Well, I know how to party.
I know how to club.
I know how to have a good time.
[laughs]
Narrator: For over 30 years, Jon Taffer has traveled
the country, saving hundreds of bars from failure and ruin.
The past few years have been harder on our country
than I've ever seen before.
But now, in a post-pandemic world,
restaurants and bars are seeing a massive surge in business.
Hey, yeah.
And a customer base that has a much
higher expectation for quality food and drinks.
I'm not a huge fan of this.
So, I'm on a mission to save bars
that had been struggling
to keep up with the new landscape of our industry.
all: Yay!
Narrator: So now, Jon is back out on the road.
He's heading to Charlotte, North Carolina
and to the 360 Lounge.
This is a new era for our country,
so we need to raise the bar and rise to these challenges.
Narrator: In 2019, floor engineer, Napoleon Isom,
invested $50,000 of his life savings
to own a local nightclub hot spot, 360 Lounge.
My occupation before this was a mechanical engineer.
A mutual friend of mine knew the actual owner
that owned this place before I did.
And he was looking to get out.
He presented the opportunity to me and I thought,
"Heck, I would love to work for myself."
So I decided to give it a shot.
Narrator: Within two years, Napoleon bought out
his other partners and became sole owner of the nightclub.
Initially, when I purchased this place,
it was 360 Lounge, but I decided to say it was Reloaded.
It was something new.
It was under new management
because the club scene in Charlotte is trash.
When you go to another club,
you get a half-ass bottle service, a bottle show.
They come out and they're like,
[laughs sarcastically]
bottle show, bam, there you go.
And it's, like, "Damn, that's all I get?"
So--and I thought that this would bring
something that Charlotte had never seen or had before.
Narrator: Despite being an avid nightclub patron
as a nightclub owner, Napoleon came up short.
My training program here has went to shit.
[laughs]
I don't bartend, so I don't know
how to make a damn drink.
What do we use the cherries for anyway?
What drink?
There's a lot wrong with the club, I'll be honest.
Uh, like when I think about this place,
it's a DIY nightclub.
We don't have a bar drain.
We have, like, the crappiest well system.
It looks nice aesthetically, but the bones
of it is really some shit.
Look, we've got a cooler right here.
All right? It doesn't work.
Could've used a better equipment, kinda outdated.
Well, it's kind of detached on the wall.
Kind of challenging sometimes.
Napoleon [indistinct] so I just tell him like,
"Look, you don't know everything."
Like, "This is [bleep] up. This is [bleep] up.
You're [bleep] up."
Like, he needs that because when we tell him,
he's like, "Oh, shut up."
Like, "Y'all don't know what you're talking about."
I think my employees would describe me
as a straightforward guy, but an asshole at the same time.
Narrator: And a constantly changing bar staff
has left 360 Lounge Reloaded
without a clear leader or a clear path to success.
Do we need a manager? I think we would need a manager.
'Cause every time we get one, they're just gone.
Narrator: Now, 360 Lounge Reloaded
is losing up to $20,000 a month,
with Napoleon sinking into almost $200,000
worth of debt.
We had to refinance our home.
I had to borrow money from friends
and I don't know what else to do.
It just sucks to kind of see this place
in the state that it's in.
Like, I don't know how much longer I can do it.
Narrator: With just one month left before closing,
Napoleon has decided to pull back the doors,
bust open the books, and make a call for help
to "Bar Rescue".
It's been so bad we probably could've shut
the doors last week.
[glass breaks]
[engines revving]
[indistinct chatter]
You know, we've done a lot of bars.
We haven't done a nightclub together in a while.
No, we haven't.
So, we're in North Lake, North Carolina.
-Okay. -About 10, 15 miles
-out of Charlotte. -Oh, that's big though.
And Charlotte, as you know, is a pretty hip city.
-Yeah, absolutely. -There's a pretty good
late night scene. So, they know a good nightclub.
So that's why I wanted you to come help me with this.
[chuckles] Oh, thanks for having me.
Narrator: For the bar, Jon brings in Derrick Turner,
a mixologist from New York City who's named
the Top Ten Bartender by Time Out Magazine.
Derrick has worked with both craft spirit brands
and major breweries across the country.
So there it is. There's the front.
-360 Lounge. -Reloaded.
So that makes me think they redid the concept, right?
Yeah, exactly.
Look at the place. Red and black?
It just doesn't look inviting.
No, it doesn't.
[sighs] Ah, shit.
Man, this thing is [bleep] up.
So this bar is owned by Napoleon.
-Okay. -There he is.
Ugh. Ugh.
Napoleon is a mechanical engineer.
And a few years ago, he decided he wanted
to be in his own business.
So he bought this bar for $50,000.
He has spent over $250,000.
He has enough money to make it one month.
[bleep] it.
I'm about to grab my fruit tray.
There's J. He's the lead bartender.
