Interviewer: What do you guys argue the most about?
Not following instructions.
Carl: Not following what I do, what I say.
Steve: Not saying you're wrong because you're the boss.
But there are some things here that could be upgraded.
- Wrong. - [bleep] it.
I'm-- I'm done with this interview.
I'm not gonna talk about this.
Dad, you can't keep doing this to your kids.
- Wanna bet! - We're there for you.
I don't want you doing this shit!
Carl: Just listen. - I'm done talking about this.
[dramatic music]
That's how it goes.
King: For over 30 years, Jon Taffer has traveled
the country saving hundreds of bars from failure and ruin.
Jon: I started rescuing bars decades ago
because they're part of the backbone of America.
Let's go. We doing it! We're doing it.
But as the industry continues to explode,
the amount of failing bars is increasing at an alarming rate.
[dramatic music]
When do I have you say, that's not gonna work?
So I'm on a mission to save
as many bars as possible and give worthy owners
a second chance at success.
I'm gaining more respect for you by the minute.
King: Now John's headed to Pompano Beach
Florida to rescue Dr. Philgoods Sports Bar.
We are determined to raise the bar
and rise to the occasion.
King: The 2003 season, bar owner
Carl Johnson purchased Dr. Philgoods,
a sports bar that had been operating since 1986.
I've been owning bars for almost 40 years.
Dr. Philgoods, it had a reputation
that it was a late night place, and it was very busy,
and I saw our potential to double or triple
the income, which I did.
King: Dr. Philgoods, like many of Carl's
previous bars, was very successful
under Carl's watchful eye as owner manager.
King: About two years ago,
Carl's family was rocked
by a health emergency that required him
to shift focus away from his bar.
And here we go.
I used to be here almost
16 hours a day, every day.
And then my girlfriend had a stroke,
and I had to cut that time down to about four hours a day.
It's not easy, is it?
But you mean more to me than anything. You know that.
It's very... tough.
King: To help him manage the bar,
Carl looked to his two adult children,
Steve and Patty, for assistance.
I worked for my dad for about 15 years cooking for him.
I'm here seven days a week.
I came down here about a year ago.
I'm here to be here for my dad
and my brother and Theresa.
[tense music]
I just love my dad too much.
I'll do anything for my dad.
King: But the family's larger than life
personalities have clashed at every turn.
You don't let go! That's the truth!
- I don't wanna hear it. - Yeah, of course you don't.
You never wanna hear it.
We argue about everything.
Aggravation and aggravation every day.
Dad, I follow your instructions every [bleep] day.
- No you don't. - Yes I do.
There's a lot of conflict to where they butt heads.
Patrons definitely feel uncomfortable
with them yelling and screaming, and they leave.
King: And with Carl and his kids distracted
by their own drama, standards have split at the bar.
Supposedly, this was a whiskey sour.
King: In order to save Dr. Philgoods'
and heal his relationship with his family
Carl has agreed to pull back the doors,
bust open the books, and make a call for help to "Bar Rescue."
Carl: I built this. I made this what it is.
I would hope... that it carries on.
I love you with all my heart and soul.
And I gave up everything for you, for what?
For what?
[glass shatters]
[tense music] Jon: So here we are in Pompano Beach.
This is Dr. Philgoods.
So Dr. Philgoods was originally opened in 1986.
So this has a rich history as a bar.
Carl bought it about 20 years ago.
And he's got almost $800,000 into this thing.
Wow.
King: For the bar,
Jon brings in Rob Floyd
from being a cocktail ambassador
with Princess Cruises
to a cocktail director with five resorts,
Rob has influenced the culture of mixology
across the country with his dynamic approach
to recipes and customer interaction.
Get the inside.
Jon: Those green walls Rehab, I.C. Unit, Emergency.
So is this a hospital concept, a medical concept?
Is that what they're trying to do, Dr. Philgoods?
But the outside said Sports Bar.
Why would a sports bar have rehab, emergency,
and an I.C. Unit in it?
- Yeah. What's that all about? - No idea.
King: For the kitchen,
Jon brings in Jason Santos,
one of Boston's most creative and charismatic chefs.
Chef Santos is a published cookbook author,
as well as owner and operator
of five successful restaurants
in the Greater New England area.
[tense music]
Carl's, 75 years old. There he is.
- Yeah. - How's Theresa doing?
- Is she walking yet? - No.
Jon: Carl's girlfriend. Her name is Theresa.
She had a stroke.
She's now in a wheelchair.
So Carl has to take care of Theresa
and take care of this business.
Go see if Steven needs some help.
I know, I'm waiting for the sliders and all that.
There's Patty. That's Carl's daughter.
I'm doing the best I can.
Jon: So Patty moved down here about a year ago
to help her dad with both the bar and with Theresa,
but with no bar experience at all,
it looks like she's only getting in the way.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
Jon: That's Steve, Carl's son.
