- So I'll make it, eventually.
narrator: For over 30 years,
Jon Taffer has traveled the country
saving hundreds of bars from failure and ruin.
And he thought he'd seen it all,
until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
- Look, I've met terrible owners, unruly staffs,
out-of-control financing,
but I've never seen anything like this.
narrator: And no business was hit harder
than America's hospitality industry.
- Thousands of bars have closed already,
and more are going to close.
America is built on small businesses,
and I want to fight to keep as many bars open
as I possibly can.
narrator: So now, Jon's not only rescuing
struggling businesses,
he's trying to save an entire industry,
one bar at a time.
- Failure is not an option.
narrator: Now, Jon is heading to Maricopa, Arizona
to rescue True Grit Tavern.
- We're at a breaking point,
and the stakes have never been higher.
narrator: In 2015, Ralph Skrzypczak
borrowed $150,000 from his father John
to open up the True Grit Tavern.
- The initial idea was to purchase a bar
that was in a good location
and in a good spot and that could be profitable.
- Do you want a tall or short? - Got your nachos here.
narrator: And the bar was a hit among the locals.
- Hey, guys. How are you?
- We roughly hit about 100,000 to 120,000 a month.
narrator: But problems soon began to surface
with the leadership of the bar.
- It is challenging at times working with Ralph.
It was rare that I even saw him here.
- I was wondering. I was like, "Where is everybody?"
- When I did, it was not constructive.
- How long did you guys wait?
- Way too long. - Way too long?
- And then he'd be gone. - I can tell you right now
we're losing money pretty much across the board.
- Ralph is a child born with a silver spoon.
- Who got handed this bar,
and he took everything from the bar
to put into his other businesses and investments
that he wanted to do--production or movies
or comic book stores--and didn't care about us.
- I own True Grit Tavern.
I own Web App. It's a dating app.
I'm partnered with a comic book shop.
I think that's all I'm doing right now.
So do you have any advice for me to do something with it?
narrator: With so many different businesses
to focus on,
Ralph failed to master any of them.
- Are we set for sauces? Do you guys check
all that stuff--servers? We don't know?
Before getting into the bar business,
I didn't know anything.
I don't like this either. Get in here.
- Don't judge me. narrator: And he failed
to give his more experienced staff
the support they needed to succeed...
- Is this your first time out here?
- Yeah. - Oh, really?
That's cool. Nice. Nice.
- Ralph is just talking, without really saying anything.
Not doing anything.
- What's up, guys? - It's very frustrating
when things are going wrong all over the place,
and he spends 20 minutes at a table talking.
[laughter]
Makes me insane.
- Where do I find somebody in charge?
narrator: Eventually affecting the bar's bottom line.
- Ralph. - What?
- You need to stop talking so much.
A lot of people have stuck with us
through everything we've gone through,
and if True Grit closes, it'll be a sad day in Maricopa.
narrator: With no experience or leadership,
the bar is now in debt $1/2 million.
- If this bar goes down,
everything goes down for me and my family.
narrator: Before sending the family into further debt,
Ralph has agreed to pull back the doors,
bust open the books,
and make a call for help, to "Bar Rescue."
[rock music]
- I'm in Maricopa, Arizona, at a bar named True Grit.
This bar's named True Grit after John Wayne,
'cause John Wayne used to have a ranch here.
This bar was opened by Ralph.
After borrowing about $150,000 from his father,
it's losing a fortune, and I'm not quite sure why.
But I'm gonna find out.
Here we are in the control room.
- Wow.
- You know what's great about this?
Here I can see the kitchen,
I can see the bar, even the dishwasher.
- Everything. - We can see everything...
- Everything. - At the same time here.
- Yeah. narrator: For the kitchen,
Jon brings in chef Jason Santos,
a culinary savant at creating modern
and innovative cuisine.
- But you see anything John Wayne?
- No. See a lot of grit.
- Crazy. - Josh, need anything from me?
- [bleep] A/C unit would be great.
- An A/C unit? Yeah.
Unfortunately, that is a little bit beyond me right now.
- That's Ralph, the owner.
He took 150,000 from his father and bought this place.
That's his dad John sitting there
- Hello, gorgeous.
Yeah, I was talking to them first, guys, okay?
- That's Brandie. She's a bartender.
She's been there about 2 1/2 years.
There's Rita. She's a server.
- Will, you want me to put any food in for you right now?
- That Janiece. She's another bartender.
- The crumbles or the dressing--like,
too much of both? Or...?
- The crumbles. - That's Samantha.
She's the GM. She's been here for years.
But apparently, Ralph doesn't give her much authority.
- Maricopa OG. - And there's Josh.
He's your cook.
