"Hey, what shot do you want?" "I don't know. I don't care."
"What shot do you want?" "I dunno." "What shot do you want?"
So I formulated our own drink menu.
Mel: We have the gummy bear martini.
It took me 60 hours to make it.
Kylie: This is my pink cotton candy.
The recipes, I kind of just went online.
Sam: Pineapple upside-down cake.
That worked out really well.
Horney bitch cocktail. How does that look?
Well, I mean, the best that I could
w-- was what I had to work with.
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 are part of the backbone of America.
Let's go. We-- we're doing it. We're doing it!
But as the industry continues to explode,
the amount of failing bars is increasing at an alarming rate.
[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 Jon's heading to Worden, Illinois,
to attempt to rescue Slotzy's Bar And Grill.
We are determined to raise the bar and rise to the occasion.
King: In September 2022, Nick Lang took over operations
of Slotzy's Bar And Grill from his retiring father.
My father has owned Slotzy's for over 30 years.
Nick: He was retiring, I was like,
"Oh, man, it'd be neat to carry on your legacy."
- And so I inherited a bar. - Thank you.
Nick: We do have slot machines, and it's amazing
how many people come in and play slots from all over.
So we named it Slotzy because we have slot machines.
King: Despite lacking bar and restaurant experience,
Nick came in with an ambitious plan
to upgrade the food and cocktail program,
one that would lean heavily on his newly-promoted manager,
Mel, to implement.
When Nick took over, that's when I became manager.
And since then, we've put a whole kitchen in, cocktail menu.
I feel like we've done so much work to the bar.
Lights are set up here. We do have two ice bins.
King: But as Nick continued working full-time hours
at his day job, the fallout from his ambitious plans
were left for Mel to figure out.
What is it? The key lime martini?
Yeah, I'm just looking for the citrus.
The cocktail menu. I even have trouble with that.
It's not gonna be put on you. It's gonna be put on me.
The drinks he got was just stuff that he found online,
and so there's stuff in this menu
we don't have, I can't even get.
I'm trying to focus on getting
that kitchen going where he's seeing a profit.
Like, I'm still learning how to just manage a bar.
King: With Nick's limited presence
and Mel stretched too thin,
training and consistency have been unable to keep up
with the rapid changes at the bar.
We make it work. It's just less pretty now.
I don't think all my bartenders make the drinks the same way.
We have four cooks, but there is not a kitchen manager.
I didn't have a super lot of training,
so food comes out a little bit late.
King: Now as Slotzy's continues to lose money,
Nick is feeling the pressure.
We're losing about $4000 a month.
I've spent close to 200,000 out of my pocket.
King: To add to the pressure, Nick has promised Mel
the opportunity to purchase the bar when he's ready to retire.
So the fate of the bar will impact both Nick and Mel.
This bar means literally everything to me.
I don't get vacations. I don't get breaks.
I miss out things with my kids.
Mel: At the end of the day, I try to always look at that
like, I'm sacrificing this because I'm gonna own this
one day, but there's no way
that's gonna happen the way things have been.
King: With both of their futures in jeopardy,
Nick and Mel have agreed to pull back the doors,
bust open the books and make a call for help to Bar Rescue.
It can't keep going like this.
[glass shatters]
Kat, I am so excited, I've been trying to get you
to help me do a rescue for a long time.
I know. I'm really excited to be here.
Jon: For recon tonight, I've asked my good friend,
comedian Kat Timpf, to bring along her unique insight
to help me figure out what's going on with this bar.
Well, you know, you came up as a comedian.
So your career started in bars.
- Yes. - So you know good drinks.
- Yes. I know bad drinks. - And you know bad drinks.
Probably better than you know good drinks.
- Coming up in a comedy... - Unfortunately, yeah.
Yeah. So here we are. We're in Worden, Illinois.
Jon: Slotzy's Gaming Bar. - Okay.
It's got a back room with a couple of slot machines.
Jon: That's how Slotzy's came up.
The road that this bar is on, Route 66,
was a famous road for bootleggers during prohibition.
That's kind of cool as far as the history goes.
Yeah, so the question is, could we
tap that history into the bar?
I think that would be a better idea than whatever this is.
I agree.
I think I've had the pleasure of meeting you before. I'm Nick.
- Hi, Nick. Misty. How are you? - Misty. Nice to meet you.
I'm-- I'm... I own Slotzy's.
Jon: So there's Nick up there. He's the owner.
He got this building from his father,
who opened this bar 30 years ago.
So he's a fiber-optics salesman. He's not even in a bar business.
He's never owned a bar. He's never operated a bar.
