Bar Rescue 5x24

1. It's too much. I'm, I'm losin' it.

2. I'm not a professional counselor, but she's unstable.

3. I can't, I can't look at this place!

4. I'm just kinda nervous.

5. Just the stress on her.

6. I'm this close to snapping.

7. I just, I can't take it anymore.

8. This year, 6,500 failing bars nationwide

9. will close their doors for good.

10. If things don't change soon, Rockin' Rhonda's

11. in Sanford, Florida will become just another statistic.

12. Three, four.

13. I was in the corporate world,

14. made a lot of money when I was young.

15. Rhonda left her career as a stockbroker to chase her dream

16. of being a singer.

17. I love to entertain people.

18. When I see those smiles out there

19. and everybody havin' a good time, that's what gives me joy.

20. She took over a struggling karaoke bar in 2011

21. and named it Rockin Rhonda's.

22. I built it from like eight people on a Friday night

23. to standing-room only, and I didn't even name myself,

24. I mean, these people came up with it.

25. "You're rockin'. You're rockin' Rhonda."

26. It's like, "OK."

27. Rhonda the performer carried the bar to initial success.

28. We did as high as $32,000 in a month.

29. We were doin' karaoke seven nights a week,

30. which was unheard-of anywhere in this area.

31. That's why they call it Rockin Rhonda's.

32. Then, in 2015, Rhonda's life was turned upside-down.

33. We had Hurricane Matthew come in.

34. Standing water on the dance floor. In the bathrooms.

35. But the insurance company denied my claim

36. because basically they're saying that the building's old

37. and that it imploded on itself.

38. Overwhelmed, Rhonda quit on her bar.

39. This is the adult daycare.

40. (BLEEP) off.

41. She didn't train her staff.

42. I followed someone around for the day

43. and then that's about it.

44. There is no formal training at Rockin Rhonda's.

45. I taught myself.

46. Drink, drink, drink! It's bad luck if you don't!

47. She drank what liquor she didn't give away.

48. Rhonda loves to give her away some free shots.

49. You wanna do a body shot on the bar?

50. Rhonda's working, you know she's gonna buy us drinks.

51. Oh god, I just won the lottery.

52. And cut corners that drove away business.

53. What we wanna do is produce quality food.

54. - (LAUGHS) - Busted!

55. Now, the bar is literally falling apart.

56. It's an old building, but she hasn't done any updates to it.

57. Sometimes when you walk on it just right,

58. you think somebody came through the front door.

59. If there's a couple of bigger women on the dance floor

60. and they're bouncin' around,

61. it looks like it's about to cave in.

62. Did you see all the holes in the ceiling?

63. Do you know I had 17 buckets in this place when it was raining?

64. Structurally, that building's literally about to cave in.

65. And so is Rhonda.

66. I'm having a breakdown right now, guys,

67. so, please be nice to me.

68. With over $100,000 in debt,

69. if Rhonda doesn't get her business back on track

70. Physically, emotionally, I feel like I'm drowning.

71. Sanford could lose a pillar of the community.

72. Rhonda's known for her heart.

73. I have done countless benefit after benefit.

74. I've done it for the sick, the injured, I mean,

75. living is in the giving, and I've always believed that.

76. She, uh, helps everybody that comes in that,

77. that needs a hand.

78. If the bar closes, I lose the ability to help people.

79. And Rhonda could lose everything.

80. I'm gonna lose my house and I have nothing.

81. All my dreams down the drain.

82. I have $45 in my personal account.

83. So Rhonda's agreed to pull back the doors, bust open the books,

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

85. I can't take it anymore! That's telling you the truth.

86. So, I'm heading to Sanford, Florida

87. to a bar called Rockin Rhonda's.

88. This is a classic neighborhood bar.

89. Sanford has a median age of 35, so it's not a young population,

90. and the bar is located in an area

91. with a median income of about $34,000

92. So it's not wealthy either.

93. But Rockin' Rhonda's is located on South Orlando Drive,

94. where 27,000 cars drive by every day.

95. So it clearly has the potential to drum up plenty of business.

96. I've had this bar under surveillance for weeks.

97. This bar is owned by a woman named Rhonda.

98. She bought it five years ago. She's in debt over $100,000,

99. and she's weeks from closing.

100. Normally I'd be doing recon tonight,

101. but my team identified

102. a real serious structural issue with her floor.

103. As a matter of fact,

104. the beer coolers seem to be falling through the floor.

105. Years ago, I had this problem outside of Baltimore

106. with a bar we wound up calling Murphy's Law,

107. and it took us weeks

108. to fix the structural issues beneath the floor.

109. So I'm not sure I have the time to do it.

110. So I'm gonna drive over there, and my team's gonna

111. join us as well, and see if I can even fix this bar,

112. and if I can help Rhonda at all.

