P.J.: For over 30 years,
Jon Taffer has traveled the country
saving hundreds of bars from failure and ruin.
Now, he’s heading to Kirkwood, Georgia
to attempt to rescue Urban Pie.
For the family, you blew it.
For the adult, you blew it.
P.J.: In 2007,
Leisa Curtis opened Urban Pie in Kirkwood, Georgia.
For over a decade,
Urban Pie enjoyed success
as the neighborhood pizza shop.
Leisa: Urban Pie used to be a gas station.
When I got it, it was a little white building
with metal bars on the windows, a couple pumps.
I feel like Urban Pie is for anyone and everyone,
and I welcome everybody.
The neighborhood is very supportive,
and for a long time, we packed this place.
I like that.
P.J.: However, the bar’s popularity
inspired Leisa to go in on another slice of success,
but that decision was ill-timed.
Leisa: In 2019,
’cause we were so busy, I wanted to expand.
So after expanding, COVID hit,
and I always thought it would pick back up again,
and it really just never did.
Currently, I’m $440,000 in debt.
P.J.: To make matters worse,
the downward trajectory of the bar
caused Leisa to begin micromanaging the staff,
leaving them frustrated and resentful.
Let’s keep working.
I have known Leisa for about 20 years.
I love her to death.
I think she is a wonderful human,
but recently, she can be...
We gotta stop having fun here around there.
...an absolute handful at times.
Leisa: Jennifer, can you get up?
Uh, pre-bust everything you can, just get it cleared up.
Have you checked with the poker people,
see if they need anything?
I don’t think we should do a bunch of...
Make your rounds all the way through out here.
P.J.: Due to Leisa’s newfound
micromanaging tendencies,
she started turning away staff.
I can’t find anybody to do the job that I want them to do,
and it’s hard to pay somebody
when you’re not doing great business.
The turnover rate has been crazy.
I’ve seen her drive a lot of good people
from front of house to back of house out of here.
Alright, so do something.
P.J.: And with a high
turnover rate, untrained staff,
an inconsistent service became the norm.
I have to throw a lot of people to the wolves,
because I don’t think people get the proper training here.
There is a checklist for cleaning and closing the bar,
but nobody follows it.
Gear is kind of crazy looking, and leaks.
We get leaks underneath the sinks.
The ovens work when they wanna work, honestly.
So we’ll be cooking,
we don’t know, next thing you know, like,
this p-- piece is cooking weird.
Look in there and it’s off.
I think as time’s gone on
and she’s lost customers and money,
she’s just kind of, like, lost herself.
But I mean, I just, I don’t have help that I need.
I’m very frustrated.
P.J.: With an ineffective owner,
a high turnover rate,
and a failure to draw in new customers,
Leisa is close to losing everything she’s worked for.
Leisa: I just sold my last bit of stocks.
I mean, the last thing I have is my dad’s truck.
P.J.: With only a few months until closing,
Leisa has decided to pull back the doors,
bust open the books, and make a call for help to "Bar Rescue."
I pray to God that Jon Taffer shows up
and does what he does best,
because everything’s on the line.
[shatters]
[tense music]
Tassia, Rob, good to see you guys.
- Good to see you, Jon. - Good to see you, Jon.
Welcome to Kirkwood, Georgia.
Jon: We’re about a half a mile out of Atlanta.
Average income of well over $100,000 per household.
- Right. - And a median age of 37.
So this is a younger,
pretty affluent, pretty hip community.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
And when you think of an affluent,
hip community, and you see the outside
of that place, what do you think?
- Chaos. - Childish.
I have Tassia Lacerda with me, a great mixologist
who knows how to put together
the right beverage program for this bar.
And then is that supposed to be a slice of pizza right there?
Tassia: I think so. It’s their mascot?
Looks like that dude, Bob.
Oh, it does. [laughs]
And I have a great pizza chef with me
from Long Island, Rob Cervoni.
The whole place looks terrible from the outside to the inside.
Looks like the entire bar is a server station.
Yeah, the-- the water, the water’s done.
I’m gonna let that sit, sit for a little bit longer.
- Yeah, this, and this, this... - Yeah.
There’s Leisa. She’s the owner.
And here’s what’s shocking.
Leisa’s in debt $440,000.
Hmm.
Jon: She’s losing $8,000 a month,
and she has enough money to make it three more months.
So she is at the end of her rope,
and she’s completely failing.
And there’s Kira.
She’s one of your bartenders, Tash.
- Okay. Jon: That’s Q.
He’s our kitchen manager.
- And that’s Caleb. Rob: Okay.
He’s the cook. Look at the pizza ovens.
Rob: Those ovens look like they went to war.
That concerns me when you see that kind of care
or lack of it on the ovens. And look at the fryers.
Rob: Ugh! Jon: Look at that, chef.
Rob: This thing’s floating in the top.
They’re gonna get someone sick with that.
That is disgusting.
Always use wax paper.
We only use, uh, foil for it to go.
Leisa: For the wings. - Oh, yeah. You heard that?
So it seems like there hasn’t been
a lot of training back there,
if she has to tell them that.
Right.
Bring the basket to you.
Always bring the basket to you.
And I’ll sprinkle a little bit of the, uh,
seasoning salt on it. Very little.
Why is she giving them step-by-step instructions
for these items?
What we can do here is lemon pepper.
Let me just take five-- five of these hot ones
that my hands are on fire with.
Went back there, didn’t wash her hands.