Steve is the cook. Been there for years.
Patty: How you doing, bro? - Get out.
Steve: I don't need-- I don't need you in the kitchen.
- Well, dad wants me down here. - No, I'm fine, I'm fine.
I don't need help.
[music continues]
Already screwed that up.
Jon: There's Debbie, she's one of the bartenders.
Here we go, guys.
And here's Nikki, the other bartender.
Jon: The bar top is really nice.
Looks like there's nice equipment behind the bar.
Place does not look disorganized.
And I must say, Jason, it's a cleaner kitchen
than you and I have seen in the past.
It is. For sure. Definitely noticeably clean.
But they don't have the environment
to solve their family problem.
Carl: Stay out from behind there.
Stay out from behind there.
I'm not in there.
[tense music]
Jesus Christ.
They seem so angry.
Jason: Yeah, they look miserable.
Rob: Don't they? Jason: Yeah.
So for recon, I got Guy and Helen Alexander.
Ten years ago, Guy and his mom, Helen, owned a bar
in North Carolina called Character Quarters.
They were having incredible family problems.
Everybody was fighting. It was a nightmare.
It's time to go home.
- Yeah. - Your retirement's not here.
You laugh though, like, this is funny, man.
Guy, you hire and fire, everything fricken changes.
Jon: I went in there, got the family
to support each other and turned it into Moonrunners.
Still very successful.
They're about to open two more locations,
but they understand the family dynamic in
running their business. They've been through this before.
That's why I thought Guy and Helen would be helpful.
- How you doing? - How you doing?
- Hey. How are you? Debbie: Good.
Uh. Drink menu?
Uh, we do not have a drink menu.
- Do not, okay. No. Uh-- Helen: What do you got in there?
I have bottle beer. I have, uh--
What do you want? You'll do Manhattan?
- I'll do Manhattan. - Can I do a old fashioned?
- Old fashioned and Manhattan? - Yup. Yes, please. Thank you.
I don't know if I have all the stuff for that.
First product she went to sell is bottle of beer.
What is the product behind the bar that has the least margins?
Bottled beer.
That's the last product she should be recommending.
Jon: We make twice the dollars and cents
on a cocktail that we do a beer.
So right out of the gate they
don't know how to sell effectively.
Yeah.
How about these pours, Rob?
Rob: Whiskey and cherry juice.
That is not a Manhattan.
I'm not quite sure what the hell that is.
Jason: That isn't anything.
[ice rattling]
Rob: What color is that? Jon: Oh, my God.
[groaning] Oh. Oh.
Jon: That looks like a lousy cosmopolitan.
- This is the Man-- - It's a Manhattan. Yeah.
Oh, okay. W-- what does she put in it?
- It's red. - It's very red.
Wow.
[tense music]
[groans] Oh. Dreadful.
I don't think I'm gonna be able to drink this.
You know, if you serve a sweet drink, nobody's drinking it.
Nobody's eating anything. There's no balance.
They have no idea what they're doing.
Okay, here comes the old fashioned.
Jon: That's being poured into a mixing cup again.
What is she doing with this old fashioned junk?
Jon: I'm not quite sure what she's doing yet.
- He-he. - Right.
- Okay. It's in a plastic cup. - Yeah.
It looks like a tequila sunrise.
Helen: Yeah. - Oh.
Oh, my God, it's so bad.
- Is it that bad? - It's terrible.
Jason: This is insane. Rob: This is awful.
- I can't even drink this. - Unbelievable.
Can we also order some food too?
Guy: I'm gonna do a ten count of buffalo wings.
Yeah, we'll do a Philly. I'll do the cheesesteak.
- Yeah, Philly cheesesteak. - Philly cheesesteak.
Steve: That's a Philly cheese..
What's-- what's Steve doing?
Yeah, I think, yeah.
Jon: Okay. He nuked the bun. Steve: Here we go.
Nuking that bread takes the moisture out of it.
Yeah, it dries it out.
Jon: So now when you toast it it's gonna be brittle.
It's not gonna have the softness. Right.
Jason: No butter. No anything. Jon: Yeah.
Rob: Oh, look at that.
If you bought a steak yourself.
- Yeah. - Slice it yourself.
- Wouldn't it cost you less? - Uh, easily.
Easily. You're paying for them to cut it.
Jason: And it's processed and formed.
It's frozen. The bread is microwaved.
I mean, this sandwich has no chance of success.
Steve: Here we go. Here's the last of the order.
- Food doesn't look good, chef. Jason: No, not at all.
- We got a Philly. Helen: Me.
Helen: Thanks. - Okay, and wings?
- Yes. Thank you. - Here we go.
[tense music]
My wings are just drowned in the sauce.
I can't eat this. This is nasty.