113. How about another beer?

114. Wait a minute.

115. In a minute?

116. Come on over.

117. - Makin' you happy? - (CRYING)

118. - Aw. - Just seeing you.

119. (CRYING) You are real. You're here,

120. I dreamed about it.

121. - I'm here. - Yes, sir.

122. You can yell at me. Whatever I've done wrong.

123. I won't yell at you.

124. I could've been at a thousand other bars, but I'm here.

125. Oh, my god.

126. How much money are you losing here?

127. Five or six thousand.

128. - A month? - Yes.

129. I have $45 in my personal account.

130. So, are you down to the wire here?

131. Yes, sir.

132. What I want you to do is I want you to go grab a pad and a pen.

133. Yes, sir.

134. And I want to walk through the bar together

135. and I wanna create a list

136. of the things that we need to accomplish.

137. And then we'll take it from there.

138. OK. Oh my god, oh my god.

139. It's all broken up.

140. I've taken it up one time, and all they did before...

141. The cooler's sinking through the floor, I can see it.

142. Yes, sir. Yes. It's not safe.

143. This was standing in water from Hurricane Matthew,

144. and they denied the claim. And I wear back braces.

145. So, you're hurting yourself now by working here.

146. All of us are hurting bad.

147. I can feel the entire thing is dipping.

148. It's, it's moving. Yes.

149. The entire bar goes down this way.

150. You're looking uphill right now.

151. This, too. Right through here. It's terrible.

152. - Write down "bar floor." - OK.

153. Write down "bar," 'cause you can't fix the bar floor

154. if you don't remove the bar, can you?

155. No.

156. And you can't fix the bar floor if I don't remove the back bar,

157. so write down back bar.

158. OK.

159. What about the coolers behind the bar?

160. They don't always keep cold. It doesn't close properly.

161. And they don't cool sometimes?

162. No. They don't.

163. This is your refrigerator.

164. That's a mini-fridge, yeah, for-

165. So this is an $80 residential refrigerator.

166. Yes, sir.

167. That you put your things in. So,

168. yes, I-

169. Put down "not enough refrigeration."

170. OK.

171. You don't have work stations behind the bar.

172. We used to, but when we took up the floor the first time,

173. it fell apart when we moved it.

174. So, write "work stations," there's no work stations here.

175. OK.

176. Where do you make your food?

177. - Over there. - Show me.

178. OK. That's our menu on the board there.

179. I just brought an air fryer in.

180. So, our menu is wings, egg rolls, Jamaican beef patty.

181. Yeah. Yes.

182. That sounds appetizing doesn't it?

183. Almost mystery meat.

184. You don't even know what the heck you're eating.

185. And I bet it bounces off the bar. Would be my guess.

186. (LAUGHS)

187. Let's, let's go see.

188. OK.

189. OK, so this is a microwave.

190. I got written up by the health department three times in a row

191. because it was stained,

192. so I said, well I just gotta get a new one.

193. Because this isn't made to be used a hundred times a day.

194. - Right. - This is residential.

195. OK, so we have no, put down "no cooking."

196. And then wait, there's more. This is our freezer.

197. When he put the handle back on.

198. We have to velcro it to keep it from defrosting.

199. Is this what you want your dream to be?

200. No, sir, no. I want so much more.

201. I, I've been struggling.

202. I've put everything I have into this place.

203. I swear to God, you can ask anybody.

204. I just don't have the money.

205. Let's go sit down for a minute.

206. OK.

207. Rhonda's been through a lot, and it's showing in her behavior.

208. That's why I wanna sit down with her right now

209. and find out if she's even emotionally able to do this.

210. What did you do before you owned this?

211. I was a stockbroker, an insurance broker,

212. a mortgage broker. I made money early in life.

213. I decided, you know, I have a talent for singing.

214. I play the guitar. So I started my own DJ karaoke business.

215. I see the sign. Rockin' Rhonda's Karaoke.

216. Yes.

217. So, you're running this by yourself now.

218. Yes.

219. Do you understand what beverage cost is?

220. No. What is your rent every month?

221. $4,187 and 20 cents.

222. For you to make money, we have to do 10 times that in revenue.

223. A month?

224. That's what it takes to make money in the bar business.

225. How much are you doing a month now?

226. $19,000 and some change. It's been terrible.

227. Let me ask you a question.

228. If I walked into your house right now, would it be clean?

229. - No. - It's a mess.

230. Yeah.

231. I'm guessing 'cause this place is a mess too.

232. Oh yeah. I've failed. I, I'm overwhelmed.

233. I'm, I'm, I'm burnt out. I've, I've had an audit

234. and bed bugs and a dog with heart worms.