- She’s still coaching. - No gloves.
Alright, so we got this, this, this.
Let me go see what they want.
She seems like a micromanager.
Instead of training them properly the first time...
- Right. - She’s directing them.
- Yeah. Kira: How we doing, y’all?
Kira: Welcome in. Here you go, honey.
So for recon, I got two of the biggest
food influencers in the entire state.
Kristen Truitt has almost a half a million followers.
I also have Angie Green, who’s another big food influencer.
So I wanted them to come here,
order some pizza, order some drinks,
and let’s see what some of the biggest influencers
in the city think of this place.
Can I get y’all started with something to drink?
I think I’m gonna do respect your elder.
- Okay, awesome. I got you. - That sounds good.
And I’ll do, uh, the old fashioned.
Kira: Okay.
Oh, my God, Jon.
So the old fashioned is coming... out of a can.
It just looks terrible.
The color’s all wrong. It’s-- it’s cloudy.
How much more are you paying for that drink
in a can versus making it yourself?
It’s ridiculous. She’s chewing up her own property.
Look at how she shakes.
Tassia: This is a $14 cocktail?
This is a signature cocktail?
Here we go.
[instrumental music]
- Oh. Rob: Ugh!
- Ugh! - I don’t know.
I’m not a fan of this drink.
Jon: Face says everything. - I know it’s not good.
It’s not fresh.
It doesn’t have any freshness to it.
Angie: Can we put, we could put our order in?
Kira: Yeah, baby, I got you. Give me just a sec.
- Here you are. - Yeah. What you want?
Oh, you got it, Leisa? Thank you.
I’m gonna do the margherita pizza.
Leisa: Excellent choice.
Um, I think I wanna do one of the calzone.
I want spinach,
pepperoni, and Italian sausage.
[laughing]
I just wanna make sure I do it right.
Oh, she’s very nice.
She tries to do well.
Leisa: Thank you. Man 1: Yes, ma’am.
Leisa: The calzone and the pizza goes together.
Man 2: Okay. Rob: Oh, man.
Tassia: Is that chicken? Rob: No, that’s dough.
Now, what would make it wrinkle like that?
I’ve never seen that in all my years, Rob.
So the wrinkling is ’cause it was in a plastic bag,
which means that they are buying
frozen dough balls.
Rob: Honestly, Q looks like
he knows his way around the kitchen a little bit.
He’s stretching it professionally.
The sauce doesn’t look terribly bad.
It’s just coming out of a can.
There’s probably no recipe to it.
Bagged cheese, pre-cut cheese,
filled with cellulose and anti-caking powder.
Jon: He’s overdoing the cheese. Rob: Yeah.
Heavy, heavy hand with the cheese,
and the spinach is not gonna cook.
Nothing inside of that calzone is gonna cook.
Are these those remake lemons?
Man 3: No. - No?
These are remake?
Tassia: What’s going in the trash?
That was the leftover pasta.
Rob: Someone didn’t...
Jon: That was the wrong order.
So that chicken alfredo was just sent back.
Rob: Yeah.
So, so far, we’ve seen one order wrong,
one order sent back. Terrible.
I think you and I should go in.
Let’s sit down with our recon spies.
Let’s eat together, and let’s see what this is about.
- I’m game. Let’s go do it. - Let’s do it.
[tense music]
[indistinct chatter]
Woman 1: Got a little honey high.
Angie: Uh-huh.
Kira: Ooh. Welcome in.
Don’t worry. [bleep]! Hi. How are you?
What I’d like to do is take this food
to a table over there.
Let’s sit down and eat it all together.
- Okay. Sounds good. - Okay.
Kira: I was honestly a little scared
to see Jon, just because he
looked really mad when he walked in.
Like, he was not happy.
So even when I was helping Leisa
bring the food out and their drinks out,
I knew it didn’t, it was not gonna go very well.
Well, the smell of the pie isn’t bad.
They got fresh basil on top.
- Which gives a lot to it. Rob: Gives a lot to it.
Rob: Two different types of cheeses, I see.
But with this store-bought dough.
- The flop. - Just extreme amount of flop.
Rob: Heavy amount of cheese.
There’s chunks of raw tomato on here,
and they’re not Italian tomatoes.
They’re just regular beefsteak tomatoes.
To me, it’s just a pizza. It doesn’t have
a margherita personality to it at all.
Rob: Not at all.
Jon: What do you think of the cheese?
A traditional margherita pie has
fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella.
This is a bagged cheese.
I could taste the cakiness of the cheese.
And then on top of that,
the bottom is, quite frankly, it’s burnt.
Angie: Yeah.
How would you rate this pizza
as an Atlanta pizza?
On a scale of one to ten.
Four for me. [laughs]
- Four? - Yeah.
I think you’re being a little generous.
What-- what’s your number?
I would probably say a three.
- I’m done. - So...
You didn’t even eat it.
Kristen: I know. [laughs] It’s not...
I’m hungry too subtle, I guess...
So are you a pizza guy? You love pizza?
- Yeah. - You love pizza.
So normally, you would have whooped that down?
- Yeah. Yeah. - Right, yeah.
Jon: Cut into that calzone for me. Tell me what you think.
- It already looks kind of dry. - Look at that calzone.
The sausage is just bagged. It’s dry.
Too much cheese, too much pepperoni.
The spinach is raw.
As you open it up,
you can see it’s still raw.
Angie: Oh, my God! - This is dough.
