Bar Rescue 5x22

1. I want to succeed, I want him to succeed,

2. I want this bar to succeed. And it's just...

3. I do it out of love, I do.

4. This year, 6,500 failing bars nationwide

5. will close their doors for good.

6. If things don't change soon,

7. the Liquid Lounge in Long Beach California

8. will become just another statistic.

9. In 2010 Rob McCarthy bought the Liquid Lounge,

10. a local watering hole with nightly entertainment

11. in the sprawling city of Long Beach.

12. I spent about 30+ years tending bar,

13. but I always knew in my heart if I ever had the money,

14. that I would get my own. Then when my parents passed away,

15. I inherited close to 400,000. It was time to make the jump,

16. and step up and be an owner.

17. I took all that money and invested it into this bar.

18. When Rob first took over, the Liquid Lounge was rockin'.

19. Rob McCarthy: I bought the Liquid Lounge about 6 and a half years ago.

20. And it just felt like the right fit.

21. I decided to keep the name

22. because it had a good name for entertainment at night.

23. It was real busy, presentable, and we have a lot of fun here.

24. For the first 3 years Rob's investment paid off.

25. In 2013, the Liquid Lounge posted over $650,000 in sales.

26. But just months later,

27. multiple setbacks combined with Rob's lack of experience

28. sent the bar into a downward spiral.

29. Rob McCarthy: It seemed like it was the perfect storm.

30. We lost one of our two cooks,

31. also we had a citing for fruit flies

32. publicized in the local papers. That hit us hard.

33. What seemed like a good investment

34. quickly turned into a money pit.

35. While Rob's inexperience quickly turned into incompetence.

36. What's stopping this place from being successful is Rob.

37. Rob's just a nice guy, to a fault.

38. He's just so nonchalant about everything.

39. He procrastinates and he puts everything off.

40. There's a lot of things that need to be fixed.

41. He just doesn't pay attention.

42. Doesn't look clean. The walls are filthy dirty.

43. That's mold.

44. Rob McCarthy: It's a constant 24 hour a day job.

45. I tend to put things on the back burner.

46. All the problems that arise

47. can be very overwhelming at times.

48. You can never escape that.

49. I love Rob, but at the end of the day

50. this is his bar and he's letting the place fall apart.

51. With the Liquid Lounge falling into a state of disrepair,

52. and Rob checked out...

53. Rob McCarthy: Where we're at now?

54. Yeah I wouldn't be real proud to bring my family over here.

55. I'm embarrassed.

56. Lola checked in her husband.

57. I love him being here with me. I know everything's gonna be OK.

58. My main responsibility is support her.

59. Husband, I need you to fix the toilet.

60. Are you serious?

61. Seriously, I need you to fix the toilet, it's not flushing.

62. I gotta go fix the toilet.

63. It involves doing anything that I can

64. to help the bar run smoothly.

65. If this bar closed down, it would crush my heart

66. because I love this bar. I love being a bartender,

67. I love interacting with others,

68. you know this the home for a lot of customers.

69. We are a family, and for it to shut down, it'd be terrible.

70. I put my entire life savings in here, over $400,000.

71. I have at least 6 months of checks not cashed for myself.

72. With his life savings on the line,

73. and nearly $270,000 in debt, Rob has nowhere else to turn.

74. Rob McCarthy: I've sold my home,

75. I've put everything I have into this bar to keep the doors open.

76. This is the end of the rope.

77. He's agreed to pull back the doors,

78. bust open the books,

79. and make a call for help to Bar Rescue.

80. If this bar does not succeed, I would be wiped out.

81. There it is Tiff, look at that.

82. The Liquid Lounge, this bar has been here for almost 20 years.

83. Inside the bar. So we got a room here, another room there,

84. there's a third room with pool tables,

85. and the patio outside, look at the size of this place.

86. Rob Floyd: Wow.

87. We're in Long Beach which is not far from the ocean.

88. Mmm hmm.

89. And this is a fascinating town demographically,

90. listen to this:

91. the median household income in America is $57,000 a year.

92. The median household income here is $46,000 a year.

93. But here's the kicker, it costs 44% more to live here.

94. Wow.

95. There's no disposable income here.

96. - No. - Right.

97. Here's the other thing, 68% of this market is single.

98. The median age for here is 32.

99. It's a young, singles marketplace.

100. You don't get any of that from the outside.

101. Rob Floyd: If I was bringing a date,

102. I would never go there, she wouldn't feel comfortable.

103. For the bar, Jon brings in expert mixologist Rob Floyd.

104. His attention to detail and ability to create quality drinks

105. is exactly what this bar needs.

106. And for the kitchen, Jon invited master chef Tiffany Derry

107. an expert in creating rich soulful flavors

108. that won't break the bank.

109. Listen to this,

110. Rob the owner, there he is, gets a $400,000 inheritance.

111. Buys this bar, was doing $670,000 a year in sales

112. then he starts losing 5, 6,000 a month.