- Hey, I'm hungry. Let's get some food.
- So for recon tonight, I got Joey Rodriguez.
He's a local radio DJ. - Okay.
- And he's with his best friend Scott McIntyre.
That's Joey in the black t-shirt,
and that's his friend Scott in the red shirt.
Scott owns three restaurants in town.
- So he knows.
- You want something to drink right away?
- Do you have a drink menu? - We do not.
- Do not? - Oh, boy.
- A house margarita? - Sure.
- You guys have a Old Fashioned?
- We can make an Old Fashioned. - Awesome.
Can I get a-- - Okay.
- Margarita came out of the tap.
- Something about liquor bottles
in front of a pallet--suddenly
a premium brand doesn't look so premium.
- Right, it just blends in. It doesn't do justice.
- Okay, so what is she making now?
- It's the Old Fashioned in the mixing glass.
- That should be muddled in the rocks glass.
- Of course. Yeah.
- 'Cause when you're done muddling it,
half of the juices are gonna remain...
- Yeah. - In the metal cup.
So you're not gonna get the flavor transfer you should.
So how much soda goes in an Old Fashioned?
- Zero. - Exactly.
So she puts soda in it.
Look at that. It's a foamy Old Fashioned.
- Can we put a food order in? - Absolutely.
- Wings. - Okay.
- And then some chips and guac. - Salsa, cheese, and guacamole?
- We can do the whole thing. - Okay.
- PB&J bacon burger. - A Philly cheesesteak.
- You got it. - All right. Cheers.
Yeah, no bueno.
- Yeah, that's not good. Try that.
- She's trying to take you home tonight.
- Yeah.
- Two of the most popular drinks in America,
Old Fashioned and a margarita.
you'd think they could get a margarita right.
- Geez, look at those. - I know, chef, you always like
to see processed, chopped, and formed steak.
- I was just getting to that. It's all frozen.
It's all pre-packaged. It's like out of the '80s.
- Guys, I don't know if they gave you the QR menu,
but it has a drinks menu.
- Yeah, if you have that, that would be great.
- That would be awesome.
- I asked for a drink menu. - Yeah.
- So I apologize. My manager just reminded me.
I'm like, "Oh yeah, dude."
- Yeah. Okay. - One second. I'm sorry.
- Ralph has a nice way with customers.
- Yeah. - He seems to care.
Is it that he cares and he has no knowledge?
Or is it that he doesn't care enough to have the knowledge?
- That knowledge. Right. - Hi, guys.
I have a Maricopa cheesesteak and a PB&J burger.
- The bun's super greasy. - That seems suspect.
Look at all that grease, bro.
- So I got a little surprise for you.
Mia Mastroianni. - Yeah?
- I have her going in for recon as well.
narrator: For the bar, Jon brings in
mixologist Mia Mastroianni,
a virtuoso at creating
contemporary cocktail programs.
- Now, what I want to do is I want to see
how they are under pressure. - Right.
- We know they can't make a good drink.
- Yeah. - We know their food standards
are terrible. - Clear.
- I'm gonna have Mia order a bunch of stuff.
- Good. Good. - Let's see what they got.
- Hi. Are your margaritas on draft, or do you make them?
- We have both.
- I want the house-made one. - Okay.
- Okay, here we go.
- Why is she putting soda water in my margarita?
This is gonna be a delight. [laughs]
Thank you so much. Can you make me a Mai Tai?
- Yes.
- Do you mind if I straw test yours, the draft?
Ooh! That's sour.
- Yep. Very.
- This is the one she just made by hand.
- Any better?
- No. - No?
- No. - Look at Mia.
- This one for you? - I think so.
- All right. - That's a Mai Tai?
- Okay.
There's pineapple in this.
There's no pineapple in a Mai Tai.
- So Mai Tai is rum, almond, triple sec, and orange juice.
- No pineapple.
- There's no pineapple juice in a Mai Tai.
- All right, here we go. We're going in.
Definitely is not a Philly cheesesteak.
- Okay, the food's out there. - Yeah.
- The drinks are out there. Everything sucks. Do you agree?
- Oh, yes. 100%.
- So True Grit is true shit. - Yeah.
- I'm gonna go in and tell them so.
[dramatic music]
- Oh!
- Oh, [bleep].
- Keep 'em on their toes.
- Okay, so, fail? Fail?
- Fail. - Fail?
- Fail. - Fail? Fail?
- Fail.
- Fail? - This one was okay.
- Okay, so we got one out of two, four, six.
Okay. How were the wings?
- Really dry. - Really dry.
I can see how dry they are from here.
Right? - Yep.
- I can smack this thing all day,
it's not gonna fall apart. - Couldn't finish.