That’s not cheese.
This is raw dough.
Angie: Oh. Oh, no. Jon: Here it is.
Rob: You take shit and put it into an oven,
you’re gonna get shit out.
You will get someone severely sick with that.
Rob: You take shit and put it into an oven,
you’re gonna get shit out.
You will get someone
severely sick with that.
They hate everything on the table.
They really... do.
Alright, guys. I’m gonna go talk to the owner.
- They got a lot of work to do. - Yeah, they do.
Leisa seems like a very nice person.
Jon: She interacts with her customers.
She interacts with her staff.
The problem is, her product stinks.
- Leisa? - Yes, sir.
- Can we talk? - Yes, sir.
[dramatic music]
Come stand here with me. Is this hip?
Leisa: I don’t even know anymore.
Jon: This looks like a children’s play area.
So right from the get-go,
would you expect there to be great pizza in here?
- Probably not. - You expecting great drinks?
- Probably not. - You expecting any drinks?
With children, no. Probably not.
I’ve never looked at it that way.
And then I look at the food that you’re making in the back.
That frozen pizza dough is horrible.
That? Your pizza didn’t look good. I wish I’d have made that.
Well, those are two of the biggest food influencers
in Atlanta. They gave you a four out of ten.
Leisa: I don’t think my pizza sucks.
If I were cooking it, it’d be different.
Leisa, you’re feeding garbage to people.
- Your cheese is out of a bag. - We-- we--
When you buy shredded cheese, you know there’s wood in it.
They call it cellulose. That’s how it keeps its shape.
If you cut it yourself, it’s natural cheese.
You strike me as the kind of person
who doesn’t wanna give shit to your customers.
Well, I don’t, and I don’t wanna eat wood.
Bingo. So we have to fix this and take this to the next level.
Okay. Alright.
You know, I’ve run it this way for a long time,
but Jon Taffer, he knows a lot more than I do.
Okay, let’s go to work.
- See you tomorrow. - Thank you. Thank you.
Leisa: So I’ll do whatever it takes.
I am here to improve.
[instrumental music]
Jennifer: So how was last night? Was it crazy?
It was nerve wracking for sure.
- Yeah? Kira: Seeing Jon.
He definitely was not happy when
he walked into the building.
You know, the food
was just kind of sad.
- Yeah, par, par food at best. - Right.
Well, I was awake at 6:00 a.m. this morning.
Couldn’t sleep because I know changes need to be made,
but I’m super nervous for whatever he’s gonna do.
It’s just, it’s nerve wracking.
Overall, he wants to help Urban Pie,
and I’m super grateful.
Jon: Last night, when I saw Leisa,
I saw a nice woman
who seems to care, but is blind
as to what her business is doing.
This business doesn’t target children or adults.
It targets nobody.
Hey, guys.
- Hi. - Hello.
Why don’t you guys grab a seat? I’ll go behind the bar.
Her business is eroding. It’s falling apart.
Today, we need to talk about that.
Hi.
- Hi. - Hello.
Jon: We met. So... - We did.
- We didn’t. - Hi, I’m Jennifer.
Hey, Jennifer. What do you do here?
Uh, I’m a server, and sometimes I bartend.
- Okay. Hi. Kira: Hello, I’m Kira.
Jon: I saw you working last night.
Yes, I was working. I was bartending.
- You got a great personality. Kira: Thank you.
People really like you behind the bar.
- Thank you. - How long have you been here?
I’ve been here for over a month now.
Oh, so new.
Yeah, I just recently started.
What kind of training did you get when you started?
Um, it was very little.
I’ve-- I kind of was bouncing all over
with a couple different people,
um, but then I kind of was just thrown.
If the two of you made me a margherita,
would they be the same?
- No. - Yeah, probably not.
I mean, we do have, hidden under the POS system,
um, a piece of paper that, like,
shows the recipes for our cocktails, so--
If I wanna make a drink and I don’t know the recipe, I gotta--
You gotta pull it all out. Yeah.
Jon: I gotta move all this.
Kira: Yeah.
And come over here, and here it is.
Kira: Yeah.
It’s not very accessible, but if I’m gonna be honest,
not a lot of people order anything
off of that cocktail menu.
And I try to suggest something else,
because me personally, I don’t think
the drinks are that good.
Jon: Gotcha.
Caleb: Hi. My name’s Caleb.
Caleb, and how long you been here?
Uh, let’s see. This is day number six.
- Oh, so you’re pretty new, too. - Brand spanking. Yes, sir.
Gotcha. Have you worked in a restaurant before?
Oh, yes, sir, I ran a kitchen for about a year and a half.
So you’re an experienced kitchen guy.
I know a thing or two, yes, sir.
Jon: Well, where’s Q, the other kitchen guy?
He just called-- called out today. He’s busy.
- And does this happen often? - Yes.
- All the time. - I’m gonna be honest with you.
I just haven’t had the manpower to fire Q.
Have I wanted to?
He’s got us right up this high.
I get that, but that’s under your leadership.
I s...
The worst managers I’ve ever seen
blame their employees.
- Well... Jon: ’Cause they are you.
Jon: And I struggle with this,
because you’re a sweetheart, I think.
Jon: We care about her, right? - Yes.
But yet, we have a chaotic mess on our hands.
With you trying to micromanage your staff
instead of properly training them.
As a result, we have turnover.
- We lose people all the time. Jon: Right?