But he doesn't wanna be a manager.
You're saying conflicting things.
-Exactly right. -Right.
A lead bartender means you are managing.
You, you have to manage the bar.
You're training and you're doing quality.
So, I'm not quite sure what that means, but we'll find out.
There's Kelsea. She's a bottle girl.
-Okay. -For bottle service.
There's Kianie. She's also a bottle girl.
-Okay. -Everything's in to-go boxes.
Okay.
Sorry.
There's Nick.
He's our cook.
Look at that kitchen, Derrick.
Everything looks dirty. Look at those fryers.
-That oil looks horrible. -Okay.
So, they haven't changed the oil in those fryers.
They haven't cleaned those fryers in God knows how long.
So right away, I can tell the cook's a rookie.
Oh, yeah.
And look at the cans of soda on the bar.
Where's the soda gun?
You're a nightclub and you don't have a soda gun?
The cost of a canned of soda versus a soda gun
-is three to four times. -It's crazy.
So it makes absolutely no sense.
So for recon, I got Shay Farrell.
Shay is a local who's a food blogger
and creates a lot of food and beverage and nightclub
content online.
Narrator: Jon's spies entered
360 Lounge Reloaded,
a small nightclub with an L-shaped bar, a small DJ booth,
and an underutilized kitchen in the back.
So she brought two girlfriends
and I got Chris Oh, our chef.
Narrator: For the kitchen, Jon brings in Chef Chris Oh.
Chef Oh has won multiple cooking competition awards,
authored several books and owns restaurants
in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Hawaii.
His goal is to bridge previously unrelated markets
together through new culinary traditions.
You guys have your IDs?
-[laughs] -Type your name here for me.
Just--yeah, just your phone number.
I got--don't worry about your email. I got you.
Okay.
Why is he getting their phone number?
This is really weird.
-We just can't... -We got your number.
We'll send you a text message.
Okay. Also your Social Security if you really want it.
All right. Let me see. I got you.
I wanna find out what he's doing.
-Okay. -This really bothers me.
-Okay. -I'm going inside right now.
Okay.
That's him. What the [bleep]?
What are you doing?
Getting their IDs for membership.
You know that you're giving him your information for membership?
Not at first.
So you're taking their information
without telling them why?
These people came in here to have a drink.
How do you feel about them taking a picture
of your driver's license?
You don't know who the hell he is.
I would've walked the hell out of here in a minute.
What are you doing?
Here's what I wanna do.
I want you guys to order drinks and food.
Okay? They're here as my guest.
Put your freakin' tablet away.
Let's get a server over here.
Let's get some food and drink orders in.
I wanna see what you guys got.
-Put your-- -Yeah. I'll be taking
-y'all's orders today. -Boy, these are really sticky.
-Yeah, they are. -They are sticky, right?
So I said, "These are sticky." She said, "Yeah, they are."
-I was gonna get a cosmo. -You guys wanna do the cosmo?
Cosmo? Okay.
And I'll take the grilled shrimp salad.
I'll try the margarita.
Okay.
Yeah, we'll do tenders. Yeah, yeah, we'll do tenders, yeah.
All right. I'll put it in for you, guys.
[laughs] Okay. Wait.
-I think that attitude... -How do I make a cosmo?
-We don't got that in here. -It's on the menu.
What?
So the total is gonna be $142.60.
Oh, I got to pay you before I get it?
-Before, yes. -Really?
So we don't, like, run, like a tab.
In order for me to print the ticket to take
to the kitchen and to give to the bartender,
we have to pay first. When we pay,
it prints out a itemized receipt.
So for this entire time [indistinct]
they haven't been making our food yet?
-They don't know, too? -Uh-uh.
-Napoleon. -Yes.
-So I feel like... -So, she has to go
to the POS System,
ring everything in, come up with the total.
Come back to me, get my credit card,
put the credit card in the machine,
print it up, bring it into the kitchen,
bring me back my credit card and my receipt.
That's the way she does an order.
-Is that how it goes? -Yeah.
Is that how it goes? You don't even know?
I do.
Why are you asking her?
It's unbelievable to me that you could own this place
for this period of time and not know shit.
First of all, this whole thing seems
so untrusting, so invasive.
These girls were not comfortable when you walked up to them.
Our menus were another bad swipe against us.
Now she's running back and forth with a credit card, $445.
I mean, come on.
Would you come back to a place that that happened at?
-No, I wouldn't. -Okay.
Well, we now know why you're failing, don't we?
This is the cosmo. Let's get the cosmo.
-Thank you. -Liquid marijuana.
-Yup. -Casamigos.
-This is what? -Margarita.
-The strawberry Henny. -Okay.
Okay, I got to talk to you about this--
-[laughter] ---because that does
---not look-- -This is not it.
--like a cosmo to me.
-Does it taste like one? -Not really.