113. He's now doing $325,000

114. and if the name Liquid Lounge was worth anything then,

115. I'm not sure it's worth anything now.

116. No.

117. He now has $400,000 into the bar,

118. and how much did he get in his inheritance?

119. Oh my gosh, $400,000!

120. So 400 minus 400 is?

121. Oh my gosh, he's at zero, he has no money now.

122. Rob Floyd: Zero.

123. So the guy's out of money,

124. he's gonna close in the next 2 to 3 months,

125. and look at this bar.

126. Hello hello!

127. What's goin' on?

128. So there's Lola.

129. - Welcome to Liquid Lounge. - Welcome.

130. Lola's been here about 3 years.

131. Do you see that gentleman over there?

132. That's Dudley, that's Lola's husband.

133. For them this bar is more than a workplace,

134. it's their home and their customers are like family.

135. But their home is being destroyed.

136. Ice is good?

137. Yep, we're good.

138. - Limes are good? - Good.

139. Floor is clean?

140. Check. All right, I'll call you when I need you.

141. I know you will.

142. My poor husband, he does everything for me.

143. There's another bartender, Raemone.

144. You said cranberry right?

145. There's Staci, a bartender here for 20 years.

146. And I really want to see what she has to say

147. because she knows what this place was like

148. 6 years ago when it was still busy.

149. - Sure. - Right.

150. They're asking me about deviled eggs.

151. There's our cook Tiff, Tomas.

152. Mmmm.

153. All right, nice little BLT sandwich,

154. served in a quality Styrofoam container.

155. Right next to the trash.

156. Sitting next to the trash bin right?

157. How do ya touch anything in that place?

158. Look at how unkept this bar is.

159. Nothing looks clean, nothing looks cared for,

160. nothing looks wiped.

161. So that's where they put their clean pour spouts.

162. They want to keep 'em clean.

163. Oh! So you have all this stuff coming from the bar mats

164. and actually dripping over into the garnishes.

165. Jon : The guests don't see until they're in the drink.

166. The limes are old.

167. Look at the color of the limes!

168. Those have been cut days ago.

169. That's disgusting.

170. Look at their container!

171. Oh! There's the white crust!

172. That's what they're dipping the...!

173. - Oh! Man! - Oh!

174. That salt has the water in it from yesterday's bucket too.

175. Why would these people come to this bar?

176. Since this market is about young,

177. my daughter's 28, she represents Jack Daniel's

178. in the liquor distributing business.

179. So for recon tonight

180. my daughter Sam is gonna walk through that door in a minute.

181. I asked her to sit at the bar and let's see what happens.

182. Jon's daughter Sam enters Liquid Lounge

183. a 2500 square foot space with outdated decor, no POS,

184. one well, and no dedicated area for entertainment.

185. Hi! How are you?

186. Good how are you?

187. Welcome to Liquid.

188. Sam knows me, she knows what I'm looking for.

189. Yes she does.

190. Could I just do a Jack and Soda?

191. - OK, no problem. - Thank ya.

192. That'll be $7.

193. Wow, so she's paying $7 for a Jack and Cola,

194. that's an expensive cocktail.

195. - There you go baby. - Thank you ma'am.

196. You're welcome.

197. Wouldn't a Jack and Cola be 3 parts Cola to one part Jack?

198. To be balanced, absolutely.

199. - Oh! - Oh!

200. Look at her face. How do you blow a Jack and Cola?

201. Can I have a couple more limes too?

202. She's tryin' to dilute it a bit so it's palatable.

203. She's chasing flies away from her limes.

204. What, did he bring food in from the outside?

205. Yeah he just walked in with that bag.

206. But would you let them bring food in

207. if the kitchen was open?

208. No! Why would we do that? Why would I work against myself?

209. Look at Rob standing there watching them do this.

210. With his arms crossed. Who's running this place?

211. That's a good question.

212. Do you guys have a menu?

213. - Menu? - Yeah.

214. - Thank you. - Yeah. Here's some of it.

215. You go to the window, order up there,

216. he'll tell ya what he's got.

217. I'm not sure I can let her eat there.

218. Hello?

219. So she can't even find the guy to place an order.

220. Look at how she stands in the window

221. looking in that disgusting kitchen.

222. If there was ever a kitchen in a prison,

223. That's what it looks like.

224. Can I do a shrimp kebob? Yeah I'll do that.

225. Let's see what happens.

226. Ew, what is that? Oh my gosh.

227. He's skewering some shrimp. Do you think that shrimp is fresh?

228. That's raw, and then he's touching everything!

229. Rob Floyd: Oh!

230. Now he has shrimp juice all over the handle.

231. Look at this, what the hell is that? Is that even clean?

232. I would not eat that.

233. This bar is fricken disgusting.

234. There's fruit flies flying around Sam,

235. she has to put napkins over her freaking glass.

236. Can we serve these cocktails Rob?

237. Rob Floyd: Absolutely not.

238. Can we serve that food?

239. Jon, you cannot let her eat that. She's gonna be sick.

240. So we have dirty surface,

241. there's filth fricken everywhere.