- Ugh. - Oof.
There's nothing great about
anything that they're doing.
Patty: How are your tater skins?
Hey, dad!
'Cause I buy all top quality food.
- Dad! - These are not frozen stuff?
- No. - It's real stuff.
Patty: Dad!
Carl: What? See me talking?
Okay. Don't worry about your food then.
[bleep] rude.
[intense music]
- We got a lot to fix here. Rob: Yes.
Jon: We gotta reconnect this family
and get them working together again.
And get Carl home to Theresa where he belongs.
- Uh-oh. - Scooby dooby doo.
Jon: You know what, guys?
I wanna talk to Patty before I talk to Carl.
I'm gonna go pull her aside and have a heart-to-heart.
I wanna figure out what's going on with this family.
Why are they in this situation?
- Okay. - I'll see you guys later.
[dramatic sting]
[intense music]
[dramatic sting]
Patty: Jon Taffer is here.
- Hi. Patty: Hi.
- I wanna talk to you. - Okay.
Let's go in the back.
Okay.
What's going on here?
[tense music]
Patty: His family is here to help him with his business.
He won't let go.
He wants to be in control of everything.
Anything I say is not good enough.
He's a control freak.
Jon: So you don't get along with him now?
Patty: I want us not to fight.
I don't want the drama. I don't want the arguments.
I'm here to be here for my dad,
but sometimes I just wanna throw it all in
and just go back to my kids.
So this situation is ruining your family.
The dynamics needs to be fixed, John.
[intense music]
I got a lot of work to do. I got to fix this for you.
[music ends]
[glass shatters]
I got a lot of work to do. I got to fix this for you.
[sentimental music]
[Patty crying]
I'm gonna go talk to your brother now. Thank you.
[tap water running]
- Steve. Steve: Yes.
- Hello. - Jon Taffer.
- Good to meet you. - Good to meet you.
So you came down to help your dad?
You've been here with him for 20 years.
Yes, yes.
I understand your dad can be a
little thick headed sometimes.
Old school, yes. Very old school. Yes.
He's very old school. So if you had some good
ideas, he's not so interested in hearing 'em?
Steve: Well, yeah, exactly.
I'm not asking for full control,
just some input on things.
I just want this place to be better.
I'm here to help your family and your bar.
- I appreciate that. - Come out.
I wanna talk to you and your dad for a second.
Ask, I wanna... ask Debbie.
- Okay. - Ask Debbie.
- John, how are you? - Good to meet you.
Come in the back, let's talk for a little bit.
Sure. Okay.
[music fades]
So I know about Theresa at home.
Yes.
I'm guessing when you're here, you feel guilty.
- 'Cause you're not with her. - It's tough.
When you're with her, you feel bad 'cause you're not here.
Either way, you're in a lousy spot.
- Yes, I am. - Right? I get that.
So, bars can do two things.
They can break a wallet, or they can break a family.
Is your family broken?
[somber music]
- It is. - Yeah.
It's a very difficult situation now.
Carl: You know, it's tough.
- We need to fix this, don't we? - Right.
We have to change this dynamic. We have to work together.
Some of this is gonna be hard.
Some of this is gonna be a little painful.
But when I leave, I guarantee you, I can fix this.
I can open up this communication for us.
Are you willing to try and do what it takes?
- I am totally in for it. - Are you?
- I wanna carry my dad's legacy. - Yes.
Are you ready to do what it takes?
- Yes. Jon: Okay.
Guys, we got a lot of work to do tomorrow.
The food sucked and the drink sucked.
- Oh, did it? Jon: It did. It sucked.
So we have to do a couple of things here.
We gotta up our game,
and we gotta fix this family.
Okay, I'm ready to dive in tomorrow. Are you?
- Let's dive in, John! Jon: Okay. See you tomorrow.
Carl: Okay. Thank you. Patty: Thank you.
Patty: Hearing Jon saying we're gonna fix this
and fix this family unit.
[soft music]
That gives me the greatest hope in the world.
[sighs]
[music fades away]
[upbeat music]
Jay: What happened when Taffer came in last night?
Definitely was a little bit stressful.
Debbie: A little bit of a mess to, you know.
I'm sure there will be a thing or two to say about us tonight.
But I'm definitely glad you're here tonight.
We'll see tonight, unless it takes longer than Steven
to get the food out, so it's gonna be even worse.
They have different styles. They have different styles, so.
Jon: Last night I saw a family in crisis.
But I also saw a failing bar.
Food wasn't good. Drinks weren't good.
Employees don't seem to be managed.
Carl's walking around like he owns the place 'cause he does,
but he's not managing anything.
Today I gotta fix the family, but I also gotta fix the bar.
- Where's Steve? - He came down very sick.
He can't even get out of bed.
So what are we gonna do in the kitchen?