So I wanna challenge your decision-making,
’cause you’re smarter than this.
I want you to actually look at me and tell me,
"Jon, what I’m doing isn’t working."
Jon, what I’m doing is not working.
Okay, so here’s what we need to do.
We need to empower Caleb,
get him entrenched in that kitchen,
so you are empowered to make the decisions
that you need to make without anyone holding you hostage.
Leisa: Thank you, yes.
Right, and that’s an opportunity
that you can provide to her.
That’ll make you feel good, right?
- Absolutely. - Okay.
We have a sincere guy here. You guys are in, right?
Jennifer: Mm-hmm. - A 100%.
Jon: We’ll do what it takes to make this successful.
- Absolutely. Jon: So we gotta start.
Jon: You with me, guys? - Yeah.
Jon: Okay.
I went through the books, as I do,
’cause I’m trying to help you.
So I went through all the books.
Now, how many times you return things to the kitchen?
I saw three last night.
Kira: Um... - Right?
Three come back last night.
- And we only put out, like six. - Yeah.
So 50% of what we put out last night came back.
- So that’s an issue, right? Leisa: Yes.
Jon: Let me tell you something interesting.
The median household income here
is about $120,000 a year.
For America, it’s 62,000.
Big difference, right?
Almost twice the national income.
The median age here is about 37.
So this is a younger,
affluent, pretty hip community, isn’t it?
Wouldn’t you like that clientele
to come in here and spend more money?
- Yeah. Jon: Okay.
Is a young, affluent, hip person
gonna sit in front of this?
- No. - No.
The problem is that when you walk into a bar
and you see things like this, it just sends the message
that this is not an adult bar.
Kira: Yeah.
- Agreed. Jon: It’s not a serious bar.
It’s not a place where I would get a great drink.
Kira: Yeah. - No.
But yet I stood outside with you last night,
looking at the sponge dude on the wall.
Jon: Looks like the cartoon character, right?
This looks like a children’s playground.
Is a young, hip, affluent person
gonna go past the child playground outside
and walk through the front door?
- It’s not happening. - Okay, let’s reverse it.
Let’s say the kid walked through the front door
and stares in a beer tap.
Leisa: Right.
Jon: For the family,
you blew it, right?
For the adult, you blew it.
Either way, you blew it.
Jon: For the family, you blew it, right?
For the adult, you blew it.
Either way, you blew it.
We’re failing in the entire presentation
of who and what we are.
How did this get beneath you?
I’m just, I’m exhausted.
You know, I’m trying to work all the time.
I’m trying to hold the kitchen together,
and my kitchen manager shows up when he wants to,
and it’s just tough. I just kind of...
just hope to, hope things will change
without making the change.
And are things gonna change if you don’t make the change?
Leisa: No. No, they don’t. - Okay.
It’s time to be honest for a moment.
Tell them how much money you’re losing a month.
[tense music]
Eight thousand dollars a month.
Jon: Eight thousand a month.
Tell them what you lost.
Four hundred and forty thousand dollars.
You’re about to lose your dad’s truck?
Yep. He built that thing himself.
Um, he worked on it for 20 years.
It’s all I’ve got left of my dad.
Jon: She’s down to nothing.
You have enough money for how many months?
- Two. Jon: Two months, and we’re done.
So listen to me.
Life has knocked you down.
I’m here to lift you up.
So we gotta go to work, guys.
Let me bring my experts in.
Tassia, Rob, two of my favorite experts.
Tassia and I have been working together for years.
Tassia’s great at putting together a good cocktail menu
that’ll target this community.
Rob is one of the best pizza chefs in America.
He’s won awards. He’s extremely talented.
He can elevate us to that next level.
So we got a lot of work to do, guys.
We gotta up this bar,
and we gotta up this food product
- to the next level. Rob: Absolutely.
Alright, guys, we gotta go to work. Let’s do it.
- Let’s go. - Let’s do it.
Carpe diem.
Jon: I think Leisa gets it.
She has an open mind.
She sees her shortcomings.
Now the issue is,
does she have the incentive to change them?
And that has to start.
I gotta start changing her mindset,
as well as her restaurant.
[instrumental music]
Tassia: Hey, everyone. What’s up?
Kira: Hey.
I do notice a new face in the crowd.
- What’s your name, hon? - My name is Jeremy.
Tassia: Jeremy, so good to meet you.
What do you do at the bar, Jeremy?
So I’ve worked for Leisa for quite a few years.
I went to bartending school when I was 17.
I’ve worked in many of the craft cocktail bars,
and I’ve always wanted to help her out with the craft menu,
so I’m excited to see what you have to offer.
Okay, cool. So yesterday,
I watched people come in and order some drinks
off of your specialty craft cocktail menu.
I almost fell out of my chair when Kira had to go
get a canned cocktail from the fridge.
It’s a big red flag, and we’re in a cool, hipster
neighborhood, and it’s trendy.
Then we bust out a canned cocktail.
It just diminishes the experience.
What I would like to do is show you
and let you experience the difference
between a canned cocktail and a handmade craft cocktail.
So, the infamous old-fashioned.
And I want Leisa to tell me which one is which.
We’re gonna do a straw test.
Alright, now you tell me...
which one is from a can, and which one is from my hand?
- I think that’s the can. Jeremy: I think she’s wrong.
- You think she’s wrong? - I think she’s wrong.
I think the lighter one’s the real one, ’cause it’s dilution.
Kira: One hundred percent. I agree, too.