He simply took this over from his father
who went to retire in Mexico.
So here he is, stuck, protecting his father's legacy,
completely ignorant how to do so.
He's losing $4000 a month, he's in a hole over 200 grand,
and he's got enough money to make it about ten more months,
maybe another year.
[indistinct chatter]
- Where did lime juice go? - I don't know.
- Kylie had it. Jon: There is Mel.
- Mel is his manager. - Okay.
Jon: He has promised to give her the bar
if she can turn it around.
[ice rattling]
I'm told that she works really hard,
but doesn't know anything.
Jon: So the problem is he has a manager
who doesn't know anything and an owner
who can't teach her anything.
Kat: Oh, man. Jon: So they're stuck.
They're never gonna get anywhere.
Sorry. We only have so many martini glasses.
There is Sam. Sam's one of the bartenders. There's Kylie.
Uh, uh, hey. Can I get a name for the order?
Jon: She's also one of the bartenders.
- There's Brian. He's the cook. Kat: Okay.
And there's Ian. He's the other cook.
Jon: Now, they've never cooked before.
They've never bartended before.
The manager's never managed before
and the owner's never owned before.
- Nobody knows anything. - Anything.
Except, they know how to lose money.
- Yeah, and they do-- - Really good at that.
- That they do well. Kat: Okay.
Jon: So for recon, I got Scott Rizzuto and Lern
from the morning number-one radio show
in this market, the morning team.
So I've asked them to come in, order some food,
order some drink, and let's see what they got.
Uh, I'm gonna have the pineapple upside-down martini, please.
Mel: Okay. And then to eat?
Uh, I'm gonna have the chicken sandwich.
Salad. And then what did you want to drink?
I'll take a birthday-cake martini.
- To eat? Good choice. - I'll take a Penelope burger.
Are you gonna do the steak salad, too?
And bring out a steak salad.
It's really, really good.
Okay, so now we got a cocktail being made over here.
An upside-down pineapple martini.
Man 1: And it's going...
Like, her fingers are all...
Oh, my gosh, her fingers touched it.
- Yuck. - Jail.
Jon: Um, watch us. Here we go. Hold on.
- Oh, her finger's on the top. Sam: Which one?
- Upside down. - That's me. Thank ya very much.
So would you wanna put your lips up on that glass?
No. That's-- that's a brave woman right there.
I mean, I feel that's something you shouldn't have to ask, "Hey,
when you make my drink, can you please just not put
your actual finger into my martini?"
Like, this literally tastes like this
pineapple juice and grenadine.
Sam: This is such a pain in the butt.
Jon: Okay, now here's the birthday-cake martini.
Birthday-cake martini, that's like, I just got diabetes,
just-- just hearing that name of that drink.
Kat: They can't find the white chocolate
for the birthday-cake martini.
- That's what it is. - I can use the chocolate in it.
- Uh, what do you think? - It's the same.
It'll be... It's still good.
To order a drink and then be told,
"Well, we can't find it."
Scott: Alright. - Amazing.
When I think birthday, I think,
like, colorful, fun, right?
That looks like a sad, sad cocktail.
- Is it good? It's a mess. - It's a mess. It's a mess.
This is hard to drink. I got four cavities already.
If that was my birthday, that would be
the worst birthday of my life.
Chicken sandwich, Penelope and steak salad.
So let's see what these guys are doing in the kitchen.
Yeah, cook it well done 'cause it doesn't have
any other specifications.
[laughs] Why don't you just ask him how the burger's cooked?
Jon: Okay. They're slicing up this steak.
Look at him. Why is he doing that?
They have no idea what they're doing. Look at them, Kat.
Brian: Usually I don't even do 'em like this,
but I figured a little bit longer would be nice.
Jon: That grill doesn't look very clean, does it?
Kat: No, it doesn't.
Jon: Here we go. Is it... - Uh, squishy, yeah. Nice.
Jon: The one thing you don't do to a hamburger.
- Now it's really dry. - Ugh.
Jon: Now he's gonna squish the meat, too.
Yeah, take all the juices out of it.
What are you making, beef jerky?
Jon: That steak was one piece. Kat: Right.
They could have cooked it as one piece, sliced it.
It would have had a nice pink inside, they could have
fanned it over the salad. Would have looked beautiful, right?
Jon: They ruined the steak. - Yeah, they clearly did.
Completely ruined it. They have no idea what they're doing.
Look at the dirt on that door. Did you see that?
Jon: So every server touches that when they open the door.
- Then they touch your plate. - ...fingers in the martini.
Yeah.