Is that what you expected a, a liquid--
---No. ---marijuana be?
-No, absolutely not. -Napoleon!
-Oh, man. -What is he asking for?
This is not a cosmopolitan.
It doesn't look like one. It doesn't taste like one.
-How's that? -It's sugar water.
-Sugar water. -Taste it.
You tell me.
Yeah.
-Terrible, right? -Yes.
Try this one.
-Tastes like Kool-Aid. -Terrible, right?
-Kool-Aid. -We're batting a thousand here.
Your food is coming up, okay?
I'm just waiting for them to box everything up, okay?
-Okay. -Box?
-I know. I was [indistinct]-- -Yeah.
[indistinct] this to go?
-We're gonna need to go? -I'm confused.
I bet you're dying to see what they're doing back there,
aren't you?
One thing I know is my kitchen's gonna be straight.
[laughs] Uh, my kitchen is gonna be straight, right?
One thing I know, my kitchen is gonna be good, right?
-Wow. -Whoa.
-Wow, look at this. -Whoa.
Oh, man. Have these ever been cleaned?
I just cleaned it about two weeks ago.
-Uh, no. No. -That is not two weeks.
You did not clean that two weeks ago, man.
-I don't buy it. -No.
It's black mold in your ice machine.
You're gonna freaking kill somebody.
-I just had this cleaned. -Look up in there.
That was not just cleaned. Look up in there.
-You see it? -Yup.
I want you guys to see-- don't drink that.
This is black mold in your ice machine.
The whole ice machine.
The whole bottom of it is filled with this, isn't it?
I just--literally just had it cleaned.
-Not even two months ago. -Did you check it?
'Cause this wasn't literally just cleaned.
Why are these here?
Doesn't it say refrigerate?
-Yes, sir. -We refrigerate it at night.
So this is gonna get bacteria and mold on it, too.
Why are we using cans of soda?
Is there a soda gun back here?
-So it doesn't work? -No, sir.
I've never followed up on it to get it connected.
The soda company will fix this for you, you know that.
And you never followed it up.
So you're pouring soda out of this,
which cost four times what it cost out of there.
I'm blown away by this.
I'm blown away by the fact that you could lose
$200,000,
$20,000 a month you're losing.
And you haven't learned a [bleep] thing.
[glass breaks]
Why should I stay here and do this for you, Napoleon?
I've been trying, like-- the turnover rate
with employees and with getting people that's,
that's, that's committed to doing the job is stressing me.
Well, let me ask you a question.
Look at this place. Would you wanna work for you?
You don't wanna work for somebody else,
but you don't wanna step up and be the man when you work
for yourself?
See, I've worked for myself
since 1986.
I got to make it happen every freaking day.
Over the past two years, you didn't make anything happen.
Why?
I've been doing the best that I can
with all the resources that I have.
I do everything that I can to try to make
this place successful.
Except clean it, make the food good,
and learn to make drinks.
You got to get off your freaking ass and do something.
I better see you clean this place tonight.
When I come here tomorrow, if this place isn't clean,
Napoleon, so help me God, I'm gonna walk out.
-All right. -You go to work
-and I'll see you tomorrow. -All right.
That was an eye opener. I threw my drink away instantly.
I was drinking a Sprite and pineapple juice
with lots of ice in it.
And so, yeah, thank God I haven't gotten sick.
No one's gotten sick so far.
But when I've seen the black mold, I was--
yeah, it took me.
Trying to clean this [bleep] ice machine out.
I paid somebody to clean it.
Obviously, the company that I paid to clean it
didn't do a [bleep] good job.
I wasted my [bleep] money.
This is bullshit. Everybody comes in
and makes money, but they don't [bleep] do
what they're supposed to do
to make sure this place is operational.
I'm gonna try to get this place right,
so hopefully they'll come back in and help us out.
I can't afford for 'em not to.
[tense music]
[indistinct chatter]
[dramatic music]
-Hello. -Hey.
Hey, Jon. How are you doing, man?
Wonderful. How are you?
-Good. How are you doing? -Doing good. How are you?
How do you feel about last night?
I feel pretty good, you know?
You pointed out a lot of stuff that needed to be
pointed out, that need to be focused on.
I think we took the time to knock it out last night,
did the best we could.
And, um, I think we're back, ready for a new start.
Okay. Come on over here. Let's just talk.
I got to find out what the hell is going on here,
so I can fix this.
Your life is on the line, Napoleon.
People tell me you're a good guy.
-Is he? -Yeah.
How much money do you have in this bar?
Let them hear it.
Uh, a hundred and seventy-five thousand.
And how much money you have left?
None. At all.
So, this guy is wiped out.
And how much are you losing a month now?
When I looked at it, it was about 20, 30 grand.
But you guys are still getting paid, right?
You see--you see the issue that I got here?
That's why I got angry at you last night
for a shithole bar.