242. Let's stop this guys before somebody gets sick.

243. Wanna hit the kitchen? Hit the bar? OK.

244. Jon Taffer.

245. Welcome, Rob McCarthy.

246. - Nice to meet you Rob. - Nice to meet you.

247. Come with me for a second.

248. Can you get me the fruit please from under the bar?

249. Look at these guys, did you see the... the color?

250. Do you wanna serve... do you want to serve that?

251. No sir.

252. Do you want to eat that?

253. Yeah, no.

254. How many fruit flies have you gone like this tonight?

255. A few.

256. All night long, correct?

257. Yeah.

258. Rob Floyd: How about these olives?

259. Oh. Rob, feel the slime in this.

260. You know, olives are put in formaldehyde for the most part

261. to kinda keep 'em going for a long time.

262. And these smell like egg,

263. which means the formaldehyde has turned.

264. So let's dump these over here

265. because now I know the bar will get cleaned.

266. Right guys?

267. How about this one? Is that fresh?

268. It was cut tonight.

269. That's not cut tonight.

270. That wasn't cut tonight.

271. Only some of them were cut tonight.

272. So gotcha! Old fruit! Look at this guys! Look at it!

273. Oh my god oh my god oh my god.

274. God.

275. Is it disgusting?

276. Yes.

277. Do you know it's disgusting?

278. I guess it is.

279. I don't get it, why is this place such a hole?

280. How much longer until we close Rob?

281. At this rate maybe 3 months.

282. 3 months. So keep doing it guys,

283. and you lose your job and it's over.

284. Come on in here Rob. Now it gets intense.

285. What's going on back here?

286. You have dirt behind here, or mold.

287. Just touch it with your hand you can feel how gross it is.

288. Let me show you guys something. This is why her drink stinks.

289. Cause you never clean your soda guns,

290. so when you push the button, see how the syrup comes out first,

291. before the soda does? That's how filthy it is inside.

292. That's why it sucks. What the hell is this?

293. Chamoy.

294. To rim the cups for the margaritas.

295. So this is what we're rimming the cups

296. for the margaritas with?

297. How does that look?

298. But I'm not done!

299. This is where they put the pour spouts,

300. so it starts filthy and then it's downhill from there.

301. You think this was bad? Come with me.

302. Tiffany, talk to me.

303. This hasn't been cleaned in probably a year.

304. You got stuff in here unwrapped, that needs to go in the trash,

305. you got all of this down here that you're serving people.

306. I mean look at this fricken place! When is this from?

307. Do we know? No, of course not. When the hell is that?

308. Do you understand that this entire place

309. is cross contaminated with bacteria?

310. I don't even want to breathe in this room.

311. Everything here is disgusting.

312. Rob if you can't clean this bar up,

313. then you owe it to society to close it.

314. But you cannot operate it like this.

315. - Makes sense. - Makes sense.

316. Makes sense?

317. Why am I more angry than you? It's not my $400,000.

318. I can't help him if he stands here and doesn't give a.

319. I don't blame you.

320. Somebody better talk to him

321. because he has to be different for me to help you,

322. understand that?

323. Yeah. I love you Rob but... you need to step it up.

324. This is about the safety of your customers.

325. This is about the community, the people that come here.

326. Either ya fricken care or ya don't. So what do ya say?

327. I'm willing to fix it.

328. You're willing to fix it.

329. We'll give it our best.

330. No! That's not good enough.

331. Either this place is fricken clean tomorrow

332. and I'll help you, or shut it down.

333. Because what you're doing is irresponsible.

334. Let's get out of here Tiff,

335. this is unbelievable I'm wasting your time.

336. We're cleaning it up tonight Rob.

337. Rob McCarthy: We gotta do it.

338. We got a lot of work to do.

339. Rob McCarthy: I'm embarrassed, shocked.

340. Cross contamination is a horrible thing.

341. I was disgusted with the filth.

342. Jon actually scared the heck out of me.

343. I had no idea that we were endangering folks.

344. That was hard.

345. Is there anything that I've said behind this bar

346. that's unreasonable?

347. Do I have a right to be angry when somebody can make you sick?

348. Is that right? This isn't about money!

349. - Oh no. - You'll make it.

350. No, he's still yelling out there.

351. It's about your safety! It's about responsibility!

352. And this bar has none!

353. So, they're gonna clean all fricken night,

354. and I'm gonna come back here, and if this place is clean,

355. I will build a great bar. If it's a hole tomorrow,

356. I'm gone. Let's get out of here Rob.

357. Sam, please let's get out of here.

358. I don't want you to even drink anything here.

359. Rob is a deer in headlights.

360. Close the bar, close the bar.

361. - The longer you stay open, - Close it right now.

362. the longer it's gonna take to clean it up.

363. - We're closing up guys. - Close it up.