235. And it's not that I didn't stop caring.

236. - Come here. - I'm sorry.

237. Listen to me. Listen to me.

238. K, so then this is the time when you gotta toughen up.

239. Yeah. OK.

240. - This is a neglected room. - Yes.

241. And you're the one who neglected it.

242. I'm responsible.

243. We have to change that. You agree?

244. Yes.

245. OK. So, let me see your list.

246. The bar floor. The bar. The back-bar. The ice machine.

247. The beer cooler. Refrigeration.

248. Work stations. Cooking equipment.

249. The dance floor's coming up too.

250. I'm not sure that the floor is even safe here.

251. Oh, god.

252. That's my issue. What I'm gonna do is,

253. I'm gonna have my guys come look at the floor.

254. OK.

255. And I'll come back and talk to you in a little bit, OK?

256. OK.

257. I've been praying for this for so long. I need help.

258. I need a bar rescue.

259. So, listen. We have a list of things in this bar.

260. - It's about 12 items. - All right.

261. Refrigeration, plumbing.

262. But there's a floor issue that I think is structural.

263. That floor dips and the cooler almost bounces

264. and moves on the floor.

265. All right, we'll have to check it out.

266. I'm not sure we can pull this off.

267. - Let's go look at it. - OK. Come on.

268. Look at the angle on the beer cooler.

269. I almost feel if I pushed the thing down...

270. Yeah, it's droppin' about four to five inches and two foot.

271. This is the joist and the seal underneath there.

272. Wow. So we'd have to redo the structure, rebuild the bar, and

273. then put all the refrigeration and everything back.

274. Yes. Soda guns, sinks, all of it.

275. That's more work than we've ever done

276. in the amount of time we would have to do it.

277. - Duh. - Could you do it?

278. Oh god, please, please, please.

279. Uh. I couldn't hit the timeline

280. to be able to turn the bar back over for relaunch.

281. What if we start now?

282. I can start now.

283. We can try to stay on schedule.

284. We'll see what happens.

285. OK.

286. Oh my god.

287. We have to start right now.

288. You guys ready to finish up your drinks?

289. Oh. What? Oh.

290. Come here.

291. Yes?

292. I have to remove everything. Remove all the liquor,

293. remove the back bar, take out everything.

294. OK.

295. Fix the structure under the floor.

296. Make sure it doesn't leak again so this doesn't happen again.

297. Yes.

298. Put all the power and the plumbing

299. and everything that goes with all that.

300. Uh-huh.

301. We literally have to start right now.

302. OK.

303. So let's get your product together,

304. let's get your customers taken care of,

305. let's get everybody outta here.

306. Let me go to work.

307. If I don't start ripping this apart now,

308. I'll never finish in time. You get it?

309. Yes!

310. OK, set me up to go to work. Let's do it.

311. OK. OK. Uh, last call!

312. Oh my god. Thank you!

313. Taking it all in, I'm shocked. I get so overwhelmed sometimes,

314. you know, I wear contacts and glasses.

315. I'll just take my glasses off so it all blurs out

316. so I don't have to look at it.

317. 'Cause it's like, you don't even know where to start sometimes,

318. y'know? I don't even know if it can be done.

319. He didn't come in and yell at me.

320. Yet.

321. Not yet. Not yet!

322. They're gonna do it right now. Drink 'em up, drink 'em up,

323. we got work to do guys. We're closed. We're closed.

324. This bar is a physical and structural nightmare.

325. Not only do we have to fix the floor behind the bar,

326. we have to rip out the entire floor in the entire building.

327. I've got my team working day and night.

328. Hopefully I can get it together in time to rescue it.

329. Since we've opened up the floor,

330. we've found everything that was behind the bar

331. was completely rotten.

332. All that was holding it up was plywood.

333. When we were tearin' the bar out and movin' the coolers,

334. we actually went through the floor.

335. Did you cut that wire, Timmy?

336. Wires are all out of date. Bare wires. Unsafe.

337. I'm really surprised that the place hasn't been burnt down.

338. Now the water line's leakin'.

339. It's steady drippin' if you're lookin' at it.

340. So now we basically have to find

341. where the water's comin' in and repipe this.

342. In a normal world, this is about a two week job.

343. We're gonna be down to the wire. See if we can get it done.

344. This bar is probably the worst one that I have been in.

345. While my team gets the bar physically ready for a rescue,

346. I can't train in Rhonda's bar.

347. So I'm finding other bars around Orlando

348. that we can train in this week,

349. and now I wanna work on the operations of this bar.

350. I wanna meet with the entire team

351. and hear from them why this bar is failing.

352. - Hello Rhonda. - Hi, Jon.

353. Hey, guys.

354. - Hello. - Hi, Jon.