This guy's life is on the line.
It's not about the dirt at the bar.
It's about his life. You with me, guys?
So, are you gonna help me help him?
Okay. 'Cause I got to find out what's going on here.
So let me start with you, since you're front and center.
-What's your name? -I'm Kianie.
Kianie, why do you think we're not doing well?
You know, kind of just--
I guess he's trying to stay afloat,
so we kind of, like, we put band aids over things.
So I'm not the first person to tell Napoleon these things,
-am I? -Um--
-No. ---no.
No. You're shaking your head no, too.
So he knew the place was a shithole?
And it was dirty. He knew customers thought that.
Yeah.
And you're open four nights a week now?
Well, it's down to three now.
-Thursday, Friday? -Yeah. Yeah, we lost Thursdays
because it was doing so bad.
So, we're just Friday, Saturday, and Sunday now.
So now three nights a week?
-Yup. -So you got to pay the rent
-seven days a week. -Yeah.
Pay for electricity seven days a week.
-Yeah. -And only operate
-three days a week. -Yup.
-That's scary, isn't it? -Yeah, it is.
We haven't met. What's your name?
-I'm Regi. -You know him pretty well?
You've worked for him a long time?
-Uh-hmm. -What do you do here, Reg?
-Uh, I'm a bartender. -Okay.
Same question. Why do you think
-we're doing so bad? -We can't--
we're constantly going through new staff, so it's like,
it's no real training process for the people.
And there's no one to really kind of lead them.
-Yeah. -So, if I asked you
for a margarita and you for a margarita,
would you guys make me the same drink?
-No. -No.
But the fact of the matter is, if you really think about it,
you guys only sell 10 or 15 drinks,
right, over, and over, and over again.
Uh-hmm.
So if you said to them give me a list of our 10
most popular drinks, guys.
And let's standardize those.
-Yeah. -We could've fixed that
-six months ago, right, Reg? -Uh-hmm.
Would you have helped them do it?
-Oh, yes. -Of course you would have.
Would you have helped them do it?
But you didn't act. It's a lack of leadership.
And the result is what you guys are saying.
It's chaos, right?
So Napoleon, this is a defining moment in your life.
You're either gonna go down in flames or you're gonna be
a hero to yourself.
And I hate to say it, but all of that's gonna happen
the next three days.
Either you're gonna pull this together,
leveraging your team to help you do this and me,
or you won't.
If you do, you got a shot.
If you don't, what happens, Regi?
We close, don't we?
Pretty heavy, isn't it?
You didn't realize how far
in debt and such he was, right.
You read it well.
Because I've--I know you and I didn't really know everything.
So--
o that's where we're at, guys. If I wasn't here,
you'd have about three weeks, right?
And then that would be it.
So we're all sort of fighting for our lives, aren't we?
Well, I believe in you guys.
I'm not sure I believe in you, Napoleon, to be honest with you.
So let me bring my experts.
And we've got a lot of work to do.
-Come on in, folks. -If I lose this job,
I could possibly lose my place to live.
So I just want it to get fixed and stay fixed.
Chris Oh is one of the best chefs in America.
I'm honored to have him here with us.
Chris, what do you want to accomplish today?
Well, first of all, we'll make some delicious bomb-ass food.
Make it simple for you.
Quick, easy, fast, hot, salty, sweet, spicy.
Just, just like we're gonna make this club
just rocking in and out.
-So-- -What do you wanna
-accomplish today, Derrick? -Speed, efficiency,
communication. That is key, man.
I mean, that's how you guys make your money.
Just have passion for what you do.
Love what you do.
But also do it right so you make money.
Now, you didn't know any of this,
but as an owner, you should.
I use Partender.
Partender comes in here and they weigh
every liquor bottle behind the bar.
We then let you run for a week.
In your case, it was three days.
-Uh-hmm. -We then come back
and weigh the liquor bottles again.
So we know what was consumed by weight, right?
And we know what was sold by the POS system.
So what Partender does, is it compares the two.
So, over those three days,
we poured $15,786 worth
of drinks at retail value,
at your drink prices. You with me?
We only sold $11,640.
So, $4,000 was lost
in potential revenue in just three days.
You didn't even know it.
Now, in one weekend,
that's $4,146,
in a month it's $16,584.
And I want you to read this number.
What is that one, Napoleon?
It's a hundred and ninety-nine thousand a year.
$200,000 a year being wasted at that bar.
Whether it's over pouring, or down the drain,
or whatever it is,
it happened with you in this room
right under your nose.
$200,000 a year being wasted at that bar.
It happened with you in this room right under your nose.
So even with the volume you have now,
if you didn't sell one more drink,
you would have been $200,000 ahead of yourself.
-Wow. -Who's the idiot now?
I definitely am.
Well, you got a good guy in him.
I believe in him and I believe in him.