364. We're done. Thank you for coming!

365. Jon Taffer just ripped Rob's ass.

366. I wanted to defend him but everything Jon said was right.

367. It's a hard pill to swallow.

368. We're gonna clean the out this bar, all night.

369. And I'm gonna do everything I can

370. and have everybody as a team get this together,

371. 'cause we're gonna make this work.

372. And I need Jon Taffer, without him this bar is gonna close.

373. Rob McCarthy: Woo, what is that smell?

374. Your ass.

375. I was so upset with the filth from last night,

376. once I went in with Tiffany and with Rob,

377. all hell broke loose. It is even more disgusting than I thought.

378. Today when I walk in I expect 3 things.

379. I expect the bar to be clean, the kitchen to be clean,

380. and Rob to give a damn.

381. Hello.

382. - Hi. - Hi!

383. Let's talk everybody. Wow, can you smell the difference?

384. Yeah.

385. So this is a big step forward.

386. Doesn't it feel better to be back here in this situation?

387. - Yeah, of course. - Definitely.

388. So when Rob bought this bar, 6 and a half years ago?

389. Yes.

390. It was doing about twice the revenue it is now.

391. How many years have you been here Staci?

392. On and off for about 20 years.

393. Long time.

394. 3 different owners.

395. So when you look at the way it was then,

396. to the way it was now, does it surprise you?

397. Yes. The other owners were here all the time.

398. So you're here everyday Rob?

399. Not everyday.

400. What are the hours for the kitchen?

401. Currently we're open Wednesday through Saturday night.

402. So one day the kitchen's open,

403. come in here the next day the kitchen's not.

404. What happens? What do people do to eat?

405. Order pizza.

406. And they bring it in from outside?

407. Yep.

408. Or they just leave.

409. Who's making these decisions?

410. That'd be me.

411. Is it fair to say

412. that this business has lost 50% of its customers

413. because of the way Rob runs it?

414. I think so.

415. So is he a good guy?

416. He's a very good guy.

417. I can tell.

418. To a fault.

419. You took the words right out of my mouth.

420. He's such a good guy

421. he doesn't get angry when the place is dirty does he?

422. No.

423. And maybe he should?

424. Yeah.

425. You can be a good guy but still demand the bar be clean.

426. Right.

427. The fact of the matter is,

428. you're gonna lose another 50% of your business

429. if you don't change this, you know that.

430. Yes sir.

431. You're not gonna last more than how many months?

432. 3 to 4 months.

433. So are you gonna step up?

434. This has brought a new light to my eyes.

435. What I'm seeing in them is invigorating.

436. Now it's my turn to produce.

437. They are counting on you. Do it for them.

438. OK we got a good start here,

439. we got a bar that's starting to look good,

440. why don't we all take a quick peek in the kitchen.

441. - OK. - OK.

442. Let's see what's going on in there.

443. Much better.

444. We took all these out and cleaned the walls.

445. This is a good start, you agree?

446. I agree.

447. You can breathe in this room now.

448. Yes, yes.

449. Well man, let's take a walk through real quick.

450. All right. Let's go.

451. We stayed to the wee hours last night.

452. The staff was incredible, and was happy to have Jon come in

453. and see the work we put in.

454. C'mon in. It stunk when I stood here before. Now it doesn't.

455. Cool.

456. What is this? OK we got a serious problem here guys.

457. Oh man!

458. Oooh.

459. Ew.

460. Oh man!

461. Look, they're going up the whole damn wall!

462. Your building is coming down in front of us for Christ sakes.

463. Just when I thought we were clean, all ready to train,

464. wham-o I get hit with something else.

465. Now we have another roadblock.

466. We gotta leave the building,

467. let's get an exterminator in here.

468. Let me get this assessed

469. and let's see what the hell we can do about this guys.

470. This is a huge problem.

471. This bar is infested with ants.

472. I have to call an exterminator, see if I can solve it,

473. and if I can even train inside.

474. What do we got?

475. Argentine ants.

476. So they're foraging, they're just trying to invade the bar

477. so we gotta go ahead and treat the exterior.

478. OK.

479. And then treat the interior.

480. No issues selling food in here once you guys are done?

481. You can get this under control? It's safe?

482. Everything will be safe.

483. OK.

484. Good news.

485. Problem solved. Thank you guys.

486. Thankfully I had a great exterminator come,

487. we did eradicate the problem.

488. They're gone.

489. So I want to go to work

490. 'cause tonight I still have to have a stress test.

491. All right, the ants are gone.

492. Let's go to work, c'mon over everybody.

493. Yes!

494. Chef Tiffany Derry is one of the best chefs in America.

495. Rob Floyd is creative as it gets.

496. We gotta elevate ourselves to what they are.

497. You with me?

498. Yes.

499. Can you imagine if we clean this place up

500. and put a great concept in here with Tiffany's food,

501. and Rob's cocktails what we could accomplish?

502. Yeah.

503. OK, guys let's start training, let's go to work.

504. Hey guys, how are ya?

505. - Hi! - Good, how are you doin'?