And I’ve-- and I’ve poured those, and they
do, they’re really dark in the can.
Tassia: Bing, bing, bing, bing. This was made from scratch.
Leisa: I was very surprised that the one
that she made from scratch tasted so much better.
I think over the years, I’ve just bought the can items
’cause they were quick and easy.
But seeing the difference today was amazing.
So, I thought it would be super cool
to have our signature old-fashioned
that stands out against all the regular old-fashioneds
that are out there in the world.
What we did is we infused this rum
with banana chips.
We’re doing three ounces.
Simple syrup, about a half an ounce.
We’re gonna mix up our bitters.
Mango, three dashes.
Three dashes of our chocolate bitters.
I’m gonna top it with a little banana chip.
And there we have our banana rum old-fashioned.
Alright, y’all, we have a stress test tonight,
which means we have a lot more training to do.
Tassia: You with me? - Yeah, let’s do it.
So, Q is not here today. The show must go on.
Caleb, what kind of experience do you have in the kitchen?
So, I’ve got, I’ve got some decent experience,
but I always, always can learn a lot more.
Rob: Great, great.
Last night, the calzone was a disaster.
So what me and Jon came up with was a fried calzone.
First thing we’re gonna do is go down with our cheese.
A 50-50 blend of low-moisture mozzarella and provolone.
Italian cooking is simple ingredients,
and you let the ingredients shine.
If you use high-end ingredients, you don’t need to go crazy.
Then we’re gonna take our mortadella.
Then we take our ricotta. Two dollops.
Seal it up. Cut off that excess edge.
So we’re gonna go into the fryer now.
The best part of frying the calzone
is that we’re gonna ensure that we’re never gonna have
raw dough on the inside.
The gas inside the dough is going to build up on the inside.
It’s gonna make it float to the top.
That’s when you take your ladle,
and you just baste a little bit.
We’re gonna go down with some beautiful fresh basil,
crumbled pistachios,
and some grated sheep’s milk pecorino.
So as a dipping sauce for this is my Long Island vodka sauce.
An easy, quick way
to get out a really delicious food item.
Tonight is the stress test.
We got a lot of training to do.
Are you guys ready?
- Yes, chef. - Ready as we can be.
[upbeat music]
Jon: Okay, guys, we open in a couple minutes.
So what is your plan for staffing tonight?
So Jennifer’s our server, and you have two bartenders.
Jon: Okay, so, chef, how long to get a pizza out?
We’re looking at about eight minutes right now,
probably about five minutes on a calzone.
- So-- - Okay. Okay.
- We’ll see how they handle it. - Okay.
- Let’s do it. Jon: Alright, let’s go for it.
Leisa: I’m just nervous and stressed
’cause my kitchen manager didn’t show.
So I would like to impress Jon, but we’ll see.
Hey, guys.
Bring it on. Give us some stress.
Let’s go. Come on in.
[instrumental music]
Jeremy: Well, we just filled up. That’s crazy.
Don’t you gentlemen start with something?
Man 4: Definitely. - My name’s Kira.
I’ll be taking care of y’all. What are we getting to drink?
What are we thinking?
So you-- you’re working out of this well?
Which one are you working out of?
We’re only using one well ’cause there’s no way--
- Oh, yeah, I got you. - So I’ll just work to the side.
Okay, alright, cool.
Who’s got their phones? Put on your stopwatch.
I wanna see how long it takes you guys to get your drinks,
how long it takes you to get your food.
Okay, let’s see how they’re doing.
Rob: Here we go. First ticket, guys. First ticket.
Leisa: One small cheese pizza. Caleb: One small cheese.
You want a spoon for that ricotta
instead of that spatula?
It’s over in the silverware container
if you wanna get one.
[rattles]
Don’t start with ice.
- You’re right. - Ice last.
Tassia: Use your mixing glass for building.
Yes.
- On the bar. - Good drinks?
Jon: Excellent.
I just feel like this is very chaotic right now.
Right behind.
Icy hot, it was you, right?
Man 5: Icy hot, it was me.
Old-fashioned. Coming right up.
Tassia: We got one drink out, Jon.
One drink out. You gonna share with everybody?
[laughing]
Right now, I’m at three and a half minutes.
Jon: Three minutes, huh?
Tell me what you think.
- It’s good. - Excellent.
Alright, we’re off to a start, guys.
Who’s thirsty?
- I am. - We all.
Come on, guys. Let’s do this quickly.
I wanna see this bar served in ten minutes.
That’s all it should take.
Man, I’m shaking so bad right now.
Tassia: Keep it on the bar, Jeremy.
Rob: Small cheese, small pepper, calzone.
Your first ticket for your calzone.
Fold that over and then take it and shape it.
Caleb: Heard that. Rob: Let’s go.
Rob: Now let’s drop that in the fryer. Alright?
Come on, drop them. I need my board back.
Rob: Let’s check those pizzas.
You better turn, check the bottom.
Always check the bottom of your pizzas.
Quite golden brown.
Yeah, we’re white on the bottom, okay?
- Very white on the bottom. - So it’s probably not cooking.
We might wanna transfer them over.
We’re gonna switch to that oven. You could actually do that now.
Caleb: Heard that. - What do we got, guys?
Jon: Talk to me, chef. Why are we changing ovens?
- Is this a hotter oven? - The oven’s not working.
So how many functioning ovens do we have now?
- One deck. One deck. - One deck?