- Grilled chicken sandwich. - Thank you very much.
- Penelope burger. - Great.
- Thank you. - Let me ask you a question.
Based on that grill and what we just saw,
do you think we should let them eat that food?
- No. - I agree with you.
Let's go in there. We gotta stop them.
That steak looks like fake steaks.
Scott: Very well done.
[suspenseful music]
That's a lot of chewing.
Oh, God. It's, like, overdone?
[indistinct chatter]
Oh.
- Hey, guys. - Hey, guys.
Scott: Hi. Kat: How's it going in here?
It's going.
We've been watching this food
get cooked in the kitchen.
So first of all, did you taste the steak in that salad?
It was very tough. I'm still chewing the first piece.
- Okay. How was that burger? Scott: I haven't tried it yet.
Jon: Would you take a little bite for me?
Yeah, I'm eating charcoal. I'm eating carbon. Terrible.
It's because he took that burger, overcooked it
on both sides, then squished it with the spatula.
So there was no juice in it, no flavor at all.
The steak. Come on over, guys. I want you to hear this.
So you take a steak out of a nice Cryovac bag.
Rather than cooking it as a steak and then slicing it,
so it's pink and beautiful and sits on top of the salad,
your moron in the kitchen cuts it up into slices,
puts it on the grill, overcooks it, pushes it, pushes it,
getting all the juice out of it, and the end result is...
- Look at it. - It's disgusting.
[clattering]
Go ahead, feel it.
Feel that.
Do you wanna eat that? Feel it!
- Do you wanna eat this? - No.
Nothing is close to right.
Jon: They don't know what they are doing.
- Who runs this place? You, Mel? - Mm-hmm.
Jon: Have you ever been trained in a kitchen?
- Um, no, I mean-- Jon: Okay.
So you don't know how to train them?
And they don't know what they're doing.
You're the owner!
Do you know how to cook in the kitchen?
Jon: Okay, so you know nothing! - Right.
You know nothing! They know nothing!
But you're serving them food!
You're gonna get somebody sick, man.
And then you guys make a drink, you pick up the glass like this,
put your thumb in it?
Come on! And this happens while you're standing there.
How much money you lose in a month?
- About 4000. - Four-thousand dollars a month.
How much have you lost already?
Over a 180. Close to 200.
Two-hundred-thousand dollars.
And you can't stop her from putting her thumb in a drink.
You didn't lose your money. You gave it away. You burned it.
It went up in smoke before your very eyes.
Congratulations, you not only blew 200 grand,
you probably blew your father's legacy at the same time,
didn't you?
[glass shatters]
[dramatic music]
Jon: This was his bar, correct? - It was.
If it meant something to you, you
would've had a good burger, right?
If it meant something to you, chicken would have been edible!
If it meant something to you, they would know
how to make a fricking steak!
Nick, what are you doing?
- What are you doing, Mel? - I don't know.
Jon: Do you know how to tend bar?
I do.
Are they making drinks correctly?
No. Not all the time. No.
Jon: Okay, but if you know how to do it,
and they're not doing it correctly, I have to say why?
As a manager, you're a complete failure. Do you get that? You...
Things that you knew you could have done that you didn't,
and knowledge you could have obtained that you didn't.
Do you wanna be successful at this?
- I do. - I understand.
You wanna buy this place, don't you?
And you wanna sell it to her, but you can't buy it
losing 4000 a month, can you?
- No. - 'Cause you can't afford that.
So the only chance you have of buying this place
is if you can turn it around.
Are you gonna turn it around like this?
No. We've been going in circles for, like, two years.
What's happening has to change, Nick.
- So are you committed? - I am.
Jon: You gotta fight with me. Mel, can you?
- Yeah. - That's the deal.
Jon: I'll come back tomorrow and we'll evaluate everything
and then we'll go to work fixing this place. Let's go, Kat.
Can I be the first to say what the [bleep]?
Woman 1: Go ahead, Mel, smile. That's right.
Always.
I don't think I'm a failure.
I think, like, 'cause I, I have a passion
and I have a love for this place.
But it does suck here and, like, I'm putting everything
I-- I can into this place, and, uh, it's just not good enough.
[suspenseful music]
Mel: So I know last night was a lot.
What do you guys all think about
what happened and being screamed at?
It broke my heart to hear what he was saying about you
because I know how much you do for this bar
and I know how much you try.
Yeah, it sucked.
Nick: Didn't sleep well last night.
Last night just really put
a lot of things into perspective
on where we're at and where we need to be.
This is a great opportunity, a great learning experience
for all of us. We're better than this.
So I'm-- I'm nervous about today.