So let's get this bar tight.
Right, guys? Let's get this stuff
under control.
And what we pour and what we do behind the bar
is gonna determine whether he gets out of this or not.
Are you guys ready to go to work?
-Yeah. -Okay. Let's do it.
-Thank you. -[claps] Let's roll.
[upbeat music]
What is up, guys?
-Hey. -How we feeling?
Good. Good. Feeling good.
Last night at recon,
the cocktails, what, uh--
what's going on with these cocktails?
I don't even have to taste it to know that
these are not measured properly.
And as a bartender, you have to know how to measure
classic cocktails like the cosmo.
These are classic cocktails that should be known
that are being done completely different
and you're losing out, either way.
Because at the end of the day,
they may be pouring more, pouring less.
You don't know where your cost is going
-and that's a big problem. -Yeah.
So with that being said,
Jon and I want to create cocktails
that make sense for speed, efficiency,
and just look good, and taste even better.
The first cocktail we're gonna be making
is the pineapple mint mule.
You take a nice sprig, slap it.
That's because we wanna get the oils out.
We want people to smell it
before they actually get to the cocktail.
One ounce of pineapple juice,
a half ounce of lime juice, boom,
a half ounce of agave,
and then two ounces of Mr. Tequila.
Ice it up.
We wanna seal 'em still.
This is gonna go inside of a [indistinct] glass.
If you push it, you can actually control the airflow.
Just to balance everything out,
rhubarb bitters, one, two, three.
And if we have mint inside of it,
we're probably gonna go on it with mint, right?
Put the straw.
Place it down.
And ladies and gentlemen, that is the pineapple mint mule.
[upbeat music]
-Well, that's actually good. -Uh-huh.
J, what do you feel about the cocktail?
I like it. It's good.
I think the cocktails that Jon and Derrick created
are definitely exciting.
It's what we need.
They're aesthetically pleasing.
They give the customers, like, that wow factor.
I like that.
So that they can make a post online and take pictures of it.
And it definitely will bring more people in.
Guys, the stress test is coming.
So communicate with each other, learn these cocktails.
Be comfortable with your space and let's do this.
-You guys got this? -all: Yeah.
-You promise? -all: Yeah.
Don't lie to me now because I'mma be here.
All right. Let's get it done, all right?
-[laughs] Okay. -All righty.
Unfortunately, I had the opportunity
to come to your salvage night last night.
It was a hot mess.
I wasn't really, uh, prepared like I should have been.
But that's why I'm here.
Last night at recon,
I've never seen a dumpster fire in person.
The kitchen was a mess.
Kitchen--I mean, I noticed you guys did clean it.
Um, it could definitely be a little bit cleaner, for sure.
Um, so definitely work on that.
Nick, I mean, he's a hope and a prayer.
So what I'm gonna do for Nick in the club,
uh, make some really easy, quick, simple recipes.
We're gonna do the fry shrimp trio
then really keep my fingers double-crossed.
So basically what we have is we have shrimp right here.
We're gonna dust it in some of this cornstarch
and then we dip it into the tempura batter.
Okay. We're gonna drop it in the fryer.
And since this is a shrimp, it'll cook fast.
We definitely wanna get a good crust on it, too.
Just because we are gonna sauce it again.
-Oh, cool. -All right.
So what we're gonna do is we're gonna--
we'll throw it in there. I mean, take a look at that.
-I mean, look at... -Uh, it looks beautiful.
-Right? I bet. -Yeah.
Okay, cool.
So mix a little mayonnaise, little wasabi, honey.
Just toss it.
The heat of the shrimp is actually gonna kind of
melt the sauce into the crust.
All right. And into the boat, like so.
Ooh, walnuts for a little extra crunch.
And then lastly, some chives.
-Shrimp baby. -Wow.
Fried shrimp.
Hmm, it was great working with Chef Chris.
I like spicy and I like the--
also the sweetness with the spicy.
-Well? -It's great.
Under five minutes for each dish,
we have the shrimp out. And then you have the--
the bottle spark in the other hand
and we're taking it out just like that.
All right, fellas.
So tonight is stress test,
show Jon that you guys are definitely worthy
of owning a successful bar.
-All right. Sound good. -All right, fellas.
You got this. I got you, guys. Come on.
[upbeat music]
Hey.
Hey, Jon.
-How you guys doing? -I'm good.
Why do you look so scared?
[laughter]
Come on over. Let's talk.
Well, I have 20 people coming in.
Each of them are gonna order two drinks.
Is that unreasonable, Reg?
-No. Not at all. -No, right?
-Fair? -Fair.
Forty drinks.
I'm gonna put 40 minutes on that clock ticking down.
You got to help them get these drinks out, Napoleon.
-All right. -Fast as we can.
You girls got to get them to the tables as quick as we can
and get back for the next one.
-You with me? -Yeah.
