We're going to fix it. Okay?
Would a hug make you feel better?
- Yeah. Jon: Let's do it.
[chuckles]
Talking with some of the members I can see these people
really care about this place.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Jon.
I'm going to go to work.
They just need a reason to come.
- See you guys later, okay? - Alright.
- Yeah. - Looking forward to it.
Without membership, they don't come.
And if they don't come, there's no money.
The entire post can unravel.
- Hello! Danny: Hello.
- Hey. Danny: Hello!
This post needs to be reignited.
Who's ready to go to work?
- Us. - We all are!
I know you guys are, so come on over.
- Let's do it. - Come on over.
We need to take this hill again
and turn this into a winning environment
with dynamic leadership.
And that's what I'm working on.
- Del: Good to see you, Pete. - Good to see you. Thank you.
- I'm happy to be here. - We're glad you're here.
Jon: Hi. What's your name? - Hi. How're you doing?
- I'm Beverly. Jon: Hi, Beverly.
Jon: Nice to meet you. - It's nice meeting you, too.
And are you a member? You auxiliary?
Beverly: I'm a lifetime member, and I also am auxiliary.
Jon: Wow. - Mm-hmm.
- Hi, what's your name? - Del.
Hi, Del. And what do you do here?
Canteen manager. And I cook and bartend.
- Hi, what's your name? Kirsten: Kirsten.
I've been in the industry before,
so if you have time to volunteer,
why not do it for people that saves our lives?
- I'm Danny. - Hey, Danny.
- And what do you do here? - Kitchen manager.
- Are you a vet? - No, I'm not.
So you're donating your time to support our vets?
Danny: Yes, sir.
I had an opportunity to meet with some of
your members a couple hours ago.
The one thing that came out of that discussion
is a three letter word, fun.
[chuckles]
Jon: None of them come here to have fun.
I think when you walk into this building
and you're dealing with air conditioning issues
and filth issues, and refrigeration issues,
I'm going to dare say that maybe you've lost
a little motivation.
You know, one of the people I was speaking to said to me
"First time I came here, I thought it was dirty
and blah, blah, blah, I wouldn't have come back."
Think of how many people have come here and not come back.
- It weighs down on you. - It's distracting.
That's my point.
So maybe if we didn't lose that fire in our belly
we'd still have a steak night, we'd still have
something on Thursday nights, we'd still have football events.
That's what we got to get back.
Jon: So I have to fix the building,
and I have to elevate our experience
and make it fun again. Let me bring my experts in.
- I want to go to work. Beverly: Oh, here they come.
Pete: We incorporate fun
we're going to draw in the younger veterans.
Good to see you, Jon.
Pete: That will increase our membership
and keep the fun going.
Funny thing that you guys have Taco Tuesdays
'cause the best taco I ever had in my life
was made by Anthony Lamas.
Derrick must have called me 20 times. "Jon, I want to do this."
"I want to do this. I want to do this."
So we're here 'cause we want to be.
- Okay. - Thank you.
- You guys ready to do it? - We're ready.
You ready? Alright, go to work. - Ready.
[drum roll]
[military music]
Del: Come on! - How are we doing?
- Good. - Doing good?
Last night I saw martini with sweet vermouth being made.
I saw a fly, I saw inconsistencies.
I saw just people that didn't have any skill sets.
So today I'm running the staff through basic boot camp,
learning how to stir a cocktail, how to build one.
You need these to actually make drinks.
You're doing it with your heart, but you don't have
the skill set to do it correctly.
We're not going to give them too many ingredients
for these cocktails, but we're going to make something
that's delicious and eye appealing.
Now, why do we stir cocktails?
I don't know about stirring, I like mine shaked.
Typically, when you shake a martini, it's by request.
And the reason why you stir a martini
is because you don't want to bruise the molecules,
making it a little bit bitter.
You want to dilute and not air it.
Start with a quarter of an ounce of dry vermouth,
and then two ounces of vodka.
Add your ice... stir the martini.
And you want to do this for about ten seconds.
And again, we're just diluting, we're not bruising.
And this is going to go into a stemless martini glass.
And then you're going to get your nice lemon.
And we're going to take the oils.
Just do a pinch, place it in.
And ladies and gentlemen, that is a classic martini.
- Let's taste it. - Pretty good.
In fact, the lemon adds something to it.
I've never had it with lemon before.