Keep it on the bar, Jeremy.
Put it on the bar, on the bar, on the bar.
Put your glass on the bar.
I know it’s crowded. Keep it on the bar.
Okay, first of all, I gotta tell you,
you never pour a drink holding the glass in your hand.
Here’s why. You’re standing here pouring a drink,
you bump into his arm,
that glass breaks and goes in the ice bin,
and we’re out of business.
We gotta pour hot water in there,
drain the ice bin, and start over again.
You always pour with it on the bar.
We still have no food out here. I can’t understand it.
What does your stopwatch say?
- We’re about nine minutes-- Jon: Nine... Gotcha.
Okay, but that was when you ordered the pizza.
That’s when I ordered... Yes, from the pizza.
Rob: Caleb, we gotta be a little bit faster
with the basil, my friend.
Let’s get that cut. Let’s get that out.
You also have the calzone
that’s waiting to go with that pizza.
When you put that in there, can you grab me a plate...
- And slice that for me? Caleb: Order up.
Sorry.
Come on, guys. Let’s serve this bar.
We got one, two, three, four, five.
We’re almost halfway there.
It’s a small bar.
Tassia: Keep going. Keep going.
Your old fashioneds are dying, Jeremy.
They’re dying in the end.
You have a strainer for the old fashioneds.
I’m sorry.
Tassia: Oh, we got drink tickets, guys.
- Drink tickets. Jon: Come on, guys.
We’re not going quick enough here.
They’re good, but they’re not fast.
Jeremy: I don’t know if I can fit this in the bottom.
Jon: Come on, guys. We’re not going quick enough here.
They’re good, but they’re not fast.
Caleb: Hot! Right behind. Right behind.
Rob: Ticket. Ticket. Underneath the plate.
Let’s get it out. Order up.
Caleb: Order up. Rob: Order up.
Jon: You guys ordered drinks, right?
Man 6: Yeah. - You didn’t get them.
Jon: The bar is so small that the bartenders,
they’re tripping over each other behind the bar.
But pizzas came out before drinks came out in other tables.
With a facility this small, that shouldn’t happen.
Here’s the problem, Leisa, so you know what’s going on.
That table all got their pizza.
Not one of them got their drinks.
Oh, wow.
So the bar is falling way behind the kitchen.
Our timing is off. Okay, come with me.
Jon: But the fact of the matter is,
as long as Leisa’s in that kitchen
micromanaging her staff,
she can’t see what’s happening in the front of the house.
And she can’t run her business.
Somehow, we have to create a kitchen manager,
get Leisa back in the front of the house,
and put the systems in place so this place can be successful.
Hey, everybody. This is Leisa.
[cheering]
Leisa owns this place.
You’ve been here how many years?
Eighteen and a half.
Eighteen and a half years,
been the center of this community.
I want you guys to come back on Friday.
Urban Pie is gonna become hip again.
I feel really good that Caleb stepped up.
But my takeaway with Jon is the fact that
he noticed I had no structure in place.
- Thanks for coming. - Thank you.
[applause]
After tonight, it gave me
the inspiration and the drive to wanna get out there
and learn as much as I can for Friday night.
I wanna really show them up Friday night.
We’ve had worse stress tests.
- Honestly. True. Yeah. - Yeah.
The fact is, the biggest problem here is this place,
this infantile children’s playground.
And if you take a look at where we are,
look at all the bars, all the competition.
So we need to revamp
and redo their entire cocktail program.
- I agree. - You got some good ideas?
- I do. I’m excited. - Okay. Excellent.
Some female-oriented cocktails?
- You know I do. Perfect. - Absolutely.
Chef, same thing. How do we make their pizza special?
How do we do something to make it unique?
We’re gonna use some artisanal flours
from, imported from Italy,
some tomatoes imported from Italy.
I wanna bring Italy to Atlanta.
All natural products. This is an affluent area.
They’re conscious of what they’re eating.
Yeah, I wanna make certain that the menu is reflective
of those things because all of those things
add to the value of what we’re doing, but if
the guest doesn’t know it, it doesn’t mean anything.
- Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. - So let’s put that in the menu.
Explaining how our ingredients come from Italy
and how they’re best of best.
Rob: Absolutely. - Alright, guys.
So we got a menu to put together.
We gotta figure out what we’re gonna be selling,
a cocktail menu to put together.
So I’ll tell you what, I’ll buy the coffee.
- Okay? - We’re up to it.
- Let’s go do it. - Let’s go do it.
[instrumental music]
Well, the good news is it’s a pretty small area inside.
The kitchen isn’t that bad, right?
We gotta get the ovens calibrated, get the ovens
cleaned up a little bit, but the equipment isn’t bad.
Rob: Today, I’m gonna make for you
a New York style queen margarita pizza.
You gotta create a second workstation behind the bar.
Right now, they sorta have a station and a half, right?
Man 7: Exactly right.
We are gonna do a classic martini build.
We did put a little spin on it.
And then we gotta come up with something
for this back bar, ’cause right now you walk in
and the first thing you see are those tables.
Jon: It’s awful. Laura: Yeah.
Tassia: We’re gonna start with a quarter of an ounce
of olive juice.
Quarter ounce pickled onion juice.
Quarter ounce of our Fino sherry.
Quarter ounce of our dry vermouth.
An ounce and a half of our vodka.
Our saline to round it all out.
Just stir this.
So the first thing we’re gonna do here,
we’re gonna go each corner,
just pressing the gas into the crust.