I have no idea what to expect.
Hi everybody.
Nick: I feel like let team members down.
And I'd like to change that.
- Hi. Hi. - Hello.
- I'm Jon. What's your name? - Ian.
Nice to meet you. How long have you been here, Ian?
- I think since last August. Jon: Almost a year.
- What's your name? - Brian.
Jon: Brain, how long you've been here?
- I think three months. Jon: Okay.
You know, I watched the two of you guys work in the kitchen.
Jon: I saw you both care a lot.
But you don't know what the hell you're doing.
And she's not teaching you, so your goodwill goes up in smoke
'cause you don't have the knowledge
with which to turn that goodwill into something.
- What's your name? Sam: Samantha.
Jon: How long you've been here, Samantha?
Um, it'll be two years in November.
Were you a bartender beforehand?
This is my real first bartending job.
- What's your name? - Kylie.
If I asked you to make me a margarita,
would it be the same drink that Sam makes me?
I, I just learned it last night.
Jon: Okay, so you haven't been trained.
As the owner, you set the standards.
This is the way this drink should be, this is the way
this plate should be, this is the way the cleanliness
should be, this is the way the staff should be dressed.
Jon: You define the standards.
Your job's to deliver those standards. You with me?
And when they fall short, your job's to verify it and fix it.
So we don't have the standards defined by you correctly
and we don't have you fighting for those standards,
and you guys don't know what the hell the standards are!
Nobody has any guidance here, Nick.
You understand what's going on?
There was a lot of different projects
throughout me taking over in transition and, um--
So you're gonna give me an excuse?
But we, you, of course, had the time
to do this right, don't you agree?
- I-- I do agree. Jon: And you chose not to.
[dramatic music]
I went through your numbers.
Over three months you lost $6100,
but you had slot revenue of 23,000.
If you didn't have the slot machines,
you know what you lost in three months?
Twenty-nine-thousand dollars.
Average loss per month is $9938.
Call it ten grand a month,
thirty grand in three months without those machines.
It's about as bad as I've seen,
especially from a place this size.
I did not realize how much we were losing.
We can't survive.
The financial management here
is about as bad as I've ever seen.
The projected annual losses
without the slot machines are a 120,000,
$119,000 a year.
Jon: So if I said to you, Nick,
you're gonna lose a $120,000 over the next 12 months,
are you gonna stay open or you're gonna close?
I would not... Yeah.
Jon: You'd close tomorrow, wouldn't you?
Well, without those slot
machines, that's what you're losing.
So the money you're making in there,
you're giving away here.
You don't stand a chance, Nick.
And now you chose Mel to be the manager. Why?
Her passion for this bar.
Passion? Passion?
- Really? - I do. I love this bar.
I wanna see it succeed.
So this is the way you treat something you love?
- No, I... Jon: It's filthy.
No, I... The menus, yeah, I...
The drinks last night were terrible.
Jon: You know those people that I sent in last night?
Scott and Lern, the number-one morning radio show
on the whole city, they came in here.
They could turn on their microphone
and pack this place tomorrow.
That was the opportunity I gave you, and you blew it.
I'm doing the best I can with the knowledge I do have,
but I don't know enough to--
- I don't buy that, I'm sorry. Mel: I don't.
Jon: You don't make sure the drinks are put in the right
glasses when you're standing ten feet away.
I'm sorry, either you're ignorant or you're lazy.
Have you been online lately and put in bar management training?
- No, but I do like-- - Uh, if you do...
Thousands of hours of kitchen training,
bar training, bartending training,
promotional training, marketing training,
cleaning, chemicals to you, everything is there.
Passion doesn't do these things, Mel.
Passion makes sure people are trained
'cause you care about your customers.
But look at the fricking food you gave them.
If you're so passionate and you wanna learn,
I scratch my head, Nick, and say, why hasn't she?
So you have a manager who doesn't know anything.
Why can't you train her?
Get her the resources to make her successful.
You're setting her up to fail.
[glass shatters]
Jon: So, Nick, why can't you train her?
Get her the resources to make her successful.
You're setting her up to fail.
I want this place to succeed.
Why?
I love... I just, I love...
I've been here. I love the customers.
Mel: I-- I see so much potential in it,
and one day I do wanna own it.
Jon: Okay, so here's the thing, I'm worried
that you're not equipped to run it well.
Uh, I feel like it's all put on me
and I don't know what I'm doing.
Look at her.
[Mel sobbing]
Jon: So you've really let her down.
And you have to own that.
And somehow, Nick, you have to provide her
with resources and support, so that she can be successful.