Alright. But, Miss Beverly, I'm going to have you
come behind the bar and make the classic martini.
Beverly: I learned a lot from Derrick.
He's a great teacher.
- Okay. One, two, three... - One, two, three, four...
Derrick: five six. Beverly: five six.
I never think as drinks, as building.
And I thought it was very interesting. That was new to me.
I need to prove to Derrick I can do it.
That's very important.
I would get a shot at redemption from last night.
- It's better than yours. - Hey, man..
Then-- then-- then she's doing her job, man.
Anthony: Gentlemen, how are you?
- Good. - Great.
First of all, I want to say thank you
for everything you do for our country.
This means a lot to me. So last night with Jon,
we noticed they were cooking tacos.
So the taco was wrong in so many ways.
They had tortillas that, they weren't even warming up.
So I'm going to do two shells per taco.
The tortilla has to cook to get softened up a little bit.
These are veterans, they deserve so much more.
I just took some hash browns.
We're going to drop it right down in here. Okay?
Today, I want to show them the difference of a fresh taco
than something just right out of the package.
I'm just going to break some of this hot potato
and put it right on there. That's going to add
a little bit of texture, right? I made a little queso sauce,
just to give some richness to it.
We have our ground beef right on there. Okay?
And then pico de gallo, that's going to add a little freshness.
You're going to have a nice, soft,
crispy potato and beef taco.
A simple taco, but just a little bit different.
Danny: I think people will appreciate the new taco.
This was tasteful, was creative,
Was amazing how it elevates the, the flavor, the smell.
I can eat ten of them.
We are going to get ready for stress test.
We got a lot of work to do. We'll get prepped up...
- and get ready for tonight. - Sure.
Anthony: I appreciate it, gentleman.
- Thank you. Anthony: Thank you.
I was stationed in Guantanamo, Spain. I was a coxswain.
I drove boats in the med. I was an anti-terrorism specialist.
I witnessed a lot along the way.
Place like this shows these vets that
they are actually cared about, and they have a place to go.
What you did matter and what you do still matters.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to VFW Post 1689.
Please come in.
[all cheering]
Hey. Nice seeing you again. How you doing?
Woman 2: I'll have a blood orange mojito.
- Mozzarella and John Daly? - Please.
Good Lord!
There are a lot of people here.
- Hey, Jon. How are you? - Good.
There we go. Isn't that pretty?
Jeff: Remember to slap that. - I forgot to slap it.
I'm going to do it now.
Oh, boy, Beverly, look at that.
Woman 3: Oh, my God.
That cocktail is almost as beautiful as you are.
- Not quite. - Oh, is it?
But almost as beautiful as you are.
This is volunteer stress test.
Nobody here is making any payroll dollars at all.
They're all volunteering to serve our vets.
So I don't expect them to be the best bartenders
in the world, but I want to see their skills get better.
It's all about building their skills.
And with a heart they have, the skills are going to come.
Five good pushes. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Derrick: That's it. Good. - Who's thirsty?
Alright, there we go. Come on, let's move.
This is a limited menu tonight. We're trying to train the staff.
Woman 4: Nice job.
Yeah, we got chicken strips, chicken strips,
mozzarella, mozzarella.
- And two chicken strips. - Just lay 'em down there.
Hey, speed now. You got it. Let's move.
Set 'em right here, Jeff.
We have to start from...
Okay. I don't know what's going on there.
Anthony: They have tickets being brought back.
Some tickets are on pieces of paper,
some are on handwritten tickets.
They're just dropping them. So it's just chaos.
And not controlled chaos.
We have about 15, 16 people that still don't have cocktails.
Jon: Yeah. So they're still making them one at a time?
Derrick: One at a time. They can double up.
- These are easy cocktails. - Yeah.
- They're ones and ones. - Yeah.
- What are you making? - A bloody orange mojito.
A bloody orange mojito.
Who else wants a bloody orange mojito?
- Whoo-hoo! - Now, see, if you did that...
you could be making three at once. And one at a time,
you know how long it's going to take
by the time she gets down to you?
Four at a time. Boom, boom, we're there.
So let's make three at a time. Four at a time.
Let's go to cocktail war.
[all cheering]
- I'm going to need more mint. Del: Right.
Del: See that's not... I know. Danny: That's not ready yet.
But it's not getting there because...
And these are not even getting brown now.