The other girl, Alissa. She's on her way here.
Is she good?
- Yeah. - We're gonna train her.
She's gonna have to train Steve, isn't she?
She's good at that.
Jon: Okay.
- What's your name? - Jay.
Jon: How long you been here, Jay?
- Um, about 18 years. Jon: Long time.
- Yeah. Jon: What do you do here?
- Bartend. Jon: Bartend? Hi.
Jon: What's your name? - Hello. Debbie.
I've been here three years.
- Three years and bartend? - Yes.
- Hi. - Nikki.
Jon: Hi, Nikki. How long you been here?
- Eight months. - You're the newbie.
- I am the newbie. Absolutely. - Okay.
Is this bar more or less organized than others
that you've worked at?
Believe it or not, but it actually is probably
the cleanest and most organized bar I've ever worked at.
I think it is clean and I think it is organized.
Jon: I think on the surface you're a great operator,
but when I get into it, you're not.
Jon: Let me share with you why.
Last night there were two friends of mine
that came in that sat at the bar.
They said, "Do you have a drink menu?" You said, "No.
Would you like a bottled beer?"
Bottled beer is the product we make the least money on
of everything in this place.
The last thing in the world you wanna sell is bottled beer.
Bottled beer runs a cost of about 30%.
Draft beer runs a cost of about 21%.
Cocktails will run across the ones
I'm gonna put in of 14% of twice the price.
Anytime you sell a beer instead of a cocktail,
you're screwing yourself and the house.
Nobody's been trained how to sell here.
Next, you don't manage.
So I sent in my own team.
Partender. They weigh every liquor bottle in the building.
Then we let you operate for a few days.
Then we come back and we weigh everything in a building.
I then match it against a cash register.
In one weekend, we poured $15,000 worth of alcohol.
Out of the 15,000 that we poured, we sold 10,500.
[tense music]
When I look at that, it's $4,500 loss in three days,
$18,000 losses in a month.
And how much in a year, Patty?
215,000.
Jon: $215,000.
You don't manage shit.
That's why I say it looks like you run it well, but you don't.
You're dumping your profits down the drain.
What are you gonna do?
Do you wanna run this place
when you're 80?
I would like to retire now.
So how do you make that happen?
By hiring the right people to do the right job.
Jon: Yeah.
Let me ask you a question.
Why don't you trust your daughter to run it?
[tense music]
Carl: Why?
[Carl smacks lips]
Her actions. Her knowledge.
We're trying to find a solution,
that's why I'm asking these questions.
I need to hire a-- a main--
But you need to give your
daughter the chance.
To come in here, to run the place,
it's already experienced and knows what they're doing.
Because if I do this and then
it goes the other way south again...
- And you can't get it back. - And now you...
It just keeps going further the wrong--
Jon: I'm with ya. Carl: So you need somebody.
Then maybe she could learn from that person.
Somebody has to teach you how to do well.
Patty: Well, that's fine. Mm-mm. - You have no clue what to do.
You gotta know how to fix the urinal.
You gotta know how to do this,
fix that sink, what to buy,
what not to buy.
Patty: He treats us like we're
15 years old again because--
Maybe you're, maybe you're acting like it.
I get it, and I understand that, and I apologize,
but he needs to give me that opportunity
and things will go more smoothly.
If you'd like to see her run it one day,
you just have to get her trained and capable of doing it.
Correct. There you go.
Jon: Has he ever said that to you before?
Nope.
Okay, well, let me tell you something straight up.
If you're gonna cry every 10 minutes, you can't run shit.
You won't be able to say no to people.
You won't be able to deal with difficult situations.
So if you wanna do this, you need a frickin spine, Patty.
[glass shatters]
You need a freaking spine, Patty.
Jon: And I bet that's what worries you.
I don't blame you.
So the fact of the matter is,
if you don't firm yourself up,
all the knowledge in the world is not
gonna enable you to run this place.
Correct.
I wanna work with somebody to
run this bar tonight other than you.
Who can I train to run this bar tonight?
I-- I would say, Jay. And I'll tell you why.
He has a feel, I think, more for what needs to be done.
And he's strong and he doesn't back down.
So, he's got the personality for it.
I gotta get him the rest of the knowledge.
Carl: That's what he needs.
- Do you love him, right? - Yes.
Jon: So you're not gonna let him down, are you?
- No. - No, he's good.
Okay, so we're starting to get a plan here.
So we're gonna have a stress test tonight.
I'm gonna have my mixologist
and my chef here working with the team.
I want you to be an owner tonight, okay?
Are you ready, guys? Let's go to work.
Patty: I'm glad Jay's stepping up
and wanting to do it. That's awesome.
But I need to stop crying in the business.
I've gotta step up to the plate more or less.
And Jon really made me see that. And I'm gonna do it.