- Oh, look at this burger. - No, I--
- Who wants--who'd like to eat this?
Does that--does that look good to you guys?
- No. - No.
- Where's Ralph? Hiding. I don't blame you.
Come over here, Ralph. How were the drinks?
- Disappointing.
- Do you make the drink the same as her?
- No. - Okay, so, do you know
that they're supposed to make it the same way?
- Yes.
- So you never taught them to make it the same way.
- No. - How come?
- I-- - Too lazy?
- I don't even know how.
- Can you succeed if drinks are different every time?
- No. - Can you succeed with this?
- No. - I don't think so.
Look at this. Look at this, folks.
So you know how much cheese is in this?
Do you know how much cheese is in this?
- Not very much. - Zero!
Okay, so you don't know about that.
What do you know about?
- Not very much in the restaurant business.
- And how long have you owned this place?
- For five years now.
- So five years you haven't learned--excuse me,
folks--in five years,
you haven't learned a [bleep] thing.
Is that what you're telling me?
- Yeah.
- But you learned how to take the money from your father.
That, you learned, didn't you? John, are you here?
- Over there. - John, has he paid you back?
- If he wasn't your son, John, you would have fired him
a long time ago, wouldn't you have?
- Blowing your father's money
didn't mean enough to you to even freaking try.
So do you want to deal with me for the next four days?
Or do you want to keep [bleep] your father?
Which do you want to do?
'Cause I'm not gonna be pleasant!
Welcome to "Bar Rescue," buddy!
- Welcome to "Bar Rescue," buddy!
I'm not gonna be pleasant! Are you prepared to do it?
- Yeah. - Should I even try?
all: Yes!
- Nice to meet you.
- How hard did you work for that money?
- So you worked hard for that money.
- He should be working just as hard to protect it.
- Oh, Ralph, come on over.
Do you realize your father worked his ass off
for this money,
and you're not working your ass off to protect it?
Do you realize how disrespectful that is?
- Yes. - He gave you this money
'cause you're his son.
He wants you to make yourself into something from this money,
not be a [bleep] up. Are you screwing this up?
- Yes. - Tell him so.
For the first time, come clean with him!
Tell him so!
- I can't-- - Take your mask off.
It's your father. You can talk to him.
- For five years, I took your money.
I didn't try, and I failed.
- Yep.
Do you want me to rescue this bar?
- 'Cause I'll do it for you.
- Tomorrow I'll start teaching you
how to be a success. Not for you.
I'll do this for your father. I'll see you tomorrow.
Jerk.
- When Jon called out Ralph,
it was something he needed to hear.
Something needed to be said in front of everybody,
so maybe it will actually make this change.
He will have to step up, now or never.
We can't go any further down.
- To be fair, the guy's not wrong.
He ain't wrong. You know, we're not where we could be.
- I was pretty upset with Ralph last night.
His father John worked for 40 years to earn
that $1/2 million,
and Ralph has no respect for the money whatsoever.
He took his father's money,
and then he didn't even protect it!
Today, I want to get him going,
and I have to challenge him to do so.
I want to just get something out of the way.
I got pissed at you last night,
'cause you freaking deserved it.
Because you took all this money from your dad
and then didn't even try.
Didn't even learn to make one drink.
So you borrowed
$1/2 million from your dad, right?
- Correct.
- How much money have you lost this year, in this restaurant?
You don't know?
- I couldn't quantify it. No.
- Why isn't that important to you?
- Over the last year, I've done what I could.
- "Done what I could" doesn't tell me.
What have you done about it?
- This year, we increased production
on everything that I was doing.
I put my entire soul into this business,
and I started trying to get as--
- Samantha, is he here all the time,
putting his energy into this place
and really working diligently to make it better?
- More so this year than the previous two years
that I was here, but not all the time, no.
- So your employees feel differently.
John, doesn't some of this bother you, to hear this?
He's had no respect of the money
that you've given him. Does that bother you?
- Yep. - Of course it does.
So before your father rests his head
for the last breath of his life,
wouldn't you like him to see you be a freaking success?
- Very much so.
- Wouldn't you like him to see you try?
- Yes.
- Maybe give him a check back and say, "Dad, you really
"came through for me. I worked really hard.
Look! I got profits, Dad!"
How would that feel, Ralph?
- Amazing. - Why the hell don't you do it?
- 'Cause I don't have the skills.
- I'm gonna tell you something.
Running a bar, Samantha, is not rocket science, is it?
- No. - You don't have to go
to school for five years to learn it, do you?
- No. - If he wanted to learn
how to run this place, would he know it?
- Probably. - Of course he would.
There's all sorts of videos online, courses we can take.
You guys agree?
- Absolutely.