Anthony: Right. It's 'cause the-- the oil's dropped.
There's no way to recover. You don't have the capacity.
You don't have the right equipment.
It's what it comes down to.
Derrick: Hold on, hold on, hold on.
You're doing three, right? But you have to do it in a ten.
These are shaking cocktails, remember?
Clear this off the top of the bar.
Jon: How are we doing? - You know, the fryers...
it's a residential, so it's not holding the heat.
But I think they just need a little direction.
- And maybe a new fryer. Anthony: And maybe a new fryer.
Ounce and a half, ounce and a half, ounce and a half.
Two ounces. two ounces, two ounces, every one.
Remember, bottoms up. Thumbs down. Come on.
I want to see that speed. I know you got it.
- I need two more. Two more. - You need two more?
Here we go. We're making money for a change.
I appreciate you all coming by tonight.
I got the mojito, and the cheese sticks.
You'll like that. Normally, we wouldn't have this
big of a crowd all at one time,
but that's what we need to learn to be able to handle.
Who's doing the food?
- Del, Russ... - Danny.
- Oh, Danny's in there. - Okay.
Can they get on three orders of cheese sticks?
- Have you ordered them yet? - Thirty minutes ago.
I need four mojitos. Is there a button for mojitos?
Beverly: No, I'm trying to figure this thing out.
You got to stir it here.
- Here and here. - Excuse me.
- And then hit, um... Jon: Come on, guys.
- Don't get hung up back here. Beverly: 6.25, 6.25... Okay.
Guys, there's people on the other end of the bar
haven't been served yet, and we got to serve the tables.
- Let's go. Beverly: Okay. Food.
Jon: Come on, guys. We got a whole side of the bar
here without drinks.
[indistinct chatter]
Beverly: I need to tell somebody.
But I'm trying to get this done here.
Come on, guys. We got a whole side of the bar
here without drinks.
[indistinct chatter]
Yeah, I know, but I'm trying to get this done here.
Come on, guys, don't get hung up back here.
Beverly: Oh, I need to tell somebody.
[indistinct chatter]
So, guys, no matter how fast you are, we keep getting
backed up there, and you've got to come serve here and then
go to the kitchen, so you're running all over the place.
We have one POS terminal, so we're standing in line here
because we don't have the equipment
to serve our guests properly.
Well, I don't know what all these tickets are.
I don't know either.
Anthony: They've all been taken out, but some are drinks.
- But this is kind of the issue. Del: He needs to run these..
Del: in the register, we're going to set these aside.
Right, so they haven't even been in the register yet.
- That's what the problem is. - Yeah, so writing down.
- Yeah, that is a problem. - The equipment is killing us.
They can't fry the food
in the kitchen 'cause the fryer is too small.
Anthony: Yeah, these are still frozen in the middle.
We can't produce the drinks because
we don't have the workstations
behind the bar or the POS system.
Oh, you've got to put the name in last.
I'll put these in.
Jon: No matter what area we look at equipment and setup
is destroying our chance of serving our members properly.
You know, they're all backed up at the POS system, Pete,
and that's our point of delay, so I've got to get you a good
POS system and more than one.
I've got to get the printers in the kitchen and everything
that we need to do to run it properly.
We're going to get there, buddy. I promise you.
Okay. Thank you.
Folks, I've seen what I need to see.
Bar setup, point of failure one.
POS system, point of failure two.
The equipment in the kitchen is another obstacle.
So we have a great staff here. You guys know that.
We have great members. And how about our bartenders?
[applause]
So we have heart, we have commitment.
We don't have equipment, and we don't have systems.
I'll take care of that.
[cheering]
Alright, guys. Thank you all. Well, we knew they had heart.
- Yeah. For sure. - The bar is a nightmare.
We have to change the bar setup.
We've got to get them a POS system. How are skills?
Derrick: Skills, it needs to be worked on.
You need to be able to push these cocktails out be
consistent at the same time give that smile give that energy.
Jon: So we've got to come up with
a few more signature drinks for them.
Derrick: Absolutely. - And they need to be easy.
- We can't complicate this. - Derrick: No. No.
Go classic, simple, but interesting,
vibrant, that bring in new blood.
Bring in people that actually want to have
something a little bit different than just, you know, a beer.
- Exactly right. Anthony: Alright!
What did you think about the kitchen, chef?
They work together, the effort's there.