[upbeat music]
[car honks]
[choppers whirring]
[seagulls mewing]
[plane droning]
Rob: Hey, how are we? Patty: Good. Great. How are you?
It was interesting to see the cocktails get made last night.
Rob: The Manhattan, it was almost like a-- a Shirley Temple
with whiskey and the old fashioned, yeah, it was a lot.
A lot of different things in there that aren't
really typical in an old fashioned.
So let's start off with making a great old fashioned.
Let's think like we're liquid chefs.
And to do that we have to know what we're pouring.
And this is Bulleit Bourbon.
Bulleit bourbon is absolutely one
of the best to use behind the bar.
And the reason why is the mashbill
or the recipe behind it has a lot of rye to it,
meaning it stands up to anything.
It still has that beautiful color, has a great flavor,
great nose, and can stand up beautifully
into a wonderful cocktail.
So we're gonna go ahead and make our Bulleit old fashioned.
We're gonna start off with one and a half ounces
of Bulleit bourbon.
Next up, we're gonna go three quarters ounce simple syrup.
Our third step here is the bitters.
So we're gonna have three dashes. One, two, three.
So as we're stirring, we wanna be aware
of bruising a cocktail.
We're gonna pour. And as I tell my teams,
whenever we pour, have some fun with it.
Next up, we're gonna take our orange...
our Bulleit Old Fashioned.
First written about May 6th, 1806.
I'm gonna bring this over to everyone here.
[instrumental music]
I like the sweetness in it.
- How about you, Nikki? Nikki: The balance.
- The balance. Perfect. - Perfect balance.
Jay: A lot different than the stuff used to serving here.
This is a smoother and more elegant drink.
Tonight is going to be challenging.
The stress tests are tough.
So I'm around, I'll be able to work with you
for the rest of the day and into the night.
But I'm really excited and I'm looking forward to tonight,
so I hope you all are too.
- We are. - Alright, alright.
Thank you very Much, y'all.
- Hi, guys. How are you? - Good.
- How are you? - Welcome to kitchen training.
I haven't met you. What's your name?
- Alissa. Jason: Alissa, nice to meet you.
Um, a couple things last night.
The food, the food is where we're lacking here.
Just, it's all frozen.
Jason: I mean, you get it in a jar and a jug and a can.
It's terrible. It's more expensive,
and it tastes like shit. And you guys, you know.
I mean, you want good food, so we really,
really, really need to up our game.
With that said, I'm gonna show you guys
what a good steak sandwich is.
So we're gonna start with a beautiful New York strip.
We're just gonna season it with salt and pepper.
And we're just gonna put that on the hot flat top
and get a nice, nice sear on that.
While that's cooking, we're gonna
do some French fries, okay?
And then we have this beautiful ciabatta bread,
some butter I just rubbed on,
and we're just gonna toast that, okay?
We're gonna cook our steak to like, a nice mid-rare medium.
So once the steak is seared,
you wanna let it sit for a couple minutes.
What happens is all the juice goes
back into the muscle of the meat.
So when you cut it, it stays juicy.
And I'm just gonna start building my sandwich.
The ciabatta... right here.
I have a whole grain mayonnaise,
whole grain mustard, a little Dijon mustard,
some roasted garlic. My steak.
I'm gonna take a slice of provolone
and I'm gonna put the provolone on the bottom.
So when I cut the steak and put it on top of the provolone,
it's gonna kinda melt nicely.
Steak goes on there.
And then I have a chimichurri.
I'm gonna put this chimichurri right over the top.
And it's gonna kinda all melt into the bread.
And I have some fried shallots,
a little bit of crunch on there, okay?
Put the lid on.
And while that's sitting I'm gonna take
my French fries.
And then we're gonna serve it, nice
mid-rare facing out. And that's it.
That's a simple beautiful steak sandwich that's all fresh made.
I want you guys to get in there and take a bite.
Tell me what you think.
- Jay, what do you think? - Great.
- Yeah. - I love the chimichurri.
Somethin' a little original, right?
Something here that's fresh. They're gonna eat it.
They're gonna know it's like
we put some time in the steak.
So I didn't expect Steven to not be here.
Alissa: So can I do it?
Oh, I'm nervous.
Stress test, the place is gonna be packed.
We need to see where all the cracks are.
I'm gonna be on you like crazy,
making sure the quality is there.
Let's start training. Let's go.
Alissa: Thank you.
[instrumental music]
Carl: Okay. So...
So everybody's gonna come at once.
- Yeah. - Drinks are gonna go first.
Jay: So help out here. Carl: Yeah.
Kitchen will get a little splash after that.
Stress test, the place is gonna be packed.
We have three things tonight.
Jason: The Philly, the steak sandwich,
and the chicken sandwich, three things.
And then the bourbon sours just on the rocks.