506. Good good good. Drinks should be simple,

507. they should be exciting, they should be inviting.

508. But you should be able to make them very fast.

509. If this place is gonna be successful,

510. they are gonna learn how to make consistent, balanced cocktails

511. that makes people smile,

512. that looks beautiful in a tall glass,

513. you really just can't wait to have another one.

514. So these are some of the drinks that Jon and I came up with,

515. and they're really fun. This one's done with lemon juice,

516. sweet tea, an ounce and a half of Jack Daniel's old number 7.

517. Shake and strain over fresh ice, garnish with an orange wedge.

518. We call this Long Beach Tea.

519. It tastes fresh.

520. It is very delicious.

521. It just said Long Beach all over it.

522. I think that everyone is gonna like it.

523. I'm nervous.

524. Rob Floyd: That's good.

525. And shake.

526. Rob Floyd: Shake. One thing...

527. What?

528. Everyone wants to see your pretty face.

529. OK.

530. So don't shake like this, shake like that.

531. OK. How's that?

532. Perfect, here we go.

533. And bam.

534. Bam. So let's have everybody taste it real quick.

535. Very refreshing.

536. Perfect.

537. The technique on shaking was a little different

538. because I don't normally shake that way.

539. I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna work on that.

540. All right, thank you Rob, appreciate it.

541. Hello hello. I want to make it where folks can come in,

542. they can get little bitty bites of things.

543. But also just something a little bit different.

544. We're gonna do an aioli,

545. so we got a little bit of that garlic,

546. a little bit of mayonnaise, I have some agave nectar,

547. and a little bit of mustard.

548. So one of the things that as a chef and as an owner,

549. you have to always watch your cost right? So we went

550. and we were able to find some pre- portioned shrimp for you.

551. It has panko breadcrumbs on it, ready to go,

552. it goes in the fryer. Guess how long that takes to cook?

553. 3 minutes.

554. 2 minutes.

555. Wow.

556. A little bit of creole seasoning I made,

557. now we have a beautiful shrimp popper. Try it out.

558. Mmm. Wow.

559. So we're gonna prepare this for tonight, we're gonna get ready.

560. There's gonna be a lot of orders,

561. all you have to do is just keep cooking. OK?

562. All right, thank you.

563. - Thank you very much. - OK, take care.

564. OK guys, you see all these people standing out front?

565. Let's get to this. Now tonight is stress test,

566. the purpose of tonight is to see all of our problems.

567. Tonight we expose 'em, tomorrow we fix 'em.

568. That's what this is all about.

569. We're gonna slam the bar just like a busy Friday night.

570. I don't guests to have to walk up to the window.

571. I want to order food from the bar tonight.

572. So I want you guys to take the food orders,

573. get them into the kitchen.

574. OK.

575. What are you nervous about?

576. We never take food orders behind the bar. So this is new.

577. We have to take this to that level.

578. Show us what you got tonight, OK?

579. Let's do this.

580. Rob I want you engaged tonight.

581. Mmm hmm.

582. I want you in the kitchen making sure food comes out correctly,

583. helping out where you can, helping out behind the bar.

584. We've made a lot of progress in less than 24 hours.

585. - Yes. - Agreed

586. We open in about 15 minutes or so.

587. All right, let's go to it guys.

588. Rob had an eye opener. He has a lot on his shoulders

589. because I don't want him to let me down or himself down,

590. or the customers. And he feels the pressure.

591. I'm pretty sure he'll step it up.

592. OK guys, all the drinks are $6.25.

593. OK?

594. Open in 5 minutes.

595. 3, 3, 1.

596. You ready?

597. Ready.

598. OK. Why don't you invite them in? Let's open up,

599. guys we're opening OK? Let's do this!

600. Rob McCarthy: Here we go.

601. Here we go!

602. Oh.

603. Hello hello! Come on in guys! Get the party started. Welcome.

604. Welcome to the Liquid Lounge!

605. Hello hello! This is what's on the menu tonight.

606. So a shrimp basket and a long beach.

607. Here we go, first order of the day.

608. Tomas!

609. We got a shrimp basket.

610. Vámonos!

611. Let's go, we're minutes in, we're minutes in.

612. Let's go let's go.

613. Go let's go let's go, c'mon!

614. Let's go let's go let's go let's go.

615. Quick hands, quick hands. How many drinks are you making now?

616. 4 right now.

617. 4. You put them together, you're not gonna spill all over.