- Can you be successful if he doesn't support you?
- No.
- Can we be successful if he doesn't standardize recipes?
- No.
- Can we be successful if our food sucks?
- No.
- So it's all up to him, isn't it?
- Yes.
- What do you think when I say this stuff to him?
- It's been a long time coming.
We needed this years ago. But better now than never.
- Knowing that my crew agrees and I was blind and deaf to it,
I think that's the part
that's kind of, like, the most enlightening.
- You have to face it.
"I've taken my father's money, I didn't learn the businesses,
"I didn't work hard to protect it, and I'm failing.
And my father has lost all of this money because of me."
- Okay.
- Let's get my experts in here, 'cause I want to go to work.
These are two very, very dear friends of mine,
two of my favorite experts in the entire industry.
Jason Santos not only is a hugely successful chef,
but with me, we've been through wars together.
And I had him watch in the control room
with me last night.
Jason, what did you see last night?
- It was just, like, processed, pre-made.
I mean, is there anything in the kitchen
that you actually make?
It's, like, cans of stuff, bags of stuff.
It's shit, you know?
- Mia actually came in and got to watch behind the bar.
- You guys have not been trained, ever, at all.
I don't even know if you have tools back there,
but you definitely know how to use them.
- This is Bar 101 stuff.
This is why I got so angry at you last night.
It's because the simplest of things are not happening, guys.
I want you to see the impact of your lack of management.
This is Partender. Partender's a product that I use.
They come in here.
They weight every liquor bottle in the building, John,
so we know exactly how many ounces of everything we have.
We then come back and weight all the bottles again.
Now we know exactly how many ounces
you consumed of everything, right?
We then compare that against what was actually sold
in the POS system. This was only for several days.
The amount poured at retail value was $10,349.
Revenues were $7,494.
So over that one weekend, we lost $2,855.
You with me? What does the number say for a month?
- 43,300. - $43,300 losses in one month.
Now Ralph, you tell me what the annual number is.
- 519. $1/2 million. - $500,000.
- Ralph, you tell me what the annual number is.
- 519. $1/2 million.
- John.
Absolutely shocked.
- All you have to do to fix that--it's
so easy--have some recipes, and make sure they follow them.
Easy as hell, and I'm 500,000 ahead of myself.
But John, he couldn't even do that.
- You keep writing the checks, so he can keep failing.
You understand that?
And if you stopped writing the checks,
he'd have to stop failing, wouldn't he?
- You done?
- Let's go to work, guys.
- Hey, guys. How are you?
- Hey, chef. - So going into training,
Jon wants me to really give it to Ralph.
Ralph needs a wake-up call, and I'm here to do that.
Watching last night, and seeing all the stuff
going on, you literally
don't make anything in this whole restaurant.
In 20 bar rescues, I have never seen a bar
or restaurant literally not make anything.
I talked to Jon. We're giving you one dish.
I've never given someone one dish.
But that's where we have to start, okay?
So we're gonna do a rip on a mac and cheese.
So it's just spicy chicken over three-cheese
mac and cheese.
So I'm gonna put a little chicken.
So we're just gonna season it.
You go too much, it's gonna be too hot, okay?
I have some pasta here. All I did was blanch it.
I blanched it in salted water.
So I've taken all the work out for you.
I have some simmering water here.
Drop it in. Okay? Portion control.
I know this is a 30% food cost item, okay?
Cheese sauce. Really simple.
Flour, jack, cheddar, American, cream,
spices, cumin, chili powder. Pasta, it's already cooked.
I'm gonna drop it. In. Okay?
You with me so far, right? Nothing crazy.
You see how creamy that is, and delicious?
So I'm go put it in the bowl.
Not gonna dump it. I'm gonna finesse it.
Make it look nice. So spicy chicken on top.
We're gonna add a little parsley to that.
Panko bread crumbs. I toasted them.
A little bit of real butter. A punch of salt. That's it.
And you have this nice, crispy, fresh, it's creamy, homemade.
It's delicious.
You have one dish tonight to master.
I know you can make that,
and if you can't, we have bigger problems.
So I want you guys to try this,
and I want you to tell me
why you think this cheese sauce is better.
- Everything about it is amazing. It's fresh.
The cheese doesn't taste congealed.
- Taste how everything is blended together perfectly.
- Stress test tonight is stressful.
You're gonna be getting pulled in different directions.
That's why we only gave you one dish,
'cause you need to get this right, okay?
So let's get set up. Let's clean the kitchen.
Let's get some stuff going.
And remember, it's stress test for a reason.
Be ready. Go over this in your head.
- All right. - Yes, chef.
- Well, hello, friends.
- Hello. - Hi.
- It's nice to see you again.