- Right. - Money.
Debbie: Never mind. Thank you. - Okay.
Alissa: I'm nervous.
I just want one more tutorial.
Jason: Yes. Okay. What does he get?
He gets the steak, so it gets onion.
- What else does it get? - Are we ready?
Jason: We're getting close to opening.
- Do you have everything ready? - Am I allowed to use these?
Yes, of course, it...
Alissa: I don't know what's going on back here.
I'm sorry. I have to walk away.
- Patty, help me out here. Patty: Alissa.
Alissa: I didn't sign up for this.
Alissa. Alissa, what's the matter?
Alissa. Alissa, where are you going?
[tense music]
Man 1: What is going on? Patty: I don't know.
Patty: Alissa.
Alissa: I just didn't know what was going on.
When I look in the kitchen,
I didn't know what was going on.
Patty: Alissa, deep breath, please. You've got this.
Alissa: I can't.
Patty: Alissa, you need to make this work.
Patty: Let's go. Alissa: I can't.
Alissa: I'm leaving. Bye.
Patty: No, you're not leaving. Alissa, please. Alissa.
What's wrong now? Alissa.
- Alissa. What's wrong? - I'm having too much anxiety.
- Well, okay. - I'm having too much.
Jay: Come here. Hey, hey, hey.
There's only three items, come on.
Alissa: It's too much anxiety.
Yes, come on.
Alissa: I'm having too much anxiety.
Somebody rip this shit off.
Too much anxiety.
[music continues]
Man 2: I got the wire.
[Carl groans]
[glass shatters]
Alissa: I'm having too much anxiety.
[Carl groans]
Debbie: Now what?
[door creaks open]
[tense music]
Carl: Here's John. Nikki: Here's John.
Jon: Jay, come on over for a minute.
So we lost our cook.
- Yes, sir. - Yes.
This is your first decision as a manager.
Jay: Okay. Jon: What do you think?
Jon: How are you gonna operate it?
Carl: Can I cook? Jay: Let him cook. Yeah.
I think he can do it.
But he wasn't in any of the training today.
Jon: He doesn't know one item.
- I think he can cook. - When you say--
So, I just want to understand something.
First decision that you made...
[claps] [bleep] the standards.
He can cook the way he wants to and that's okay.
You don't make a decision to do something
that's untrained, unpredictable,
inconsistent and unstable.
That's not a good management decision.
A manager fights for the standards, right?
Then I would say close the kitchen
because it can't operate the way it should.
I'm with you, so let's apologize that the kitchen is closed.
Let's sell some drinks tonight. Let's see how the bar does.
Jon: Yeah. Okay, we open in a few minutes.
This is like the blind leading the blind here.
Right out of the gate, they're dropping standards.
They're gonna do it in a makeshift shotgun kind of way.
This is why they're not achieving
the success that they should.
Alright, everybody, thank you for your patience.
We're officially open. Come on in.
- How you doing, guys? Debbie: How are you?
- How you doing? Patty: Hi. Welcome.
We also have more tables over here.
Patty: I do apologize to all.
Our kitchen is closed this evening.
Nikki: So what are we doing?
I want a bourbon sour.
Patty: Alright. So you want an old fashion? Okay.
- Old fashioned. - Okay.
- Make it an old fashioned - Three old fashioned. Gotcha.
- Hi, guys. How are you? Customer: Hi.
Customer: May I have an Oceanaire, please.
Okay. Two Oceanaire.
Rob: Okay, so we started on this.
There are different sizes, so they're not gonna be consistent.
So Jay jumps behind the bar
starts pouring drinks to dump down the drain.
He doesn't know what he's doing.
And he's taken over Debbie's station.
Jon: So now they're gonna start tripping over each other.
He's gonna do nothing but slow them down.
There's no leadership. There's no organization.
[ice rattling]
When you shake it, it's gotta be a big shake.
It's got you moving everything together.
Rob: A two-three second shake doesn't make a good cocktail.
It hasn't blended at all.
And again, we're at different sizes.
- Never gonna get away. - I know.
Just for fun, who got their drinks, raise your hands.
Jon: Who didn't?
You're the only two people on this side to have drinks.
Are you gonna share with everybody?
[customers laugh]
Come on, guys, let's go. We got to get them out.
Those two are great. Redo this one.
Completely different flavors. Do 'em again.
So the kitchen never opened.
I wish the bar had never opened.
Jon: They can't get food. They can't get drinks.
The best they're gonna do is a glass of water.
[gasps] Oh, my God.
This is one of the worst stress tests we've ever done.
I'll get another. It's alright.
We only serve 15% of the room in an hour.
- Complete failure. - Oh, my God.
[customers chanting "We want drinks!"]
I wanna cry.
I have 12 people waiting
for drinks down here.