So, uh, when I go to retire, or if I no longer
wanna be in this industry, in this business,
Mel, she has rights of first refusal.
Ah, but after today, I just wanted a little bit more time
to think about it.
Let me bring my experts in. Come on in, folks.
[upbeat music]
I've asked Rebecca to come help me as a bartender here
because she's an unbelievable trainer.
King: For the bar, Jon brings in Rebecca Dowda,
a nationally-recognized mixologist, beverage consultant
and bartender development specialist.
Rebecca is known for creating well-balanced cocktail menus
that inspire both her peers in the industry
and guests alike.
Jon: Brad is one of my favorite chefs in the country.
He, too, is extremely gifted.
King: For the kitchen, Jon brings in Chef Brad Miller.
From the suburbs of Chicago to the coast of California.
Chef Miller specializes in bringing together
simple ingredients to create specialized cuisines.
He's currently the chef and co-owner
of the Inn Of The Seventh Ray,
one of Los Angeles' most revered restaurants.
Tonight I got a stress test. We're gonna pack this place.
I wanna see what happens.
The whole purpose of a stress test
is to see where we break.
Let's go through it. Thank you.
[upbeat music]
- Hey, guys. - Hi.
- How's it going? - Good.
So my goal today is to evaluate the bartenders,
figure out what their skill set is,
and really understand what Jon and I have to work with.
Rebecca: I'm gonna have you make two margaritas for me.
Make me two whiskey highballs.
A great bartender should be able to do this in about 45 seconds.
Rebecca: You ready?
[upbeat music]
I've never made that before.
Okay, do we have a little...
[humming]
Rebecca: What do you think's in it?
Well, whiskey and...
I don't know-- know what the highball would be.
I was looking for the little ounce thingies that, uh--
- The ounce thingies? - Mm-hmm-hmm.
Rebecca: Alright. This is a classic recipe.
Does anyone have any guesses what it might be?
[suspenseful music]
- I can google it real quick. - You can google it?
So Kylie doesn't seem to be able to do
more than one thing at a time.
Rebecca: I'm watching her pour counts.
She's not getting the proper dilution.
This margarita does not look good.
I wouldn't wanna drink it.
So a highball is a type of glass,
and it's gonna be a higher glass, okay?
Our highball is whiskey and club soda.
And poor Sam, she needs a lot of help with her pour count.
Rebecca: She needs help with organization
and actually talking to the guests.
I wouldn't wait this long for a drink at any bar.
Three minutes and 35 seconds.
I certainly wouldn't wait this long for a drink at this one.
You-- you've gotta know what you're doing
in order to make cocktails correctly, okay?
So our jigger-handling is all over the place.
We were actually short-pouring.
You shouldn't have to do three 40-yard dashes
in order to make one cocktail. That's ridiculous.
So we've got a ton of work to do.
- Are you ready? - Ready.
Okay, cool. So let's get to work.
So first thing I wanna do today,
I wanna have you cook three burgers.
We're gonna go medium rare, medium, medium well.
And I wanna have you cook the steak for the steak salad.
Jon told me the equipment's there, they got a, you know,
decent kitchen, but they're seasoning everything wrong,
they're smashing burgers, the staff
has no idea what they're doing.
So today I wanna see just where their knowledge is at.
[suspenseful music]
So they're cooking their steak for their salad
by slicing it and then cooking it on the grill.
They're losing every bit of juice
that steak has worked its whole life to have.
Brad: I'm gonna throw in my own steak just to show them
how to properly cook a steak for a salad.
And they learned not to smash the burger,
but they're still doing a pretty horrific job.
They need to work on time and temperature control.
This staff has zero foundational knowledge
on how to even be in a restaurant.
So medium well is kind of the only thing you did right.
You know, if-- if you order this medium in the restaurant,
this is gonna get sent back.
That's almost rare to medium rare.
So we need to really, really work on temps.
And need to get all the servers, put it on the ticket.
So train your servers, take a temp, and the cook can make it.
And never serve
cut, cooked steak. This is like shoe leather.
When you cook a piece of meat, all the juices are like this.
And then when you cut it, they all just release.
This is how you're gonna cut your salad steak.
And you wanna cut it on the bias, so the customer's
not trying to rip through a leathery piece of meat.
Is that a lot more appetizing than this?
So it's clear we have a lot to work on still.
So let's keep training, and we're gonna get ready
to go into stress tests.
[engines revving]
[upbeat music]
[engines revving]
[door creaking]
Welcome, guys. Come on in.
[dramatic music]
- Hello. - Hey.