355. I told you I'd fix your floor.

356. Yeah.

357. Well, we, we're fixing your floor.

358. Yeah.

359. So, we didn't get a chance to really meet the other night.

360. - I'm Jon. - I'm Jack. My pleasure.

361. And how long have you worked at the bar?

362. I've been there five and a half years.

363. So, you've been here the longest.

364. I came a week after she bought it.

365. I'm Jasmine.

366. And what do you do?

367. I bartend there.

368. OK.

369. Hi. I'm Sylvia.

370. Hi, Sylvia, nice to meet you.

371. I bartend.

372. Freddy.

373. Freddy, nice to meet you.

374. I do a lot of her benefits.

375. Cookin' outdoors and stuff like that.

376. OK. So focusing on food.

377. Sir, my name's Jackson.

378. Nice to meet you Jackson.

379. Nice to meet you as well. I do the DJing.

380. I also barback. And I do a lot of the maintenance stuff

381. during the daytime.

382. OK.

383. So, that bar didn't fail only because of the floor, did it?

384. No, it didn't.

385. Do we have all the systems in place?

386. We don't have hardly any systems to be honest with you.

387. Do you think you make the same drinks together?

388. No, not at all.

389. So, is there a standard? I mean, were you ever told

390. that there's an ounce and a half in a cocktail?

391. There's no bartender training involved.

392. And what about personal consumption habits?

393. Does that play a part?

394. That needs to stop immediately.

395. So, now you're drinking, too.

396. With all the stress I just couldn't handle it.

397. And I'm done with it. I don't want to consume in my own bar.

398. Rhonda drinking behind the bar,

399. it's like, it's a domino effect.

400. If she's drinkin' behind the bar, we're all drinkin'.

401. 'Cause if she doesn't care, why do we really care that much?

402. I'm on her all the time about giving shots away,

403. and, you know, Rhonda even comes to me sometimes to say,

404. "can I give 'em a round of shots?"

405. And a lot of times I'll say no.

406. So you're the owner, and she's the employee.

407. I had Partender come in,

408. look at what was sold and what was consumed.

409. In two weeks you lost $5,300. And how much in a year?

410. $139,000 losses. Oh my god.

411. Either it was over-poured, money wasn't collected,

412. cocktails were given away.

413. That's the only way this can happen.

414. The numbers are what they are. Correct?

415. Is she a great bar manager?

416. She could do better.

417. I'm tryin' to do everything. Bartend, do the books.

418. Rhonda, how's that working?

419. It's not. I had all these good ideas

420. of training and staff meetings.

421. And one thing after another happened,

422. and I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore.

423. I didn't know what to do.

424. When people come to work for you,

425. they're counting on you.

426. When they don't have money left in their bank account

427. at the end of the month because you gave up,

428. that's on you.

429. But my number one concern has always been my customers

430. and my employees.

431. Who here is makin' a lot of money?

432. I don't make the best money but I'm livin'.

433. I'm makin' my bills. That's it.

434. There's not as much food on your table as you'd like Jackson,

435. - correct? - Correct, sir.

436. It's pretty damn bad.

437. Are you paying the price for her shortcomings too?

438. You're not givin' me your 100% so I can't give you mine.

439. Complaining about how tough it is and how weak you are

440. and how you can't do it is not gonna put food on his table.

441. Do you understand that? It's a small bar.

442. It doesn't do a million dollars a month,

443. it doesn't have 38 bartenders.

444. So your excuses are bullshit.

445. You have to act like an owner. If you don't fight for this,

446. I won't either.

447. Either you learn this business, or you go broke.

448. When people come to work for you they're counting on you.

449. There's no crying, there's no freakin' out.

450. You need to step up. Jack?

451. I love Rhonda and I actually love my customers,

452. but this is our chance. It may be our last chance.

453. - I gotta have ya sober. - Yeah. I agree.

454. Jon was like, "you're listening to me for a change

455. and you are wrong." I've never seen anybody do that to Rhonda.

456. I love her to death,

457. so, I really hope that it does help in the future.

458. So, today I wanna fix you guys in operations.

459. - Yeah. - I'm ready.

460. So let me bring my experts in

461. and let's do this. Come on in, guys.

462. Derrick Turner, the killer mixologist.

463. This guy is a master of playing with some fun cocktails.

464. For the bar,

465. Jon brings in expert mixologist Derrick Turner.

466. Derrick is known for his eclectic cocktail concoctions,

467. and his no-nonsense approach to training novice bartenders

468. into a seasoned staff.

469. What are you trying to accomplish today?

470. So, today, consistency.

471. We want everything to be poured properly.

472. Excellent. Jason Santos.

473. - How are you? - Good to see you.