Patty: Come on, Jay, come on, Debbie, I need those drinks.
Oh, I've seen everything I need to see. Do you agree?
- I'm and then some. - And then some.
[customers chanting "We want drinks!"]
What if I told you guys
that probably your drinks are at least
20 to 30 minutes away? What would you say?
All: No! - Because I'm telling you that.
Your drinks are about 30 minutes away.
Jon: So if you feel like getting up and walking
out of here and sending them the message
that you're done, go ahead.
Patty: Guys, I apologize to everybody.
I hope you all come back for the grand reopening.
I'll see you guys then. And I apologize.
Jay: I'm a little embarrassed. The night did not go well.
I was caught unprepared. It won't happen again.
Carl: Thank you so much.
Patty: I apologize to you all. Carl: Sorry.
[pleasant music]
Rob: Hey, how are we? - Great. How are you?
Last night's stress test was awful.
It was one of the worst I've ever been a part of.
I'm hopeful that they're gonna really try today.
You're all here together, and then we're gonna do
so much training that when we reopen,
y'all are gonna be an incredible team.
Alright, so we've shown you how to make a great
Bulleit old fashioned. Right?
We're gonna really elevate the bar as well
and do a Bulleit rye Manhattan.
And one of the reasons it's so good
is because of the mashbill. Remember we went over that?
The mashbill is more of our recipe behind it,
and it's one of the few in the world that would carry 95% rye,
which is so much harder to do.
But the complexity of it is insane.
You get cherry up front, you get vanilla up front,
you get this beautiful color.
And then at the end, especially working in a cocktail,
you get a crisp, lingering flavor
with a hint of gentle spice. Are we ready?
We're always gonna jigger this one in a stirring glass pad.
One and a half ounces of Bulleit Rye,
half ounce sweet vermouth, two dashes aromatic bitters.
Add ice. We're gonna make it a beautiful, silky cocktail.
Strain into a coupe glass.
Garnish with three cherries skewered.
This is the Bulleit Rye Manhattan.
Alright, so going into the relaunch,
we're gonna do a lot of training.
We're gonna spend hours together.
- So let's do this. Patty: Awesome.
[instrumental music]
Jon: This is a really difficult rescue.
The fact is, Carl is an older gentleman who doesn't
have the energy or inclination to jump in
and get engaged in his business.
- There he is. - Hi, John. How are you today?
- Good, Carl, how are you? - Very good sir.
Carl and I have a lot to talk about.
Where does he go from here?
Well, you know, last night was a mess. We know that.
But, you know, we talked about Jay.
Not as a bartender, as somebody to run the floor
and help run the business.
So tomorrow night, I'm gonna try to get him on the floor
acting like a manager and get the bar covered.
And I understand we have a cook for tomorrow.
My son.
I went and saw him this morning.
He said, "I'll be there."
Carl: "I'll do it." - Okay. Okay.
You get to open a whole new place with a whole new
energy level, a trained staff.
Jay's got a new opportunity to prove himself to you.
And Patty learned something very much I think
this last couple of days when I said to her,
"You got to prove yourself to your dad."
It doesn't just happen, right?
Maybe not everything was perfect,
but her heart's in the right place.
Unbelievable how much she loves you.
Your affirmation is everything to her.
So I think she's gonna try to do better
and prove herself to you.
And when she does those little steps, give her a pat.
Inspire her to keep getting better.
- I'll do that. - Deal?
It's a deal. I wanna thank you ever so much really.
Jon: My pleasure. You're a good guy, Carl.
You got thrown a lousy deck.
You deserve this new chance.
- Seize this. - Thank you, John.
Okay, let's make your life better.
I feel fantastic, I feel great.
Carl: I'm hoping that I can spend
more time with Teresa.
And I believe that this place
will go to the top now, where it should be.
[lively music]
[cheers and applause]
Hi, guys.
- How are you feeling, Carl? - Great.
Has this been a good week for you?
Yes. Excellent.
I've been doing this for 40 years,
but I still learned a lot.
- Patty. - Hi, John.
- How are you feeling? - I'm feeling very enthusiastic.
I need to really step it up
and show you both what I'm gonna do.
How's that sound, Carl?
- Big difference. - Yeah.
How are you feeling, Steve?
- Feeling great. - Good.
You were sick a couple of days, now you're back in the saddle?
Yes, I am, I'm ready to go.
You know, you guys are a great family.
- Thank you. - You've been through hell.
- That's true. - There's no question about it.
But there's an inner strength that you all have.
That's why this place has succeeded for so long.
You've toughed it out.
Tonight is your payoff.
- Yeah. Ready! - Yeah.
Alright, here we go. One. Two. Three!
Wow!
Oh, my God, look at this.
[glass shatters]
Alright, here we go.
One. Two. Three!
Wow!
Oh, my God, look at this.