Can we talk about last night for a hot second?
- Yes. - Sure.
- You're not set up to be a cocktail bar.
And to be competitive in this market,
you absolutely must have a cocktail market.
Tonight is going to be way harder than you thought
last night was. Get ready.
Forget everything that you think that you know,
and we're just gonna start over.
So we are going to be introducing
a Oaxacan Old Fashioned.
Going to start with three dashes of mole bitters
a half an ounce of agave nectar.
Half an ounce of mezcal,
because it's smoky and delicious.
And then we're going to do an ounce
and a half of reposado tequila.
Ice the glass that it goes into.
Ice our mixing glass. The back of the spoon
is meant to keep in contact with the glass.
We get a perfect pour.
And here we have our Oaxacan Old Fashioned.
- I like that. - Oh, oh, big smile. Big smile.
- I like that one a lot. - This is refreshing.
It's not too sweet. It's not too sour.
And that's the thing about balancing a cocktail
with equal measurements. Ralph, now it's your turn.
- I don't really have a choice to fail.
So this has to be a success.
- So what goes in an Old Fashioned?
- Ooh! He chose wisely.
- After six years, I absolutely should have known
a lot of this stuff.
- How are you going to strain it?
- But I'm here to learn.
- Baby's first cocktail!
We have a lot of work to do.
So let's all get back here.
Let's stock our glassware, straws, napkins,
get everything ready for tonight before doors open.
Okay? - Sounds good. Thank you.
- So picture this as a Friday night, busy Friday night.
Right? We get slammed, but it always ends, doesn't it?
This is gonna end too.
I want to see, for an hour-- I want to see the best you got.
Sam, you need to define your role tonight.
I'd like you to know what the ticket times
are in the kitchen at all times.
Ralph, find the weak spot, and go there.
I want to see what we can do and, even more importantly,
what we can't do tonight. Make sense?
- So tonight, my role is basically to help
in every place I can.
Wherever I need to be, I need to be helping.
If the bar needs something, I need to be with the bar.
If the kitchen needs something,
then I need to be back here with the kitchen.
So I'm as ready for the stress test as we're gonna be.
So I'm ready to start sweating here.
I mean, I already am, but.
- Let them in. Let's do it. - All right.
- Here we go, guys. - All right. Here we go.
All right, everyone, come on in!
[cheers and applause]
- Hey, guys. - Hey, Ralph.
- Welcome, welcome.
- What can I get you started with?
We have to choose from these three drinks tonight.
- All right. - How are we tonight, folks?
- All right. There's one. There's one.
- How we doing? - Good. How are you?
- Hi. How are you?
- How's she doing?
- She's good. - Is there a smile under there?
- There is. - There is? Okay.
- Look at the eyes. Look at the eyes.
- Okay, I can see it in the eyes.
Where are all our table orders?
- Oh, dear. Here we go. - Here they are. Okay.
- There we go. - Who's working on service?
Who's working on the bar? Are we splitting this up?
- Yeah, we both kind of do everything.
- Okay, well, is that working?
- So I have to-- - No. No.
- Not so much at all. - Okay.
- You're now going to be concentrating on all of these.
And Brandie's gonna take over-- - [laughing]
- And let her do the bar. That's right.
- Okay. Oh my God, girl.
- You doubled up! Look at you!
- I did for those too.
- Oh! I'm just tickled!
- This is a really nice staff. I mean, they really care.
They've operated without any leadership at all.
Look at their desire to please. They want to do good.
All they needed was a little leadership,
and they'll get there. Now with the leadership,
it's already starting to happen.
Talk to me, Ralph. How we doing?
- We're a little bit behind,
but we're trying to catch up already.
But it's just the bar's slowing us down,
unfortunately, so-- - It is now?
The food is coming out quicker than the bar?
- Yes, it is. - What do you think?
- You know, actually, we are not behind.
He is behind. The food is up.
It's sitting here. There's nobody to run--he's
the first person that's walked in the kitchen.
- So why doesn't he take a tray with him?
- He took one plate and walked away.
And it's all sitting up here, dying under a heat lamp.
- Doesn't make any sense.
- Jenny and Chet, where are you guys at?
Hold on. Hey, guys. How you guys doing?
You know what? I lost a table somewhere.
Gotta love that. Oh, shit.
- Let me check that ticket.
Oh, no. That's one of Rita's.
- Okay. - Rita. Where we going?
- Who doesn't have a drink? [all speaking at once]
- One more time, 'cause that's hard to believe.
Who still doesn't have a drink?
[all speaking at once]
- Ralph, do you see that? Come on! Let's hustle!
- Ralph, this is your order.
- Those are the two Old Fashions that I just delivered.