618. OK.

619. Here we go, shake, shake like you mean it, smile, let's go.

620. Rob Floyd: C'mon, let's go let's go.

621. Oh, that's short.

622. And it's not gonna be balanced, we gotta start over.

623. Let's do it, let's do it.

624. Why aren't you doing these right? C'mon.

625. Damn. We are nervous tonight.

626. Rob Floyd: Do it again, you see we're gonna have that pink break in there

627. Pour these right, c'mon.

628. Let's go, this whole side's dying let's move.

629. Who's ordering food?

630. Look at all those hands, let's sell some food!

631. Who wants shrimp? One, two, three, four, five, six shrimp!

632. I need, can I get four shrimp out there or no?

633. Two shrimp, two shrimp.

634. What're you doin' in the house?

635. He needs help guys! We need help!

636. Rob McCarthy: Oh my word.

637. Rob! We need help back here!

638. Somebody's gotta get this food,

639. or I'm gonna dump it out if it gets cold.

640. Who's Tony? You know who Tony is?

641. No.

642. Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Anybody? Tony. Tony?

643. Yes!

644. How we doing? How many are ya makin'?

645. Uh... 4 at the moment.

646. Are we smiling? Are we having a good time?

647. I'm mentally smiling right now.

648. Mentally smiling.

649. Mentally smiling.

650. See how the mental money things works out.

651. Ha ha ha ha.

652. How we doin' Tiff?

653. It started slow, they're finally trying to get a system down.

654. 10 tickets here guys.

655. 10 tickets.

656. 4 behind, we're not catching up.

657. I know I know, let's go, I need a shrimp by itself.

658. We just were not prepared. Preparation is everything,

659. it is the most important thing when you're running a kitchen.

660. Where are you putting the seasoning?

661. Big smile, big smile, there we go, there we go.

662. All right here we go Lola, let's see here.

663. All right, all right.

664. Oh yeah.

665. - Yes! - You're gonna like that.

666. Lola's doing a great job behind the bar and so is Raemone.

667. They're decent bartenders,

668. they've never had standards in place, recipes in place.

669. Quick but don't hurry. Bring that up. Beautiful!

670. I sense that if we build the right bar around them,

671. the two of them will step up.

672. Rob McCarthy: Here's your ticket up here.

673. What's wrong?

674. Rob McCarthy: I think a problem is occurring here.

675. What?

676. Rob McCarthy: I don't think anybody's collected any money

677. for anything.

678. Who's gotten a drink but hasn't been charged for it?

679. You haven't paid, you haven't paid,

680. you haven't, you haven't, you haven't.

681. Is there anybody in the room who actually paid for a drink?

682. Nope.

683. Right here, we did.

684. You guys did. Oh but you didn't, it's still sitting there.

685. So you guys have sold all these drinks

686. and haven't rung up any of them?

687. Not one penny.

688. This is unbelievable.

689. Somebody's gotta get control of this Rob and it's gotta be you.

690. Lola, what's the point of this if we don't take money?

691. I know, I'm trying.

692. Let's make it right.

693. OK. I have, I have to collect some money. $6.25, $6.25, $6.25.

694. Rob McCarthy: It might be easier if you just kept making drinks

695. and just tell me how many to ring up.

696. Let me ask you a question, are you finished with this?

697. It's not cooked all the way through.

698. Somebody has to take care of this.

699. Listen to me guys stop, listen to me.

700. The bar business is not about moving glassware and products,

701. it's about making people happy. If we put food in front of them

702. and they're not happy, does it matter? No!

703. You guys know how to move product,

704. you don't know how to make people happy!

705. You don't know how to look in their eyes

706. and care that her food sucks! So the sooner I fix it,

707. the better off you are, right?

708. Yes.

709. 'Cause this is just not working guys. So close it down,

710. let's get together, and let's start training

711. because this can't continue. Just shut it down!

712. It was a mad house tonight. We weren't able to stay with it,

713. it was a little chaotic with uh our system.

714. We weren't ready for it.

715. That was something else, huh?

716. - Yeah - That was crazy

717. That doesn't even describe it. I don't get frustrated.

718. - I was frustrated. - It was crazy. Yeah.

719. You guys have done a lot for me, uh... in these past 3 or 4 days

720. to open my eyes to how much you guys really care.

721. And uh hopefully I can hold up my end of the bargain

722. and we can be successful with this.

723. Thank you!

724. - Good job. - Yes, thanks.

725. That bar just sucks.

726. Tonight's stress test showed me a lot about the staff.

727. They have a lot of heart and a lot of determination.

728. But they don't have a workplace

729. that allows them to show off their best asset,

730. their very personalities.

731. You know when we take a look at Long Beach,

732. it's a young, singles marketplace.

733. We gotta do a value bar.

734. We're in Long Beach which is not far from the ocean,

735. so if I created a fun, casual, colorful beach concept,

736. what do you see for drinks?

737. Those three step drinks that are beautiful to have,

738. that are balanced, that make you go wow, this was refreshing,

739. I'm a little hungry, let's get something to eat.

740. Keep it fresh, doing seafood is all the way

741. I mean when you go to the beach

742. you definitely want something that feels like quality,

743. a little bit of quantity, and just all on flavor.

744. Those cocktails sitting next to that fish

745. in a beach themed environment starts to make some sense.

746. Absolutely.

747. You guys with me?

748. I am with you all the way.

749. All right, I'm buying the coffee guys,

750. let's go figure this baby out.