Ooh, nice.
Patty: Laboratory bar. Carl: That's excellent.
- I freaking love it. Jon: Dr. Philgoods.
- Old name from 1986, right? - Exactly.
I respect the name that's been here that long,
but we had to make the concept right for today.
So are you ready to see the inside?
- I can't wait-- - Oh, yeah.
- Go ahead. - Let's go ahead. Oh, no.
[upbeat music]
Holy crap.
Patty: Are you flipping kidding me?
Wow.
Look at the light! Oh, my God!
Carl: Look at these chairs. Patty: This place looks amazing.
Look at this.
Jay: Oh, beautiful.
Jay: The laboratory. Carl: That's right.
Look at the piping. Look it.
Oh, look it over here, Jay.
Patty: What is this?
- Oh, this is great. - Wow.
Steve: Oh, wow. Beautiful.
Jon: What do you think?
- It's superb! - Thank you.
I am feeling overwhelmed.
Carl: This is probably one of the nicest
things I've ever seen in a long, long time.
What more could one person ask for?
There's a lot going on here, isn't there?
- Yes. - Oh, my.
So little details pull a concept together.
Jon: And I had my friend Jason Hulfish
come and help me theme this.
He built that machine.
Then I got SkyTab POS to give
you one, two, three POS stations.
And I got you guys tablets.
It's the same thing as looking at the screen
on the POS system.
Then, see all those bottles up there?
I believe Bulleit, bourbon and rye is the best in the country.
It's high rye recipe really cuts through
and it makes great cocktails.
Correct.
Then I got Twisted Alchemy
to give you guys the best cocktail mixers in the world.
All cold pressed. They're delicious.
It makes a better drink.
And I got Partender.
- Remember, Partender? - Yes.
I got you a lifetime subscription to Partender.
You can do inventory in ten minutes.
I got Dark Horse Miami to come do all the interior wraps
on the wall and the graphics that you see.
I got Cocktail Kingdom to give you guys
all the tools that you need. We have it all now.
I got commercial kitchen stuff to give you guys
an induction burner, a new steam table, a bunch of smallwares,
everything we need in the kitchen.
So did I give you everything you need to be successful?
Of course.
So we got a crowd outside, guys.
Jon: I got 'em here for you.
Tonight, you guys get 'em back, okay?
Alright, we got a kitchen to set up, bar to set up.
- Let's go to it. - Let's go!
[upbeat music]
Carl: Good evening everyone.
I cordially invite you all in. Thank you for coming.
Debbie: Welcome to Dr. Philgoods.
[indistinct]
Debbie: What can I get for you?
I'm gonna do the Feel Good Elixir.
Jon: Anybody in the mood for Manhattan?
I'll take one of those.
Jon: You getting orders in? - Yes, I am, John.
- They're already in. Thank you. - Good job, Patty.
Jon: You're on it. - I'm on it, John.
[upbeat music]
- How are we doing? Jason: He's doing a good job.
I mean, we're getting the food out
within five minutes, so that's a good sign.
- Excellent. Good job, Steve. Jason: Yeah.
Jason: Yeah, it looks nice. - Excellent.
Steve: I was sick for a couple days,
so I think I do a lot of the training.
But what he made for the menu is short and sweet, cut and dry.
It just, got to adapt to it.
Order up.
Jay: Nikki, make two more if you can.
You guys doing okay? Good, good.
Yeah. Good to see you. Thanks for coming in.
I love it. Jay's working the floor.
He's hitting tables. He's managing this place.
Jon: The bartenders are getting faster and faster.
Kitchen is working, Steve's getting food out quickly.
You know what? We're on a roll.
[music continues]
Look at Patty. She's organized tonight.
Carl: Yes. - She's getting the orders in.
She's following her system. She's doing well tonight.
I'm very proud of her.
Well, here's your bourbon sour.
Would make any father feel great knowing that their
kids are working hard and trying to change, too.
- Hey. - Yes?
- Proud of what you're doing. - Thank you.
- I'm waiting for Oceanair-- - Wait a sec.
What did your father just say to you?
He just said good job. And I heard him.
No. He said I'm proud.
How does that sound to have him say that?
- That... Don't get me to cry. - How does that sound to ha--
It sounds wonderful, but I can't cry.
The energy in the bar is magnificent.
Patty: I'm loving it.
And my dad even said
I was doing a good job, so, no tears.
[upbeat music]
You need the time to take care of Theresa.
Yes.
Do you feel like this is gonna
get you closer to that?
Oh, of course. What an improvement already.
- Yeah. Excellent. - See that?
- My work is done, buddy. - Yeah.
- I'll take that hug. - Ah, baby.
Jon: I'm feeling pretty good.
This was all about getting Carl the free time that he needs
to take care of Theresa and to enjoy himself.
[instrumental music]