- Something doesn't jive here.
More hands went up than we have tickets.
- Yeah, and that's--
- So if they think they ordered,
then something didn't get into the POS system.
You gotta hit each table and see who ordered
and who didn't. That's all I think you can do.
- Yep.
- Honey, you gotta work one ticket at a time.
You can't be jumping back and forth.
And you can't take drinks from other tickets
just to fill your order. - I didn't.
Number one, that ticket's been sitting there for five minutes.
- They all came in at the same time.
- So what's up? What did you guys order?
- We haven't ordered yet.
- You haven't even been-- - No.
No one's touched our table yet.
- Awesome. Even better. So here we go. All right.
- Ralph took the wrong order.
- Yes, Ralph is messing up. He's taking the wrong things.
- So now--
- He doesn't know how to work a service bar.
Everyone is coming up and picking and choosing drinks
for their own tickets and skipping over orders.
They don't know how to work one ticket at a time.
- So which drink goes to which ticket here?
- Well, it's a free-for-all, Jon.
They're just coming up and taking what they need.
- Old Fashioned. All right, cool.
Do you guys want to try the soup?
- 19 1/2 minutes. - 19? And you just ordered now.
- We did. - Yeah.
- Thank you. Guys, I'm really confused.
People have been sitting here for 19 minutes,
and nobody's taken their order. I have a manager
and an owner on the floor. Nobody knows that?
- Actually, I'm very--I'm very aware of that.
- How are we managing this room if we don't know that?
How long did you guys wait to have your order taken?
19 1/2 minutes. Is that acceptable?
- Not at all.
- But it happened under your watch!
Both of you! Two managers, and we still didn't pick it up.
- How long did you guys wait to have your order taken?
19 1/2 minutes. Is that acceptable?
- Not at all. - We need to do better.
- You say that the food often sits in here for 15 minutes?
- That long, at least.
- Oh my God, I've never seen anything like it.
There's no ticket for all this food in the window.
- This bar is a perfect example of a good staff
with no leadership.
If they make the food correctly,
and if they make the drinks correctly,
the biggest challenge of all is getting the right drink
to the right table, and that they can't do.
You got a good team. You have no systems,
no management to this place at all.
You're running around like a bus girl,
bussing tables, getting soda, doing the POS system.
You're running food back and forth.
And we're oblivious to all of the sequencing.
Nobody's managing the experience.
Ralph, you need to let Samantha manage this,
and you need to learn how to best support her.
You with me?
- Yeah.
- We have to work on that tomorrow, big time.
- Okay. - Listen, let's close it.
I've seen what I need to see,
training-wise and operations-wise.
- All right, everybody! We are closing it down!
Thank you very much.
You have helped us with our stress test.
We have been stressed.
Thank you for participating and kicking our ass.
- By the way, they couldn't have kicked your ass
if you didn't bend over
and give them the opportunity to.
This place was poorly-run tonight.
Do you agree? - I agree.
- Okay. That's on you and Sam.
We need to do better. Let's close it down, guys.
Thank you, everyone.
- What the stress test really showed is that
our crew really knows what they're doing.
It's just me that was the problem.
So part of me wants to say that if I step out,
it would be better, but I gotta learn everything
before I can actually make that next step.
- I mean, I just want you to know
that that felt like total failure to me,
and I've felt like that many times.
It's nothing new that he doesn't know
what he's doing here.
I get so frustrated by his lack of understanding
of what's going on here,
that I feel like everything is on me all the time,
and sooner or later, you know, I'm gonna crack.
Or while you stand here,
or while you bullshit with them,
or while you bullshit with--you know.
- Mm-hmm.
- Just, it's not the first time.
- Okay.
- Ralph has a whole lot to learn.
Yeah. I think this is already getting to him.
And I hope it does. I hope it does.
- So after stress test last night,
I definitely have my work cut out for me.
going into training today, I need these guys to have
a little bit of finesse. Gone are those frozen foods.
We're now on to fresh. Hi, guys.
- Hello, chef. - How you doing?
- Doing all right. - So, stress test last night,
I think the kitchen did do okay, you know.
But okay is not good enough. You with me on that?
- Yes, sir.
- Now, we strive for perfection.
Doesn't happen, but we strive for it. Okay?
So the first dish we're gonna do for you
is an amazing bison French dip.
Think of bison as, like, a mild beef.
It's not gamey. It's subtle. It's leaner than beef.
So I'm gonna mask up, glove up.
So I cut it really thin, so it's gonna cook fast.
Salt and pepper, okay?
Because I touched raw meat, I need to change my gloves.
There's no cross-contamination.
All right, French bread. We have real melted butter.
Onion, green pepper, and red pepper blend.