The faster you are, the more money you make, right?
Yes.
Every person's gonna order food at the same time
they order their drinks.
Are you organized and ready for that?
I think so. Definitely.
Okay.
If this is your passion, I wanna see that tonight.
-You with me? -Yup.
-You guys ready? -Yes.
Okay. We open in a couple of minutes.
Thank you.
Hey, guys.
Door is open, man. Come on in.
All right. All right.
-How y'all doing? -How you doing?
All right. Good, man.
Appreciate you all coming out.
Yeah.
Yo. What's going on?
-How you doing? -How you doing, man?
Today, we have a specialty menu.
We have three drinks on there.
-Oh, hey there, pretty lady. -Hi.
-People coming in, yeah? -Yeah.
You ready to go?
Yes, sir.
Game time.
All right, guys. I'm starting the clock.
Here we go.
Forty minutes to serve you.
I'm gonna get the Shrub and Bub, and The Mystic.
A Shrub and Bub, and The Mystic?
And just wanna pop it right here.
Guys, you got to get food orders in.
Don't forget.
Two ordered Rio Boneless.
You got this, Nick?
Yes, sir.
Okay.
I don't think he's got this.
Flip it the other side, it's upside down.
Did you start your stopwatch for me, one of you?
Sure.
I'd love to know how long it takes you can get a drink.
Reg, you keep that glass on top.
Ice should be less.
You're right.
Come on, guys. We got to move.
There's a lot of people with no drinks on their table.
All right. Where you want this?
On the left, Nick?
Yeah, left going right.
All right. Got you.
You guys, how many drink we got out, two?
We have, like, two cocktails out now.
So we got two drinks out.
Guys, we've got to move.
So we're already down four minutes,
we've put out two drinks,
so we're running at 50% of what we should be already.
The next 10 minutes are everything.
Either the bartenders catch up or they fall behind that.
Got anything coming up, yet?
-Not yet. -All right.
[indistinct chatter]
Seriously, we got to move. We have to hustle.
-Napoleon? -Yes, sir.
Everybody's taking care of the bar,
but nobody's sending any drinks out to the tables.
That's what we're waiting on now.
I'm trying to get the orders coming up.
So you go to tell the bartenders.
You got to--there's no excuse.
I want the bartenders to focus on these drinks,
so that they can get the tables going.
Regi, what you got going on there?
You got my mystic coming up?
[indistinct chatter]
Regi, you got to keep your stuff on the bar, brother.
Here's the Asian boneless wings.
Yes.
Top it off. Come on. We got to--you got to hustle.
There we go.
[indistinct chatter]
Twelve, six, three.
All right.
[indistinct chatter]
Come on, guys.
You can do this. Let's go.
[indistinct chatter]
Can I just get a mystic, please?
Uh-hmm.
[indistinct chatter]
Yeah, I love [indistinct]
Okay. We're down to 30 minutes.
All right, Nick.
Yeah? I need a, a quick order.
Fried shrimp.
These shrimp right here
and these shrimp tacos is undercooked.
No, no, they're, they're just not cooked as [bleep]
Let me fry one up.
Ready.
You know [indistinct]
Come on, guys. We're running the clock out there.
Let's get the food out. Are we close?
-One of our fryers went out. -Fryer went out.
I don't know how to get it back on.
Come on, guys. We're running the clock out here.
Let's get the food out. Are we close?
-One of our fryers went out. -Fryer went out.
I don't know how to get it back on. Sorry.
-Is this one still going? -Yes.
So what do we have yet to cook?
-Two order wings. -Two orders of wings.
Well, get them into one that's working then.
You have another basket there. Let's get going.
Come on, guys. Move this.
The clock is ticking.
Down to 24 minutes.
Who has gotten two drinks?
Who hasn't?
One, two, three, four, five, six.
Wow, we're almost there, guys. Two more to go.
[indistinct chatter]
Yeah. There we go.
There we go. There we go.
We've got about eight more drinks to serve.
If we do it in time, they can make it.
How long?
Nine minutes and forty--okay.
Now, let's say this wasn't going on tonight
and you went out.
The two of you went out for a drink.
Would you wait 10 minutes for a drink?
No, I probably would have got up and went out the bar.
Right. You would have given up at that point?
So you would have gotten frustrated?
-Oh, yeah. -Okay.
There you go. Fried shrimp.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
Let's go, guys. We have two more drinks to go.
We make time.
Now, the issue is in the kitchen.
We don't have no table number on here,
so I don't know where this goes.
Table 11, I don't see it nowhere.
And she says she put a order in.
-Table 11 and 12. -11.
If you're sitting right here and 11 says 11 or is that 12?
-That's 12. -Just 12?
Okay. I still don't see it back here.
Okay. It's gonna be a little bit longer on the [indistinct] okay?
Who's still waiting for food?