474. Has a great flair for quality foods.

475. For the kitchen, Jon brings in chef Jason Santos.

476. Known for his culinary craftiness,

477. Jason can create a cost-efficient

478. menu combining fine-dining freshness and Florida fun.

479. So Chef, what are you gonna try to accomplish today?

480. I wanna go for excitement. Big, bold flavors,

481. and fresh, you know.

482. Gone are the days of the microwave.

483. So this is fresh, made-to-order food.

484. Tonight, we're gonna do a stress test.

485. We have a whole day to train,

486. and I wanna use every single minute of it.

487. OK, let's do it guys.

488. I'm gonna try to teach you guys a little bit

489. how to cocktail properly.

490. Do you know a two ounce pour to a one ounce pour?

491. Yes.

492. Call it for me, I wanna hear it.

493. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

494. You sure?

495. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

496. That's how it should be.

497. And yourself, you're a bartender as well?

498. I was a GM of a chain restaurant that had a full bar.

499. Mind you, that was 35 years ago.

500. So things are a little different nowadays.

501. They're a lot different now.

502. None of them have actual experience

503. with free-pour counts, and the problem with that is

504. you don't know where your money's going,

505. you don't know what you're giving away,

506. you don't know what you're drinking.

507. We're gonna start cocktailing now.

508. All right.

509. So, this cocktail's called the Cuban Caress.

510. It's from the 1940s, and it was made by Crosby Gaige.

511. It's rich and it's fruity.

512. You're gonna start off with two ounces of Bacardi Superior,

513. followed by two ounces of pineapple juice,

514. a quarter of an ounce of pomegranate grenadine,

515. one bar spoon full of maraschino liqueur,

516. add ice, give it a good stir, and strain over fresh ice

517. into a double old- fashioned glass.

518. This is the Cuban Caress.

519. It's delicious.

520. My eyes are like, woo!

521. The cocktails are going to put us to a next level.

522. Fresh and fun. And that's what I'm excited about.

523. The next cocktail, we're using Oakheart spiced rum.

524. Aged for a minimum of one year,

525. you get the good charcoal that's hand selected,

526. so you get this nice, smooth finish.

527. And towards the end you get notes of caramel,

528. dried fruit, and it goes really well with cola,

529. so you're in good hands.

530. Start this one on one drink with a rocks glass

531. filled with ice.

532. Add an ounce and a quarter of Oakheart spiced rum,

533. followed by two and a half ounces of cola. That's it.

534. - Oakheart and Cola. - That's a good rum.

535. - It just makes sense together. - That's smooth.

536. All right, so, Jasmine.

537. Let's see if you know what you're doing.

538. For the most part, she's familiar.

539. - Four, five, six. - Four, five, six.

540. She just needs to work on her free-pour counts

541. when the stress comes to her.

542. Beautiful.

543. I realized that I was actually off on my count today

544. by just a second.

545. - Mmhm. - All right.

546. - Good job, Jasmine. - Good job.

547. I have bartended for years but I definitely learned a lot.

548. Jon tells me about your kitchen or lack thereof.

549. So I would love to hear,

550. so I know what I'm getting myself into.

551. Well, let's see. We have a residential air-fryer

552. and a residential microwave.

553. We don't have any cookware, we don't have a grill,

554. we don't have a hood.

555. You cook in the kitchen, right?

556. No, I don't, really. I've never been in an indoor kitchen.

557. I do all the outdoor cookin'.

558. I gotcha.

559. So what's your experience as far as cooking goes?

560. Uh, at least 20, 25 years.

561. 25 years, and never in a kitchen.

562. No. Except at my house.

563. Freddy here has helped us out

564. because it's all in the backyard with a smoker, and the grill.

565. So, what do you microwave?

566. Burgers or hotdogs. It's quick and easy,

567. and it's a little something.

568. - Rhonda, quick and easy - I know.

569. doesn't always mean good.

570. With all your experience and barbecue and stuff outside,

571. you, you know better, right?

572. I know.

573. I'm definitely concerned. Freddy, although a good guy

574. and has experience, he's a little quiet,

575. he's a little sluggish.

576. My question is, can I teach an old dog new tricks?

577. I certainly don't wanna scare you by bein' inside kitchen.

578. But, for today, we're gonna do a barbecue chicken flatbread.

579. OK.

580. It's fresh ingredients, it's vibrant, it's super-easy,

581. and it's good and it's fast, right?

582. Excellent.

583. So, we're gonna start with a little bit

584. of just some barbecue sauce, OK?

585. A nice pepper jack and cheddar blend.

586. - Mhmm. - OK?

587. - Fresh red onion, - Beautiful.

588. Layering flavors. Some nice cooked chicken.

589. OK.

590. We're just gonna pop it in the oven,

591. - Yeah. - that's it.