Jon: They got a table here, which really should be
back of the house, right?
So we gotta either do a little
wing wall here to hide that
or create a professional service station here.
We have a tomato oil, which is our garnish.
We’re gonna put four drops in there.
Rob: Beautiful golden brown
color for proper fermentation.
Now let’s finish it with some beautiful burrata.
And here we have
a pickled martini.
And then how do we get rid of sponge dude?
Jon: We cannot leave her with sponge dude.
- Of course. Pizza... - Yeah.
- Okay. Let’s get to it. - Thank you.
[tense music]
Last night had both good and bad.
Leisa knows how to run a kitchen,
but she spent too much of her time
micromanaging the kitchen
and not enough time focusing on the customers
and the front of the house.
Good to see you.
Here’s what I learned.
I can create a success
from Leisa’s bar,
but I have to talk to Leisa.
What’d you learn this week?
I learned that how unorganized I am,
how unstructured I am.
I mean, there’s so many things
that I’ve let go by the wayside,
just thinking it was okay
just because I wasn’t making money,
but there’s all these little things
I could have been doing.
I feel like when you disappoint yourself
and you start to let things go,
your standards go from here to here
and eventually they’re here.
Yeah. You lose that motivation each day.
And I let my staff down. I let myself down.
- Then I rot down. - Wow.
That’s a powerful thing for you to say to yourself, isn’t it?
- It’s all true though. Jon: Yeah.
The important thing is how you rise from that.
Absolutely.
’Cause that’s sort of bottom, isn’t it?
Well, you know, there’s some reason why we’re together.
- Absolutely. - I believe that.
I believe that. I truly believe that.
Jon: So if this is meant to be,
what are you gonna do with it now?
- I can’t do everything. - No, you can’t.
I think I try to wear every hat
because I don’t give anybody else credit.
I don’t trust very well
’cause I’ve been screwed so many times.
Mmm-hm. I’m gonna give you the systems.
Let them perform.
This is a chance for you to say,
it’s time for me to be an owner
and cultivate a team that’ll deliver for me.
You have the systems in place to know if something’s wrong.
Absolutely.
What do you wanna do in the kitchen?
Is Caleb the guy?
I think Caleb’s the guy.
He has ambition. He has drive, and he’s hungry.
- That’s good to hear. - Yeah.
So seize this moment.
This is a great new beginning to you,
and boy, do you deserve it.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate you.
But right now, I got wires hanging off walls,
bars half assembled, plumbers on the floor,
everybody in there, and I gotta get back to work.
I love it. Thank you so much.
Oh, my gosh, thank you.
I love you so much.
You have changed my world.
Ah, we’ll see you tomorrow.
- Sounds great. - Have a good night.
You do the same. Thank you.
Leisa: Before, I didn’t wanna get out of bed.
I was worn out mentally, physically.
I didn’t have faith in myself or my staff,
but now I feel like Jon has given me the drive
that I need to push through.
I wanna be the face of the restaurant.
I wanna say hi to every table.
I don’t wanna have to be bartending
or serving or working in the kitchen,
so tomorrow night’s gonna be our chance to step up.
[upbeat music]
[people cheering]
Jon: Hello. Man 8: Hi there.
- Hello. Kira: Hi, Jon.
Jon: Hi, Leisa. - Hi, how are you?
Jon: Good. Good week? - Great week.
- Best week of my life. - Really?
Leisa: Yes. - How come?
Because you’re about to change my world.
- Yeah, I am. Leisa: You are.
Yeah, yep. So you guys ready to see this?
Alright, here we go.
One, two, three.
[all cheering]
[shatters]
One, two, three.
Ohhh...
Kira: Oh, my God...
Jennifer: Oh, my God! Kira: The sign looks good.
- That’s impressive. - Oh, my God.
Jon: Who remembers the old building?
What do you think? A little cooler?
All: Yeah! Leisa: Oh, my gosh.
A whole new beginning, but this was your dream.
You wanted it to be an adult bar and pizza place.
- I did. We got it. - Well, that’s what I gave you.
It’s beautiful. It’s stunning.
Jon: Signage, lighting.
It’s a whole new place. So you guys ready to see it?
- Yes. - Should I let them in?
All: Yeah! - Okay, go.
[instrumental music]
- Oh, shoot. Kira: Oh, my God.
Jennifer: Oh, wow. Leisa: Is this real?
Kira: Oh, my God. Leisa: Is this real?
Kira: This looks so good. Leisa: Is this real?
Jennifer: Oh, my God, it’s beautiful.
Kira: That’s so beautiful.
Leisa: Oh, my God. Kira: This is awesome.
- This is awesome. - Oh, my God.
Leisa: Oh, my gosh. Kira: Oh, my God.
Jennifer: Leisa we-- - Look how organized.
Leisa: Look how organized. Jennifer: I know.
Jeremy: And the tables and the chairs, they match.
The outside’s gorgeous. It’s sexy. The bar is fantastic.
This is the best day of my life. Thank you, Jon Taffer.
What do you think, Liz?
It’s fantastic. Holy crap.
Oh, my God. Thank you so much.
Come inside. I wanna show you everything we did.
Please.
So guys, take a look at what we did.
We set up a complete separate workstation now.
So you guys are not tripping over each other.
Right? I got you a brand new POS system.
And with the SkyTab, I got you handheld tablets.
And I also got you a subscription to Partender,
which is the inventory program.