751. Let's do it.

752. This bar has four rooms and a patio,

753. so I've already started remodeling.

754. I have the staff at an off site location for training.

755. Last night I lost my cool for a minute for a reason.

756. I wanted to upset you

757. 'cause I wanted you guys to look at yourselves

758. and get angry yourselves at what happened.

759. But most importantly, I wanted Rob to get angry

760. because he's the one ultimately who controls this.

761. I do realize that if I don't persist with our systems,

762. and keep things going on my level,

763. it will very quickly drop on their level.

764. How do you feel when you hear Rob say that?

765. I'm proud that Rob is stepping up and he's feeling energized.

766. Rob McCarthy: It's up to me to get this bar back up to par.

767. Hopefully eliminating mistakes we made the first time.

768. So I have to maintain the consistency

769. that Jon has created for us.

770. Today is all about taking the experience from yesterday

771. and making it better. You guys have great heart.

772. The fact of the matter is,

773. there's something very special about you.

774. And if we build the right systems and bar around you,

775. you can take this to the promised land.

776. Product, experience, that's what we need to capture.

777. You with me?

778. Yes.

779. In about 40 hours, we have a whole new bar

780. and it's gonna be packed so we gotta be ready. OK?

781. It's like we made the playoffs, that's what I feel like.

782. I'm gonna leave you in a better place.

783. Thank you.

784. I promise you that.

785. I'm pumped.

786. This staff needs to understand

787. that they are not good at this yet.

788. They have great attitudes, but we have to get our systems

789. and our procedures down. Today is all about training.

790. How are we tonight?

791. Good.

792. Behind the bar you have to have the knowledge,

793. and the guy I'm about to bring in is amazing.

794. I've asked Eric Tecosky

795. the brand ambassador for Jack Daniel's

796. to work with the staff to provide a complete experience,

797. have better knowledge

798. of the great brand that Jack Daniel's is,

799. and help us put in some great cocktails.

800. If you know a little bit more about a brand

801. you can really sell that brand

802. and really make a connection to your customer.

803. If you think about it, Jack was a really small brand

804. until the 40s. Anyone know what made Jack become a big brand?

805. It was singer...

806. Frank Sinatra?

807. Frank Sinatra.

808. He would proclaim to the audience

809. that Jack Daniel's was the nectar of the gods.

810. And if Fran Sinatra said it was good, people wanted to try it

811. and now it's all over the world.

812. And I'm pretty sure if Jack Daniel was here today

813. he would be very proud of the fact that his whiskey

814. is the number one selling American whiskey in the world.

815. But I guarantee you, he would be more proud of the fact that

816. we make it exactly the same way he made it way back then.

817. Thank you guys.

818. Thank you, beautiful presentation.

819. So we'll start off with our Jack Daniel's cocktail.

820. Start with lemon juice and orgeat syrup,

821. add an ounce and a half of Jack Daniel's old number 7,

822. add ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice,

823. shake and strain over fresh ice,

824. top with soda and garnish with a lemon peel.

825. We call this The Weekender.

826. Oh yeah, that's good.

827. Good, and when you're working with great products

828. like Jack Daniel's you can make beautiful art.

829. But again, it goes back to the customer service

830. and an aggressive sale across the bar.

831. Now let's have a little fun. All right Raemone, let's see it.

832. Hello hello, how you guys doin' today?

833. Doin' good, how about yourself?

834. All right, all right.

835. Today I'll be making you guys the weekender,

836. made with Jack Daniel's.

837. I think this process has brought everybody up to a new level

838. as far as just making a drink,

839. they're getting much better at it.

840. And they're taking a little pride in what they're doing.

841. There we go. That is the weekender.

842. - That's delicious - Fantastic.

843. Good job Raemone, good job. Good job.

844. This whole process is gonna change the game

845. for Liquid Lounge, for the Liquid Lounge family,

846. and when I say family I mean the workers, the customers,

847. we are a family.

848. Here you go sir.

849. And I feel like we're giving them something better

850. to come home to.

851. Hello! The man is here!

852. Nice to see you.

853. This bar was filthy, you were losing $6,000 a month,

854. 400 in the hole, continuing to write those checks

855. to keep their jobs and everything going.

856. Now think of where we're at 4 days later guys.

857. You were never equipped to provide a complete experience.

858. So I wanted to give you a concept that fit

859. where we are in Southern California,

860. that I think will fit all of those different opportunities

861. during the day. You guys ready to see it?

862. Yes!

863. OK on the count of three, here we go! One, two, three.

864. Oh my god.

865. Oh my god!

866. The design's awesome, it looks really fresh, beachy.

867. I really love it. Jon hit it on the money.

868. You can't help but look at that sign when you drive by it.

869. And that was the whole point, to be seen again.

870. Look at the colors, it's casual, it's fun, it's approachable.

871. Exactly.

872. Rob, you happy?

873. I'm extremely happy.

874. Is this something that would re-instill your pride again?

875. It sure has, definitely. Thank you Jon.

876. - My pleasure. - This is awesome.