Everything gets salt and pepper.
Then we're gonna put the bison. We don't want to overcook it.
It's about 45 seconds to a minute on each side.
So here, this is a whipped garlic goat cheese.
Smear it on--a little on each side.
Then I'm gonna take the peppers now,
and I'm gonna put my peppers gently on the bun.
So put that bison right on.
Cover this. That's what you want.
You want it to be perfectly mid-rare, just like that.
When the fries are done, a little seasoning salt,
a little parmesan cheese, and a little chopped parsley.
So we give it a toss.
So I'm gonna put my fries in the bowl.
And then--so, same thing.
I took that garlic confit, I took a roasted beef jus,
just simmered it so the garlic kind of broke apart.
I finished it with a little bit of fresh herbs,
and very, very simple.
Why don't you guys take a bite. You can each grab a half.
- That looks awesome. - Tell me what you think.
- I want to eat the whole thing.
- Tastes phenomenal. - Probably the best food
in Maricopa right now.
- I think that the new bison sandwich
is gonna absolutely kill it.
It's something that we haven't had here in this town at all,
and so, like, the fact that we're gonna be able
to do it here at this restaurant
is absolutely unbelievable.
- We got some passion back.
I want you guys to love what you do,
and just give it 100%,
and be better than you were yesterday.
You don't have to be perfect,
but be better than you were yesterday.
All right? So we're gonna relaunch.
We're gonna serve amazing food, and let's do it right, okay?
- Thank you, chef. - Thank you, chef.
- All right. - Well, hello again.
- Hello. - Hello.
- After last night's stress test,
it is abundantly clear
that there are so many things that we can focus on.
Everyone on the team is operating as a single player.
They need to come together
as a unit if this place is going to succeed.
As our single server, I would love to hear from you.
- It was pretty chaotic.
I mean, like, I had a ticket that I took first
that wasn't served until 30 minutes later.
- What I really appreciate in this moment is the fact
that I see you getting emotional about this.
- Yeah.
- You can't help but take it personally.
- Yeah. It doesn't make just me look stupid.
It makes all of us look stupid.
- Everyone is trying to take care
of their own responsibilities
and are not looking at the bigger picture.
And it's going to be about breaking those habits.
And in doing so, we are going to round out our menu.
Shall we?
Here we have a pineapple, carrot, and apple juice blend.
We are doing it with vodka.
Two ounces. Eight count here.
Top with this. Boom.
Keep going.
We are going to garnish with two pineapple fronds.
There we have it.
- Oh, yeah. - Okay. Up next, Ralph.
Please join me, won't you?
As the owner, your job is to back up your staff.
Ralph is a very smooth talker, saying all the right things.
I don't necessarily think that he has the passion
to back up his words.
Six, seven--oh, what are you doing?
It's an eight count! It's an eight count!
What are you doing?
I need to see his words turned into action
moving into relaunch.
We have a lot of work to keep doing.
We have a lot of training to do.
Let's get to it.
- First of all, this is a huge sea of tables.
- Yeah.
- it's like one big room. I mean, it has no intimacy.
The ceilings are high. Then, when you walk in,
they have a hostess counter here,
which takes up all of these seats.
- Yeah.
- It should be moved to the other side,
so we can pick up four sides here.
- Definitely. - Those are probably the most
valuable seats in the whole darn place.
- Yeah.
- We don't even have them available.
Our challenge is what the hell do we do on the ceiling?
So we gotta figure that out,
we gotta figure furniture out...
- Yes. - And get this thing defined.
- Yes. Definitely.
- Let's go to a cool place and do that.
- Okay. Great. That sounds good.
[cheers and applause]
- How you feeling, buddy? - Pretty good.
- Tough week, wasn't it? - Yeah.
- Are you proud of him, John? - Yep.
- He went through a lot, didn't he?
- Yes.
- You know, when I looked at this bar,
I couldn't understand what the bar was,
so I had to create a real concept out of it,
so that it would make sense.
Should I show it to them? all: Yeah!
- Okay, here we go. One! Two! Three!
[cheers and applause]
- Okay, here we go. One! Two! Three!
[cheers and applause] - Oh! Oh, my God.
- You like? - I love it.
- What's The Roost? A character of John Wayne's
in a John Wayne movie.
So John Wayne fans see that sign as one thing, don't you?
And people that aren't John Wayne fans
just see it as The Roost.
- I love it. It blends together
with everything that I originally thought.
- Wait till you see the inside.
- [inaudible].
- Wow. - Oh, my God!
- Oh, my God. Oh, my God. - Oh, my God.
- Look at that!
Look! Really love it all. Look at the stools!
- Barstools are awesome. - I gotta see the bar.