-Oh. -Okay. I'm sorry about that.
Almost everybody.
Well, you guys beat the kitchen. That's the good news.
So the food is taking 40 minutes
to come out of the kitchen.
The drinks? We served everybody.
Yup.
So you guys did great. Really well done.
[applauding]
So, Regi, Jeremiah.
Right? They pulled it off.
The problem is, who doesn't have food?
-[indistinct chatter] -Bingo.
So the kitchen blew it tonight,
but you guys really stepped up, so I could shut it down.
But you guys look too hungry, so we're gonna let you eat.
But as soon as you eat, let's get out of here.
We got to remodel this place, okay?
So we pulled it off time-wise in the bar, not in the kitchen.
There's a lot of work to do here, procedurally.
The waitresses are running back and forth needlessly.
The bartenders don't have the right systems
behind the bar to function properly.
The kitchen is a complete disaster.
And candidly, Napoleon tried tonight,
but he really didn't accelerate the process much.
I have to make him effectual after we fix all these things.
What's up?
Coming out of stress test last night,
it's very important that we get these bartenders on speed.
We get these bartenders on communication.
Just overall learning these cocktails.
Crazy night last night, yeah?
-Yeah. -You guys hustle.
You got the heart, everyone.
So I'm not worried about that.
I'm just worried about dialing in.
So you guys are great.
Okay. So we're gonna start off with the berry boss, okay?
Okay.
So we're gonna have three fourths of an ounce of aloe water.
Three fourths of an ounce of pomegranate juice.
Three fourths of raspberry, and then two ounces of cognac.
All right.
And then, blood orange on top.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is berry boss.
-It's good. -Ladies, you could sell that.
That's good.
-Napoleon, what do you feel? -I like it.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
-J? -I like it.
-You can sell that? -Uh-hmm.
-Regi? -All right.
So we have a lot of work to do.
I believe in you guys, you believe in me.
Let's do it.
All right.
-Let's go. -Let's do it.
[dramatic music]
Last night, I saw Napoleon working hard.
But I don't know if his passion has been fully reignited.
So I'm gonna sit down and talk to him one on one
to drive home the fact
that in order to successfully run this business,
his connection with his customers
has to be his top priority.
What did you learn last night?
I learned that it's, it's a lot of work in,
you know, really leading and guiding the bar.
-It really is. -You worked hard last night.
I wanna teach you to work a little smarter.
Okay.
These next few weeks are gonna be everything to you.
Uh-hmm.
Do we have that fire in your belly?
Because you got to work your butt off these next few days.
I do. I do.
You know, it's interesting, as an engineer,
there are certain design approaches
-that are used all the time. -Uh-hmm.
Right? We don't have to reinvent the wheel.
-Right. -Right?
Same thing in a bar business.
You tried to reinvent the wheel.
With the tablet and take the card,
and do the tabs, and run payment.
-Right. -Don't.
Make it customer-friendly.
-Okay. -Not Napoleon-friendly.
-Right. -You with me?
-Yes. -Hospitality.
That's where you were lacking.
I lost that along the way,
I guess because I get so bogged down
with where I was with the bar
and financially and everything.
The next few weeks,
try to put the debt out of your mind.
-Okay. -Focus on your customers.
-Okay. -Focus on your employees.
That's your ticket out, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
So work this baby tomorrow night.
-Okay, buddy? -Yes, sir.
All right, buddy. Let me go back to work, okay?
All right. Thanks.
Looking back at my system that I had in place,
I really set myself up for failure.
When Jon spoke about connecting, it makes sense.
I'm gonna shake hands with people tomorrow.
I may dance. I can't dance, but I may dance.
[laughs]
But I'm gonna do a lot of smiling.
You're gonna see a guy that's more focused,
that's ready to connect with my customers.
I just want everything that I can to make them comfortable
and convenience them while they're there.
[dramatic music]
[upbeat music]
[cheering]
[applauding]
Pretty intense week, huh, Napoleon?
Yeah, it has been.
Yeah. It had started pretty heavy, huh?
-It was different? -It was--it was a little hard.
It was a--it was a little bit more intense
than I thought it was gonna be.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
What were your biggest lessons?
To focus on having the right structure,
having the right functions in place.
What'd you learn about your team?
I learned my team is pretty strong
and they're very supportive.
-Yeah, they love you. -Yeah, they love me.
-And they love each other. -Yeah, definitely.
So look what happened with a little training.
Yeah.
How everybody came to life, got excited.
There's a new energy, isn't there?
-Yup. -Yeah.
I bet you guys are tighter than you've ever been, too,
-after that? -Yeah.
Which is hard to say,
because you were pretty tight when we started.
Right.
-You guys ready to see it? -Yeah.
-You sure? -Yes.
-You guys ready? -Yeah.
All right, here we go.
One,
two,
three.
-[cheers] -Oh, shit.