592. It's a big upgrade

593. from the microwaved Jamaican beef patties.

594. I like the freshness of it, the taste of it.

595. - Mhmm. - Very good.

596. And I think the customers will go crazy over it.

597. Tonight, it's all about you.

598. How we keep it together under stress,

599. which I must say has not been your forte.

600. - There's no crying. - Nope.

601. - There's no freakin' out. - Nope.

602. - You're a boss tonight. - All right.

603. I didn't get to see this bar in recon,

604. so tonight at the stress test,

605. I wanna see these bartenders perform with this bar packed

606. and I wanna see management step up and deal with a packed house.

607. Have we assigned stations?

608. Yes. We have got the bartenders behind with Jack and Jasmine,

609. Jackson running food. We've got Freddy in the kitchen,

610. Sylvia and I are on the floor.

611. Go do it! Let's go!

612. Yeah, let's do it.

613. - Hey everyone! Hi! - (CHEERS)

614. Welcome to the Waterfront. Tonight it's Rockin' Rhonda's.

615. - Come on in! - (CHEERS)

616. Hey, guys.

617. Hi, welcome! How are you?

618. - I'll have the Caribbean. - Caribbean, OK.

619. - Any food orders tonight? - Barbecue flat bread.

620. OK.

621. You got these, what did you do with this?

622. I haven't done anything with it.

623. All right, you gotta get on this, papa.

624. I'm sorry.

625. - Stop. - What is it?

626. The barbecue chicken flatbread.

627. It's not buffalo. It's barbecue chicken.

628. Barbecue. Barbecue chicken.

629. They need cocktails.

630. Only have one set of drinks that went out.

631. Somebody's got table numbers?

632. This is ready right here.

633. Alright guys we have a— we have a (BLEEP) ton of tickets.

634. Do not sweat in those flatbreads.

635. Don't sweat into those flatbreads.

636. Four, five, six, seven, eight.

637. How we doin'?

638. So, they know the cocktails,

639. but they need to pick up their speed

640. so we can actually get it out to the service bar

641. and they also need to get out to the customers.

642. Alright, get on it.

643. Almost the entire bar has drinks.

644. But here's the problem, none of these tables do.

645. So they're focused on the bar, there's no glasses out there.

646. The entire room hasn't been served yet.

647. Table number eleven. Table number eleven.

648. They get them a drink order and then they'll be like,

649. uh, "Yeah, oh I got you."

650. Yeah, they're coming, they're coming.

651. But then they never came back with the drinks.

652. I am feeling overwhelmed, overwhelmed, overwhelmed.

653. Do you smell that?

654. What do you smell?

655. So we might wanna take them out

656. so they don't continue to burn more.

657. Yeah.

658. Freddy's drowning.

659. It's two pizzas, five ingredients,

660. barbecue chicken and a buffalo.

661. I trained them myself, I know how simple it is,

662. it's not that hard.

663. Not like throwin' it in the microwave, you know?

664. I was ready to run. (LAUGHS) Believe me.

665. Then somebody grabbed the wrong drinks.

666. I got your drinks.

667. I just— I think I stole them from someone else.

668. Alright I'm looking for table number thirteen.

669. This is an important moment,

670. and I'm not going to say anything to Rhonda.

671. Table number thirteen, help me out guys.

672. C'mon, I'm trying to help you.

673. If she's an effective manager,

674. she's gonna start helping behind the bar and in the kitchen.

675. That's where the backup is. If she isn't effective,

676. the bar will crash.

677. Where do these drinks go?

678. Anybody know where these drinks go?

679. I'm trying to catch up.

680. I gotta get these drinks out,

681. where do they go? Somebody give me something.

682. Table number— what is this? What does this go to?

683. Talk to me. Is this table—

684. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

685. Twenty-three?

686. Number— One of the— I don't— I don't know—

687. Haaa! Confusion! Oh my god, everybody's waiting.

688. Alright, hustle it up!

689. Excuse me. I'm sorry. (CRIES)

690. I'm sorry. (CRIES)

691. Anything I can do to help, ma'am, I'm just here to help.

692. I've gotta get it together, get it together.

693. Alright, so.

694. Let me just tell you where we're at right now, okay?

695. He's got sixteen pizzas in,

696. and not one of them are in the oven.

697. Okay. I need to know the recipe, I'm taking it over here.

698. Guys—

699. - I don't know the recipe. - Don't burn yourself.

700. (BLEEP) We're completely failing, completely failing.

701. Rhonda, take a deep breath, keep your composure.

702. I know your heart's in it, and I know you mean well,

703. but number one thing is when you start to freak out,

704. everybody freaks out.