Nick: Welcome, welcome. - Hi, guys. Find you a seat.
Yeah, get you a seat.
Is... You guys know what you want?
I could use a margarita. The classic margarita.
- A classic margarita? Kylie: Alright.
You said highball and chicken sandwich?
Man 2: Yes, please.
[printer whirring]
We got a chicken sandwich.
I'm gonna now let you boys rock.
If we aren't moving a little slow,
we can take more than one order at once.
Okay, what are we doing? Are you tending bar?
- I'm gonna help with both. - Who's gonna take those orders?
- Um, we are, too. I guess-- - Okay, do that first.
Nick: Mel, I wanna see you be a leader tonight.
Can I get a highball and a Gutter burger?
- Okay. Jon: Well, here we go.
Mel is set up to actually act as a manager tonight.
- Fast. Work fast. - I got it.
She's focused on quality and holding up standards.
If she does that, we'll be successful.
Right now nobody's been served yet.
Brad: We got a lot of tickets up.
Ian: There's a chicken.
I need one chicken. I need a steak.
- Do we have temps on the steak? - Doesn't say it.
Doesn't say it, so they're not taking,
they're not taking temp orders.
The one thing we discussed today was temperatures,
getting temperatures correct.
And all these tickets, not one temperature,
not for a steak, not for a burger, zero.
[sizzling]
Where did Ray's drink go? Ray had his drink. Where'd...
She, she took it 'cause she wanted a bee's knees.
- Who took it? - The lady. I don't know.
- I, I thought... Mel: Oh, my gosh.
Kylie: I don't know. Mel: I can't keep making...
You can't just let a drink go out because someone wants it.
I had drinks up here made.
[intense music]
- I'll call the temps. - Here we go.
We still have no temps. These ones have been sent back here.
Jon: So...
These are the first two chicken sandwiches that came through.
Mel, who's running food?
We got cooks running out here with food,
so now he's not cooking.
Jon: So the kitchen is falling behind.
So, Nick, somebody has to run food out of the kitchen.
We're not managing anything here.
Whose is this? Where does this go?
Mel: The ticket's in the kitchen. Hold on.
I have food here with no tickets.
It's getting cold. We don't know where it's going.
Jon: Mel is being a leader and she is stepping up,
but she's got no systems in place here
and she does not have the support she needs
to get things moving.
Who's ordered food? Show me with your hands how many.
Jon: Wow. Oye.
I need five burgers and, like, eight things of [bleep] chicken.
Mel: Okay, so for the hamburgers...
Do me a favor. Put... Yeah, pat it for them, please.
Brad: Put it up here. Write it on the ticket.
Mel: They're not putting names on 'em.
Brian: They're not doing anything, man.
- I have a medium-well b-- Mel: Yeah, look, I didn't...
- So they're not putting... - Talk to me.
Jon, we're writing temps on the tickets right here
'cause no temps were rung in. So we had four burgers up.
We didn't know what temps they were, so they all sat.
Now they're all well, and now they're all right in that trash.
So we're throwing this way more food than we're sending out.
We've already thrown away five burgers and one steak.
[intense music]
[indistinct chatter]
This is ridiculous! Complete failure!
[glass shatters]
[indistinct chatter]
This is ridiculous! Complete failure!
Mel, go get me a white towel!
Nick, where are you?
Right here.
Jon: Come on, throw up the white towel.
Complete surrender.
You don't know where the food's going.
It'll take them an hour and a half to get to the last tickets.
You people have been sitting here for over a half hour,
you got nothing!
This is a complete failure! Do you all agree?
All: Yeah. - Shut it down!
I got to go to work. We got to train everybody.
Come back in two days, we'll show you how we do it right.
Tonight, just, it was overwhelming.
Sorry, guys!
Mel: At the angles for me to own it.
And I don't wanna be the one losing $200,000 a year,
you know, so I have to do better,
so I'm not in Nick's position.
[suspenseful music]
You know, it was a complete, utter failure.
Question is, do you think you can turn them around?
Brad: That's definitely gonna be a challenge.
But they care. But that's what we need.
So you need the systems and the food items
that are simple enough to make them good.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
What do you think, Rebecca?
I think we can do classic cocktails.
They've got to be easy to execute.
Yeah. That sounds great. Now if we take a look...
Not a lot of houses, you notice that?
There are bars in the area.
So we gotta overcome this competition.
So here's the thought, the road that this bar is on,
Route 66, was a famous road for bootleggers during prohibition.
So for all we know, this bar could have been a hideout
for bootleggers back then.
If we can create a destination bar,
a really cool prohibition-looking bar,
with a great prohibition cocktail program
and a great prohibition-style food program...