- I love it. I am able to jump high.
But I have bad one leg.
- Well, what do you think? - Oh, wow.
- It's so beautiful! - Love it.
- Wow. - It's gorgeous.
- Thank you so much! - Yes. Oh, my God.
- So beautiful. - I see tears in year eyes.
- I mean, it's just so--I never thought it'd look like this.
- This, I gotta show you.
Will you get on there for me, Ralph?
- Oh, God. - Yes.
- Get up, buddy. - Oh, boy.
- No way. Don't break yourself.
- This is always--this is always--
- There's a step on the side, but that's okay.
- All right. We do it--we do it for real.
- Okay, so what this is... - No way.
- Is this is a shot saddle.
I give a shot to you, and try drinking the shot now.
- Oh, Jesus!
- Oh, yes! Yes!
- So you should be able
to sell hundreds of shots on a weekend...
- With this thing. - On that chair.
I got much more to show you. Come on over to the bar.
I got you six Harbortouch POS system.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Two SkyTabs. Right?
Which work from everywhere, including outside.
I got you two complete workstations.
So we're really set up for speed now, aren't we?
See that unit over there with the blue lights?
- Yeah. What is that?
- It's a Bluezone unit from Middleby.
It removes 99.999% of all the bacteria
and viral particles in the air.
- So we have the safest place in town.
- You bet you do.
Not only do you have Middleby scrubbing your air,
but I got PathSpot for you.
Put your hands underneath it after you wash them.
If there's any viral or bacteria on your hands,
you get a red light. Go back to the sink.
I got Atmosphere TV to curate special video programs for you.
I got you an Orange Door Entertainment System.
52,000 songs, music videos, karaoke.
- Yes. - Everything included.
- That's amazing.
- I got Chargique to give you phone charging plugs
in front of the bar, along with your purse hooks.
- Oh! - Oh.
- And then I got Big Ass Fans, one of my favorite companies,
to give you the evaporator
sitting outside to keep the patio cool.
- That's what that is? - Oh, nice!
- Yes!
- I got you a free subscription to Partender.
- Oh, wow.
- Track those numbers every week.
- I think you should.
- He will do it. - I also got you
Compeat restaurant software.
Keeps you in touch with all your numbers effortlessly.
Think about this.
We have an unbelievable opportunity
to do something wonderful: protect John's money.
Make Ralph a success in the eyes of his dad.
Get the money paid back. Make a lot of money ourselves.
And this bar can be a real centerpiece to this town,
now, can't it? Win for everybody, right?
- Ready to get going. - You bet.
- Aww. - Oh, God.
- Happy Father's Day, from one father to another.
Okay, let's get the bar set, let's get the kitchen set.
Tonight, we start getting them back.
- Yes. - Okay?
- Let's do it. - Get them back.
I think that we're definitely set up for this next phase.
This bar looks absolutely amazing.
- Hey! [cheers and applause]
Congratulations.
- Thanks, Mr. Mayor. - This is awesome.
On behalf of The Roost and the City of Maricopa,
congratulations, Ralph.
- Thank you. - Let's open this.
- Let's do it. Come on. Come on! Come on.
There. Everybody, welcome in.
- All right. You guys, go ahead and look at
this Spring Training drink. It's delicious.
- So we're getting some service tickets?
- We are.
- Okay, so they're ahead of it already.
- Janiece is already taking over the left half of the bar.
We've got our rock star here in service well.
We're getting our first tickets in.
There's a whole room to fill. But hey, we can do this.
- Orders been taken? - Yes, sir.
- So John, you notice, I added four seats.
Each seat's worth about $18,000 a year, so four more seats,
another $75,000 or so in revenue.
- Cheesy Skillet.
- You're actually running food. It's awesome.
- This is-- - You got his table?
- Well, no, this is going to the bar.
- Do what you gotta do. - Got it, sir.
- All right, this is the very first cowboy shot.
Here we go. You ready?
I think my work is done, John.
- Yes, sir. - I did the light lifting.
Now, he'll do the heavy lifting.
You're gonna make this happen, aren't you?
- Oh, you're damn right I am.
- Yeah, I really believe in you, buddy.
This is a little plaque I wanted to give you--
"Rescued by Jon Taffer." I signed it for you.
- Thank you so much, Jon. - Congratulations.
- This is everything to us.
- Congratulations, John. - Thank you, Jon.
- Pleasure, buddy. I'm taking off.
[cheers and applause] - That was rocking it.
- With the success that we're gonna see
and our profits exploding,
that's gonna allow us to pay back all of our debt,
have my dad get a check from me for the first time,
and allow me to actually go to sleep happy and proud.
[upbeat rock music]
♪ ♪