705. Okay.

706. Talk to me, chef.

707. As you can see, there's more burnt pizza

708. than pizza making it to the dining room.

709. They can't seem to figure it out.

710. So we're completely unravelling here, guys.

711. My first time in a kitchen like this.

712. I'm not sure Freddy is capable of boiling water at the moment.

713. He's burning almost everything he touches.

714. Kitchen is a complete, chaotic mess.

715. I need to get out of the kitchen

716. because I haven't learned the recipe yet. Until I do-

717. What do you mean? We trained all day.

718. You didn't learn the recipe?

719. The fact of the matter is,

720. Rhonda wasn't as effective as she should have been.

721. And she was crying.

722. If we can't get Rhonda together,

723. none of the rest of the pieces fall into place.

724. So what do you think?

725. She's much better, isn't she?

726. Yeah, definitely. Definitely so.

727. Jack?

728. Listen, he wasn't in the zone in the beginning,

729. but now he's getting the gist of it.

730. - Awesome. - They're moving.

731. So we got two decent bartenders now.

732. - Yeah. - Awesome, buddy.

733. That's it. And then you had the— yay!

734. - Thank you. - All right.

735. Now some of these— all right, thank you guys.

736. Enjoy.

737. Guys, listen up! We're gonna shut this down

738. because we've got a lot of training to do with this staff.

739. We gotta go to work. Thanks everybody.

740. I'm just, uh, woo. Um, I— I am absolutely just overwhelmed.

741. I kinda was like, frozen. I— I almost threw my hands up,

742. but then I realized that that's not gonna do anything.

743. You know, you can't stay stuck.

744. You just gotta keep moving forward the best that you can.

745. I feel like I've got a lot more work to do.

746. I love you guys with all my heart.

747. - Love you too. - Love you too.

748. I won't let you down, I promise.

749. Guys, come on over, would you?

750. Give me an update on the floor.

751. Well, they replaced all the floor joists.

752. After they replaced the subfloor,

753. we went and re-decked the whole building.

754. - Everything? - Everything.

755. So we have an entirely new floor,

756. and we have to build a whole new bar.

757. So let's talk about the bar itself.

758. I think we take the pool tables, move them to the back,

759. this becomes an activity center, some type of a DJ booth,

760. dance floor fixtures—

761. Like hight-intensity show mode.

762. Whammo! Hit the lights, we're in party mode.

763. Cool.

764. This is still a huge challenge,

765. because we have to redo the outside

766. to create a bit of an identity as well.

767. - Yeah. Huge renovation. - Oh yeah.

768. You've gotta open in about thirty-six hours.

769. And, it could rain, constantly. Weather could kill us here.

770. Terrible.

771. So, can you get this done?

772. - I mean... - (SIGH)

773. Might need some more help.

774. You need more people, we'll get you more people.

775. Mmkay.

776. Let's go pick some colors.

777. We're at an offsite location called the Imperial

778. in downtown Sanford, Florida.

779. We're gonna train all day long.

780. Rhonda never turned them into an effective team.

781. Today, during training, we have to do that.

782. What's up, guys?

783. A little bit tired.

784. - It was a long night. - Right.

785. You don't want to be the source of anxiety.

786. Yes.

787. If they're calm, you're calm.

788. But at the end of the day, your counts were right.

789. But we need the speed as well, and the consistency.

790. When we relaunch,

791. I want to see those cocktails being pushed off

792. double the speed.

793. Okay, so for the first cocktail,

794. we're going to start off with two ounces of Bacardi Superior,

795. one and a half ounces of orange juice,

796. three quarters of an ounce

797. of both lemon juice and simple syrup.

798. Add all the ingredients to a mixing tin,

799. and mix hard for ten seconds.

800. Pour over into a double old fashioned glass.

801. Garnish with an orange slice and an orange wedge.

802. It's refreshing, tropical, nice orange,

803. and we're gonna call it Jon's Song.

804. - Mmmm. - Yeah, right?

805. Yeah, I like that.

806. It's what's refreshing.

807. - I love it, honestly. - Yeah?

808. So give me your pitch.

809. It's just as relaxing as a sunset in Florida.

810. Boom.

811. Jasmine, let's make a cocktail.

812. I told Rhonda if she gave me 100%, I'll give her my 100%,

813. and I see a huge 360 with her.

814. Seven, eight.

815. So what do you guys think of the cocktail?

816. Good job, Jasmine.

817. So we're gonna do this for relaunch, right?

818. - Oh, yeah. - Yeah.

819. - I want some more. - (LAUGHS)

820. All right, guys. Stress test, little, little rough, right?

821. I was under a lot of stress.

822. Last night was sluggish and slow.

823. We could not get food out of the kitchen.

824. But, you know, I think Freddy's a smart guy,

825. I think he just needs to pick up the pace

826. if we're gonna make this a success.