- I think people will come here. -It's a home run.
Yup, so we gotta make it a destination.
So why don't we sit down? Let's figure out the menu.
Let's figure out the drink menu together.
- I'll buy the coffee, okay? Brad: Let's do it. Yeah.
[upbeat music]
- Good morning. All: Good morning.
Last night's stress test was a complete dumpster fire.
Rebecca: It's like they've never bartended before.
So we really need to give easy-to-execute cocktail builds
for the bartenders at this point.
Today we're gonna learn how to make a French 75.
This French 75 should be really easy for them to execute.
So we're gonna start off with a half ounce of Twisted Alchemy
cold-pressed lemon juice, half ounce of simple syrup,
and an ounce and a half of vodka.
We're gonna add ice, shake it
and strain it into a coupe glass.
Top this with some sparkling wine
and garnish with a lemon twist.
So this is our French 75.
This is a really popular cocktail in this area as well,
so people are gonna be familiar with it
and comfortable ordering it.
We still have a lot of work to do,
but just remember you're a team.
Encourage each other, cheer each other on,
and I think we're gonna have a good relaunch tomorrow.
[instrumental music]
Last night was a complete failure.
But when I look at what failed,
it was more of the systems than the people.
Jon: I can fix those systems.
What I have to fix now, Mel, she's burned out.
She needs a path forward that includes learning
and a path to ownership.
That's what I need to accomplish today.
When I came here, you said to me, "Jon, I'm passionate."
- Mm-hmm. - I didn't believe you.
I believe you now 'cause I saw it last night.
You were sinking last night, not because of you.
Every system let you down.
We're systemizing everything.
I'm putting in the POS system for you, the printers.
We're making sure the kitchen is perfectly set up.
We're gonna realign the bar.
I've come up with a concept that targets the history of the area,
that this bar is gonna become a destination.
So I believe that I'm doing all the things that I need to do
to set you up for success and set you up for success.
Now, the question becomes,
how do you set her up to a real future here?
You have a ton of passion for the bar,
and, um, I need to come up
with some type of, uh, succession plan,
so you kind of see what the future looks like.
That's awesome. I'd appreciate that, like, big time.
Why are you crying right now? What are you feeling?
- Tell me. - Just 'cause I feel like...
Mel: I feel like I've sacrificed so much, and I...
You know, the whole reason why I don't mind
spending all my time at that bar is, in my head,
it's, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna benefit from it,
my children are gonna benefit from it.
But we just never get there. And it's...
It's a lot. Like, it's-- it's, it's made me be kind of burnout.
Now, like, I'm-- I'm ready.
I feel like I got that spark back in me. Um, I'm...
Like, I feel first, like the first time in six years
that this bar actually has a chance
to get where it needs to be.
Okay, now it's time to pack it. Okay, so let me go do my work.
Mel really stepped up to the plate this week,
and I think she did a great job.
Nick: And when I go to retire, Mel has proven to me that
she is fully capable to carry my father's legacy forward.
I don't cry all the time. I use... I've never...
I swear, I was never this soft. It's my old age. [chuckles]
[upbeat music]
[machines whirring]
[crowd cheering]
[applauding]
Hello.
Hi, everybody.
- How are you, Nick? - Awesome.
How long has your dad owned this building?
- Uh, over 30 years. - Over 30 years.
Jon: So this is a legacy. - It is.
Jon: To you... This means something to your family.
It's more than just a business.
You know, a bar like this doesn't have
thousands of apartments around, does it?
- Mm-hmm. - It is a pretty rural area.
I need to build a destination, something that has impact.
I wanted to come up with a concept that had significance,
that had some local relevance, that had a story attached to it.
- You guys ready to see it? - Yeah.
- You ready, Nick? Here we go. - I am.
Give me a little noise here, folks.
One, two, three!
[crowd cheering]
[laughing]
Oh, I don't... That is awesome!
[glass shatters]
- Whoo! - One, two, three!
[crowd cheering]
[Nick chuckling]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughing]
Oh, I don't... That is awesome.
- Holy cow! - It is so good.
Jon: So, how about that beautiful sign right there?
Ziglin Signs worked all night long
to get that sign for you guys.
[crowd cheering]
This is off Route 66.
In the 1920s and 1930s,
Vitale was a Mob family out of St. Louis,
and they would run whiskey from Chicago
down to St. Louis, St. Louis up to Chicago.
So this was a Mob family
that controlled this turf in those years.
And when you go inside,
you're gonna feel the history of this family
and Route 66 and bootlegging.