877. I bet you can't wait to see the inside.

878. Rob McCarthy: Ready, I'm ready. Let's do this.

879. Go ahead.

880. - OK everybody. - Oh my gosh.

881. Whoa!

882. - Wow! Oh my god. - Oh my god!

883. Look at this bar you guys!

884. This is beautiful. I'm about to cry, I'm about to cry.

885. This is nice Rob.

886. These are sweet.

887. This is nice.

888. - Oh my god! - Oh my god!

889. Oh my god.

890. I cannot wait to serve drinks back here.

891. How'd I do?

892. You did excellent!

893. Is it OK?

894. Yes!

895. Fun bar?

896. I would never know where I am man.

897. It's fantastic, I just love the whole theme,

898. it's really really neat, and I didn't,

899. never dreamed of putting together something like this.

900. Suddenly it's a whole different environment.

901. This is really Tidal Bay.

902. There's some real opportunity for you Rob, you agree?

903. I do.

904. So, we got a lot more people here right?

905. Now we gotta be able to sell 'em drinks.

906. Yes!

907. So I wanted to set up the bar properly,

908. let me show what we did back there.

909. I got you one, two, three HarborTouch POS systems.

910. Our workstations now have double speedwells.

911. Our soda guns are brixed,

912. which means the ratio of syrup to soda water is perfect.

913. And then look around at the additional seating we have.

914. A lot of revenue potential.

915. But I also wanted to protect your profits,

916. so I got you a lifetime subscription to Partender,

917. which takes inventory behind the bar,

918. in 15 minutes it's unbelievable.

919. Then Tomas, the grill in the kitchen Tomas,

920. to set you up for speed you have all the right temperature now.

921. Thank you.

922. Everybody on this team has been an incredible contributor.

923. Rob, you've inspired me,

924. you have some wonderful people with character around

925. and this is what you needed buddy,

926. was a little kick in the butt

927. and some light at the end of the tunnel.

928. I'm very grateful.

929. How ya feeling Staci?

930. Oh I'm so excited.

931. Did I set you up for success?

932. - Yes. Oh. - Sure did.

933. Can't wait to get started.

934. All right, let's go to work.

935. I'm excited, this is beautiful,

936. I can now tell my family and my friends to come on down.

937. Welcome to Tidal Bay! You guys ready to come on in?

938. All right, let's do it.

939. Welcome to Tidal Bay!

940. Hi baby, how are you?

941. A Weekender and a Tidal Tequila.

942. Weekender... Tidal...

943. I'm a regular here and everywhere I look around

944. I see little things, it's like Tidal Bay, it's classy.

945. What'd ya got?

946. $6.25, leave it open.

947. Rob McCarthy: OK.

948. Before it was dark and kind of the typical dive bar,

949. and now it's beautiful.

950. Love the colors, excited to come back.

951. The tequila...

952. Jon Taffer helped us too much, I owe him everything. I love him.

953. He's my new BFF. This is just out of this world.

954. We're pushing drinks out, the house is full,

955. Tidal Bay is gonna be here forever, it's Long Beach baby.

956. - Bam baby! - Bam!

957. There you go! There you go!

958. I can help you with that.

959. Good Rob, excellent excellent.

960. Thank you.

961. Rob's a million times better tonight.

962. Last time he was just hiding but now Rob's breaking bad habits,

963. he's really owning the floor. It's no longer individuals,

964. it's teamwork. Teamwork is dream work baby.

965. No imaginary smile, it's real.

966. Yeah.

967. Hi!

968. Whoa! Two at a time! Yeah!

969. Where's your two shrimp? Two corn dogs.

970. - Two salmon right? - Yeah.

971. Let's get that working.

972. How we doing?

973. We're finally catching up,

974. the tickets are finally starting to flow out,

975. we're finding our speed, it's working out good now.

976. Awesome, great, thank you chef.

977. Another shrimp rolls.

978. - Yeah! Having fun! - Here we go.

979. Here you go. Thank you.

980. Look at that buddy.

981. Oh it's incredible.

982. You got a new concept, staff is trained, got good food?

983. Yes.

984. Good drinks?

985. They're loving it.

986. Fire in your belly?

987. Absolutely.

988. All right, my work is done buddy.

989. Well thank you. Thank you so much. We've turned a page here,

990. we've got a new chapter in our life and we've got great food,

991. great drinks, great atmosphere,

992. feels great to be able to bring your family back,

993. be proud of what you've got here.

994. It's really fun to see this place this full

995. and alive with all new faces,

996. so it's very exciting times for us. We're ready for our future.

997. Every Bar Rescue is so different,

998. this bar had a great staff and a lazy, disengaged owner.

999. But he was a good guy, you take a good guy in a bad place

1000. and push him into a better place and now he can succeed

1001. because the fact is, Rob has succeeded before.

1002. He just had to be put on a path of success.