I got Axe Signs to do
the vinyl interior wraps that you see in the back.
I got Replications Unlimited
to do the faux brick here on this wall.
Advanced Media Group, four new TVs.
I like it.
Jon: Orlando Foods gave you the Caputo flour
and Ciao tomatoes.
And then we got the ovens calibrated, cleaned up.
I got A City Discount to give you a 50-quart spiral mixer.
- Oh, wow. - ’Cause now we’re making what?
- Dough. - Our own dough.
- Oh, my God. - And how good is it?
- It’s very delicious. - Yeah.
Leisa: It’s so crispy, so good. - Yeah.
One more thing.
- Caleb, there you go, buddy. - Oh.
Kira: That’s awesome.
- Is that cool? - That-- that’s incredible.
- Thank you, Jon. - My pleasure.
You deserved it, buddy. You’re a good guy.
Jennifer: Oh, that’s awesome.
And then we got some nice t-shirts for you guys.
Kira: Those are cute.
But look at how our logo works now.
So think about when you hear Urban Pie.
You want a sophisticated environment.
A lot more sophisticated than it was.
We make our own dough, we import our tomatoes
and our flour from Italy.
Guys, we don’t mess around here.
We make a serious pie.
- Remember that now. - Yes.
You know that this is not a joke here.
We are serious about our pizza here.
Everybody out there loves you for a reason.
And they loved me when I didn’t have good pizza,
so imagine what they’re gonna love me like now.
[laughter]
So we got a crowd out there.
- You ready? - Yes.
Tonight we get them back.
- Okay? - We get them back.
Great. Alright, let’s go to work.
- Let’s do it. - Thank you, Jon.
[instrumental music]
Welcome, everyone.
Welcome to the new Urban Pie.
Let’s do it.
[cheering]
Jennifer: Hey, y’all. Leisa: Hi, nice to see you.
Kira: Welcome in.
Leisa: Nice to see you. How you doing?
Jeremy: Can I get you started with anything to drink?
[indistinct chatter]
I’ve tried all of them.
Uh, th-- the rum old-fashioned
is really, really good. You should try it all.
I mean, they’re absolutely wonderful.
Rob: Okay, we’re trying to get tickets in now, alright?
Caleb: Right behind?
Leisa, I got an order up completed here.
Bar B11, alright?
Leisa: Yep, you got it. Looks great, guys.
Coming through.
Jon: How we doing, guys? - Excellent.
- We’re doing great, Jon. - Ticket time is doing good.
- We’re rocking, aren’t we? - Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
- Cool and calm back here, too. - That’s right.
Jon: The way I like it.
Their training really worked, and, hey,
Caleb’s a superstar back here, man.
That looks beautiful. Great job on that, Caleb.
Alright, I gotta ask, what do you think?
Man 9: You know, the fresh dough is a little lighter.
- It’s better. Jon: Yeah. It is.
Jon: It’s more airy, isn’t it? - Yes, it is.
Excellent. Glad you enjoyed it. The tomatoes are from Italy.
The flour is from Italy, and the cheese is from Italy.
- Oh. Wow. - Yeah.
You eat enough of that, you’ll start to have an Italian accent.
[laughing]
Enjoy.
Kira: You need another drink? You want the same one?
Kira: You know, coming into this, I was really nervous,
but now that we’re actually here, I feel
so much better about it, and I’m very excited.
I wanted to be proud of, you know, working
behind the bar, but now I actually feel like,
yeah, this is where I work, and I’m super proud to be here.
- How you doing? Yeah, how’s... - Amazing. This is awesome.
- Station working well? - It feels much better.
We’re not running into each other all the time.
I just wanna say thank you, Jon, so much for helping us out.
- Good job, Kira. Beautiful. Kira: Thank you.
[cheering]
See, I found that groove.
Kira: I found that groove. Tassia: Professional, girl.
We’re organized. Bar is completely served.
Food is coming out. Yeah, we’re rocking.
What a team.
Jon: I’ve gotta say, I’m impressed.
Pizzas came out in minutes.
Bar is already served.
We almost half served the patio.
This is an unbelievable transformation from stress test.
The difference in, in everything,
in the food, is everything’s super fresh.
I feel great. People are loving the food.
- The drinks are great. - Thank you.
- This is so delicious. Woman 2: It’s so tasty.
So good.
Yeah, I still have a lot of work to do,
but this is a huge step in the right direction.
This is a bar that’s gonna make money
and get me back out of debt.
Enjoy.
Leisa’s a good person. This town loves her.
But she lost sight of losing herself.
Everybody, if you don’t know, this is Leisa.
She owns this place.
So do me a favor. It’s a small town. Come back.
Tell your friends. Spread the word.
Let’s support her, okay?
Let’s make her successful.
- Thank you. Thank you. - Okay.
Thanks, everybody. Goodnight.
Jon: This bar was three months from closing.
She was about to lose her house.
Now, I think she’s got her fire back.
She’s engaged. Clearly, she’s excited.
And hopefully, she’s back on track.
’Cause she deserves it.
[instrumental music]
P.J.: Promotional consideration provided by
Barproducts.com, Partender, Sky Tab POS,
Crossroads Plumbing, Advanced Media Group,
PTS Promotions, Kitty Dare, Replications Unlimited,
Axe Signs+Wayfinding, A City Discount,
Orlando Foods, Eurodib, Mister Agave Straws and ESRI.
[production theme]