They just don't have the equipment.
So we'll give you a few more menu items
that fit that comfort category for them.
And train all day tomorrow, guys.
- Yeah. - Alright?
Let's go finish up the menus, guys.
- I'll buy the coffee. Alright. - Sounds great.
[instrumental music]
In the service, I was deployed to Somalia,
Mogadishu, Somalia, the day after Black Hawk Down.
I was with the 24th ID, and we were
the first heavy mechanized infantry unit
to be in theater in 24 hours.
So I was, you know, I'm pretty proud of that.
This post means to me is the camaraderie
I was missing in the military, I can get it here.
I just want to see this place come back to life.
Um, it's old. It just needs, it needs a refurbishment
so that we can focus on helping vets instead of
focusing on trying to put the building back together.
[upbeat music]
Last night was stress test. What I saw was
simply one of everything, one POS, one well.
One drink being made at a time. There's not a lot of efficiency
that's happening behind this bar, and that's one of the big
reasons why it failed last night.
- How are we feeling? - Doing okay.
Doing good.
So tell me about what you-- what you
experienced, what you saw last night.
Well, we got to get a better system in there.
Derrick: So Jon is going to address equipment
but, it's my job to address the skill set and cocktail program.
You guys have the love and the spirit,
you just need the skill set to
actually be comfortable with doing it.
So ready for the next cocktail? It's a classic.
We're going to be making a Manhattan.
It's three ingredients. it's fast, it's easy to push out.
And it's delicious.
The Manhattan. In a mixing glass, add five dashes
of aromatic bitters, three-fourths of an ounce of
sweet vermouth, two ounces of bourbon, ice, and stir it.
Use those grooves.
You see that color start to change?
Strain into a 10-ounce rocked glass.
Garnish with dehydrated orange slice and then put a cherry on top.
And ladies and gentlemen, that is a classic Manhattan.
One of your biggest sellers at your bar is whiskey,
so you have to give them something that they want,
but also have something that
you can make a little bit more money with and you have
a little bit more pride to actually make.
So, we have a lot of work we have to do.
We have to be able to double up on these cocktails.
We have to be more efficient and take this to the next level.
- You guys ready? Kirsten: Yeah.
- We're ready. - We're ready.
[upbeat music]
When we look at this building, obviously everything is
just ridiculously old.
[vacuum whirring]
How do we make the front look meaningful?
Then we got this huge massive bar here.
So, or I was thinking about putting a wall in, right there.
Now we have a real back bar and we can build
a normal bar and get rid of all that floor space.
- It's terrible. - It's huge.
Let's talk about the kitchen. They've got no professional
equipment back in those old days, so you got to get
pretty much all new bar equipment
and all new kitchen equipment.
Yeah, it's going to be a lot in--
in the short time frame that we have.
Well, these guys are talented and we've never
let a VFW post down before, so we'll have to
[indistinct] Whatever it takes, we'll do it.
- Thanks for your help. Alright. - Alright, guys, let's do it.
[trumpeting]
Jon: Commander! You know, when I get to do a VFW post,
it's a labor of love.
Your love of each other, your love of the community.
Your love of service are all the reasons
why it's my honor to do this for you guys.
Uh, I've been educated a whole bunch.
- Yeah. Yeah. - I'm feeling good.
Here it comes, commander. Are you ready?
- I'm ready. Are we all ready? Jon: Okay.
Pete: Yeah. - Everybody ready?
All: Yeah! Jon: Alright.
[applause]
Here we go!
One, two, three.
- Whoa! - My God!
- Holy catfish! Del: Oh, my God!
two, three.
- Whoa! Oh, my God! - Holy catfish!
Beverly: Oh, the color! Kirsten: Oh, my gosh!
Del: This is wild. Kirsten: I didn't expect that.
- Love that stone. - Yeah.
Hopefully, this outside attracts those new members.
I had people working all night long
from all over the city, all for you.
That mural over there was done by a dear friend
of mine, Jason Holford.
Jon: Ready to see the inside? Pete: We are ready.
- Alright, go ahead. Danny: Wow.
[indistinct chatter]
Oh, that is beautiful. Oh, that's nice.
Pete: We couldn't have done this in a dozen years.
It's an eye-opener, isn't it?
- Holy crap! - This is amazing.
Are you kidding me right now?
Del: Hey look, they kept the past too.