- You're smiling. - Oh, I... It's amazing.
- Alright, guys, you ready? Mel: Yeah.
Alright. Wanna go inside? Should we let him in?
Crowd: Yes! - Alright, go ahead.
Can we go ahead? It is like...
Kylie: Let's do it.
[indistinct chatter]
Oh, my gosh!
[indistinct chatter]
[jazz music]
I love it!
[chuckles]
Mel: Oh, my God!
[indistinct chatter]
Oh! Oh, God!
[indistinct chatter]
Oh, it's so fancy!
Nick: Oh, my gosh! Oh...
[indistinct chatter]
Mel: You need a hug?
Oh, [bleep].
[Nick sobbing]
I'm at a loss of words, I've never seen
something as beautiful as this.
Nick: Amazing atmosphere.
Wow!
For Jon to come in and do this
all in a week or less, well done.
Mel: Oh, my gosh. - Well, what do you think?
Mel: We love it! Nick: Oh, my gosh.
Mel: Like, how do you do this? Like...
I've never seen something so beautiful in my life.
Thank you. So grab a seat. I wanna get behind the bar.
So remember when we talked yesterday, I talked about
you guys did great, you didn't have the systems?
Jon: We have two stations with POS systems that are really
set up, so we can make drinks quicker.
Then, on top of that,
I wanted to set you guys up managing your costs,
so I got your subscription to Partender.
Takes inventory in 15 minutes, just tracking
as it should be, to protect those profits.
Next I got Cocktail Kingdom to give us
all new bar tools, bar supplies, glassware,
everything you could possibly need to be successful.
I got barproducts.com to give us all of our rubber mats.
I got Meridian Supply to give you guys a glass chiller.
- Awesome. Jon: A decorative ceiling tile.
Jon: An unbelievable company. They overnighted all of this.
It's such a game-changer.
And then we got Replications Unlimited
to provide us with the brick for that wall.
What a massive change that was.
And there's one more thing I gotta show you.
- Shh. Nick: No.
[instrumental music]
- What? Sam: Oh! Uh, my goodness!
In here is a very special drink called the Sicilian Sinner.
So this is what I call a ritual drink. You with me, guys?
There's a ritual around it that makes it fun.
Even if you weren't gonna have a drink,
you'll do it because of the ritual.
Mel: Right. Jon: That's how we merchandise.
You with me, guys? We make it all fun.
Jon: Pretty cool? - I love it. Yeah. It's amazing.
Jon: Alright, guys, you see all those people outside?
Get 'em back tonight. Okay, we ready?
- Yup. Let's do the damn thing. Jon: Let's do it.
- So, everybody... - You guys ready to come in?
- Oh, yeah! - Whoo!
Welcome to Vitale's Hideaway.
[crowd cheering]
Come here.
Welcome. What can I get you?
We'll do the, uh, Sarsaparilla Old-fashioned.
Woman 2: I'll do the ham burger.
Mel: Okay. How would you like it cooked?
Woman 2: Medium. Mel: Medium?
Brad: Alright, it's up. Alright, order in.
Got an order, chicken parm sandwich
and mobster meatballs.
So these are the bee's knees. This is table three.
These are the three bee's knees for T3.
Six cocktails going out. That's great. Sam, way to go.
[applauding]
Jon: Yeah, way to go.
We're getting there now.
Chicken parm and meatballs.
Ooh. Right here.
I love it. Mel's managing the bar.
Nick is helping managing the kitchen.
Food is coming out of the kitchen now
within our 12-minute window.
Drinks are starting to come out to the tables.
I gotta tell you, we could be faster, but they are
so much better than stress test. I'm impressed.
[instrumental music]
I wanna tell you guys what I saw tonight.
I saw you managing, working the systems, the tickets.
I see you reading tickets,
knowing where food runs, backing up the kitchen.
You guys can do this now.
- Yeah. - My work is done.
Mel: Thank you. Nick: You're brilliant.
- I'm all sweaty. - That's okay.
Before Jon came, it was just see and know and then sigh.
You know, just the same thing happening over and over again.
Now I can see my passion's back for it. I can...
Like, I see a future for this place
and I'm excited to see what it, what it brings.
[instrumental music]
[upbeat music]
King: Promotional consideration provided by SkyTab POS,
Twisted Alchemy, Cocktail Kingdom, Barproducts.com,
Partender, Replications Unlimited,
Decorative Ceiling Tiles, Ziglin Signs,
Meridian Supply, Blood And Sand,
Rockless Table, OneStone, and ESRI.
[theme music]
[instrumental music]
♪ MTV ♪♪