Oh, my [bleep] God.
-You sure? -Yes.
-You guys ready? -all: Yeah.
All right, here we go.
One,
two,
three.
[cheering]
-Oh, shit. -[applauding]
-Yes. -[indistinct] yeah.
-Wow. -Rio.
-Man, look at this. -Party town, isn't it?
-Yes. -It is.
-Diversified as hell, isn't it? -Yeah.
Anybody can have a great time in Rio.
-Right. -But when I say Rio,
you can picture something, Jeremiah, can't you?
You start to visualize things, right, Reg?
So now, you have a brand that starts you over again.
But the inside has to connect to this brand.
-Definitely. -Definitely.
-So, you guys ready? -Yeah.
All right, go ahead.
[indistinct chatter]
Oh, my God.
[indistinct chatter]
-Oh. -Wow.
-Oh my God. -Oh, damn.
Holy wow.
This goes hard.
Like oh man.
Wow.
It's nice.
I walked in and it was like 360 who?
360 what?
No, baby. We in Rio, okay?
I'm, I'm--I can't even--
I don't even have the words for it.
I--I am so happy with this change.
-They spoiled us. -Yes.
Oh.
[indistinct chatter]
You guys like it?
-Yes, love it. -I love it.
Thank you.
When the lights come down,
this takes on a whole new dynamic,
so there's a lot more to show you, guys.
Come on over to the bar. Grab a seat.
I didn't know what to expect, but I never imagined this.
So it--it exceeded my wildest dreams.
-That's nice on the boogie. -Very nice.
Now, you didn't have those bar seats before.
-No. -No.
So for the first time, you guys can build
a relationship with people at the bar.
Who is that?
This is a PathSpot.
This PathSpot scans your hand of any bacteria or viral matter.
Then, I got you guys a SkyTab system,
best POS system out there.
I got you one, two, three.
And I got you SkyTabs,
so running back and forth to the table no more.
Then I got barproducts.com
to set you guys up with everything,
glassware, mixing supplies,
everything you could possibly need behind the bar.
Then I got Manitowoc
to give you a brand new ice machine.
-Oh, my God. -Remember the first one?
-[laughter] -Yes.
Okay, so keep this baby clean. You with me?
Then I got Denver Equipment in Charlotte
to give you the low boil refrigerators
you need in the kitchen to get the kitchen set up.
Then, I also got Partender.
Remember those numbers I showed you?
So I got you free subscription.
So you can do inventory anytime you want.
This is one of my favorite things.
I got you an orange door entertainment system
and a DJ booth.
It's a computerized DJ.
Now, when you don't have a DJ here,
you can have a custom music program.
Then, I got Club Cannon CO2,
a two cannon CO2 system.
[machine blows]
Wow.
That'll wake you up, huh?
I think Regi almost had a heart attack over here.
[laughs]
-How you feeling Napoleon? -I'm overwhelmed.
-I love it. -You love it?
Yes.
All right. I believe in all of you.
So let's do this tonight.
Let's make him proud, okay?
-Let's do it. -Okay.
Hi, guys.
Come on in. We're open.
[cheers and applause]
[upbeat music]
Cheers. So it's gonna have all of these.
-Yeah. -Mixed together.
You wanna do the sampler tower?
[indistinct]
Oh, no. We're in the weeds, we got two tickets.
[upbeat music]
I just wanna come up here today [indistinct] and sit at least.
You need to talk to people.
Interact with people, makes the job much better.
And keep them drinking.
So that's going to table 20.
-Table 20. -Yup.
Two tickets.
Serve the whole room, guys, in 20 minutes.
-Everything. -Yeah.
Unbelievable.
I got to tell you, it's a great turnaround.
When you see a mess
that you turn into something that's organized, efficient,
a cook who's smiling, putting out great food,
that's the great feeling
when the employee believes in what he's doing, that happens.
I got to say I'm really proud of this team.
Three days ago, this was a nightmare.
We couldn't get through stress test.
Kitchen didn't work. There was no setup.
Tonight, food came out quickly.
Looks great. Presentations are great.
We got rid of those cardboard boxes.
And the two bartenders served the entire room.
-Heck of a week, huh? -Yeah.
-Look at your beautiful bar. -Yes.
-And then look at your food. -I love it.
You presentations.
I love it, Jon.
Did I set you up for success?
You did. Yeah, you did.
You're a good guy. You deserve this, buddy.
Thank you.
All right. Now, it's up to you.
Yup. Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah. You're welcome, buddy.
Thank you.
Take care. Bye, everybody.
[upbeat music]
Promotional consideration provided by
Partender, PathSpot, SkyTab POS,
Lowery Brothers Plumbing, Bar Products, The Degenerate.
Manitowoc, The Ice Trade, Denver Equipment Company,
Orange Door, Club Cannon, One Stone, and ESRI.