Del: I can't believe it. Danny: Oh my God, the bar.
- The bar! - Yeah, the way it should be.
Del: This is crazy. Danny: I love it. I love it.
Del: They are not gonna believe this.
Well, what do you think?
I was here a day and a half ago. I don't believe this.
I'm not easily wowed, I was freaking wowed.
So everybody, grab a seat at the bar.
I want to show you everything that I did.
This is more than we could have ever dreamed for or expected.
It gives you a sense of pride to walk into this room now.
- How about this wall? - I love. That's beautiful.
We have a great professional back bar.
So the ugliness goes behind the wall.
BarProducts.com gave us everything.
Mixing cups, glassware, strainers,
all the supplies that we need with backup supplies.
I got FeverTree to give you premium cocktail mixers
and then I got SkyTab POS.
You got a POS system here, and you got a POS system there
and you can do credit cards and everything
right at the table on this tablet.
And I got Image 360 to do special interior vinyl wraps.
Then I got Pixel Perfect Installations
to redo your entire audio and video system.
That looks like your martini, doesn't it?
It looks just like it.
[laughter]
Jon: I got Middleby to give you guys a double turbo chef.
I got Restaurant Equipment of Savannah
to give us the new bar equipment.
Coney Island Restaurant Supplies
gave us the prep station in the kitchen,
The panini press and the dual fryer unit.
And then I got Jenkins Exhaust
to come in and service your hood,
service your fire control system
And I'm still not done. Kane's Draft Service came in,
cleaned and repaired all the parts in your kegerator.
No more foam. Your community stepped up.
Just like you've been serving them,
they were eager to serve you guys.
When I came here, I promised you that
I would leave you in a better place.
You've lived up to that, way past what I ever expected.
And for you to say that to me means everything to me.
So, tonight, let's get him back.
Let's get him talking to other vets in town.
Let's spread the word of what a great post this is.
Tonight, we impress.
Pete: Ladies and gentlemen,
I am to welcome you to the new Post 1689.
Please come in.
[all cheering]
Hello Barbara, how are we doing today?
Barbara: It's fabulous. Kirsten: Great.
What are we drinking, babe?
[indistinct chatter]
Anthony: Walking in, one barbecue flatbread.
Perfect. And you got your chicken there.
And then your onions. And then you can go right in.
- Table B1. Anthony: There you go.
Anthony: Now you got table numbers and everything.
We need to have another bag of fries ready.
Anthony: You got it, bud. Press cook. And you're ready.
- I had to come say hello. - Hi.
- What do you think? - It's beautiful.
I worked a little harder because of you.
[chuckles] Thank you.
Beverly: That's your first drink?
Woman 5: Yeah. - What do you think?
Listen, man. From not being able to make a martini
to actually pushing out martinis,
they're actually doing it now.
Derrick: Look at these drinks. - We did it, buddy.
Folks, how about these bartenders here?
[all cheering]
Fresh herbs on that. Yes, sir.
Jon: How we doing? - They're just on top of it.
Anthony: With this Turbo Chef, they're able to
just cook things in three minutes.
We can get food out in what? Five, six minutes?
- Exactly. Yeah. - Yeah. Perfect. Perfect.
This is great to see.
Drinks coming out, food coming out.
This is a great post now. And it's filled with pride.
I can see it every place I look.
One more time for Pete and Jeff.
For the whole team. For the whole team.
Holy catfish. [indistinct]
[applause]
So now, running this post is a piece of cake.
[laughter] Yeah.
When I took over as commander of this post,
I wondered, how is this post ever going to survive?
Now, I am definitely proud of 1689.
I'm excited for the future.
I'm wondering if I'm going to be able to go to sleep tonight.
Every sense of me is, "Wow, wow, holy catfish."
- My pleasure. - Thank you very much.
What an incredible opportunity I have to come help these vets.
- My work is done. - We really appreciate it.
This is a great moment for me.
Boy, it was hard, but worth every minute.
[instrumental music]
Host: Promotional consideration provided by SkyTap POS,
BarProducts.com, Veterans United Craft Brewery,
Heinz Screen Printing and Embroidery,
Pixel Perfect Installations, Cane Strap Service,
Restaurant Equipment Company of Savannah,
Coney Island Restaurant Equipment, Jenkins Exhaust,
Image 360, Fever Tree,
Grand Theming, Middleby, and Esri.