827. You know, it's a new day,

828. and we're gonna start with something to add to your menu,

829. but we're gonna cross-utilize a lot of the ingredients.

830. We're gonna do a buffalo chicken nachos.

831. Little bit of buffalo sauce, little bit of cheese.

832. OK.

833. So, right in. So, we've doubled the menu,

834. but we've only changed one ingredient.

835. That makes total sense.

836. - Super easy. Super easy. - Absolutely.

837. We're gonna treat it just like a buffalo wing.

838. We're gonna do a little bit of black beans, little color,

839. little texture. Some blue cheese,

840. and that's gonna melt right into the chips.

841. - And some red onion. - That looks good.

842. And then the dressing.

843. Amazing what you can do with chips.

844. Grab a seat.

845. Last night, Rhonda's energy was almost overwhelming.

846. She still has to learn to take a deep breath,

847. calm down, and work the situation.

848. I wanna talk with her

849. and make sure she's on the path for success.

850. Before I came here, I did my homework,

851. and it was because of you that I came to rescue your bar.

852. You really care, Rhonda. Not just for your customers,

853. but the whole community. You have a huge heart.

854. Looking back at the last few years.

855. Yes.

856. You could've had the courage to do this. Fear is your enemy.

857. It seems so insurmountable. Like, I couldn't fix anything.

858. I felt like giving up. And I did. I did give up.

859. What have you learned in the past few days?

860. There is no excuse that you can come up with

861. when your business is failing. You got to go on.

862. I'm not gonna come in frantic.

863. I could give so much more if I focused on the right things.

864. Last night, you were stressed.

865. Did you get out the other side of it?

866. Yes.

867. You're a different person than you were. You can do this.

868. Thank you.

869. - OK. - All right.

870. Let's have a hug. Come on.

871. The energy that I have trickles down to my staff.

872. Jon has taught me that the change starts with me.

873. I need to come in calm, not like, "ahh,"

874. like I'm all over the place, and find that nice flow.

875. Just give me a 36 by 36 inch platform

876. that I can slip right up here.

877. spells Rhonda.

878. Yeah!

879. - OK. - So like we did last week.

880. That works. I like the bigger one.

881. Mhmm. Super fun.

882. Cool. Great guys.

883. - Hi Rhonda. - Hi, Jon!

884. - How are you? - I'm so excited.

885. Did you sleep last night?

886. Nope. Little bit.

887. You know, when I got here,

888. I was worried about fixing your building.

889. Then I got worried about fixing you.

890. You told me how you were losing thousands of dollars a month.

891. - Yes. - Right, Jack?

892. She was overwhelmed. Couldn't get it done.

893. I fixed the building, but Jack, did I fix her?

894. I see a confidence level that I saw when I met her.

895. So the old Rhonda's back.

896. Yeah, she is.

897. - You ready to see it? - Let's go!

898. - Yeah! - Yeah.

899. OK. On the count of three. One, two, three.

900. Oh my god. Oh my god!

901. Woo!

902. - One, two, - Two,

903. Three.

904. Oh my god. Love the colors.

905. I love the sign. I love it all.

906. So. Rockin' Rhonda's is a thing of the past.

907. Right.

908. Rockin' Rhonda's had holes in the floor. It was old.

909. Right.

910. This is a great neighborhood bar that we've built.

911. You guys ready to see it?

912. Go ahead.

913. Woo hoo hoo hoo.

914. Ahh!

915. Oh my god.

916. Oh my god I gotta touch everything. Somebody pinch me.

917. I'm dreamin'.

918. This is gorgeous.

919. How you doin', boss?

920. - Oh. - Look at our bar.

921. Oh my god.

922. - Ahh! My walking stick. - Ahh ha ha!

923. He did absolutely amazing. I am freakin' out right now.

924. Welcome home, guys! Ha ha.

925. I've never been this happy. I feel like I'm in a dream.

926. My floor, my floor.

927. Jon did over and above anything

928. I thought I'd see when I walked in here.

929. Oh my god!

930. Oh my god a new ice machine!

931. Oh, that's the best one! Ohh hoo my god.

932. Hi Jon. Thank you. It's perfect.

933. There's a lot going on.

934. Imagine a party bar now with those tables full.

935. What did you see inside that booth?

936. Orange Door entertainment center!

937. That Orange Door entertainment system

938. has 50,000 songs in it.

939. I also got Logos Promote to do that special wallpaper

940. you see on the wall.

941. And a lot of the wall graphics

942. including the graphics on the pool table lights.

943. I gotta show you what we did behind the bar.

944. Everything is new. I mean, this whole bar is brand-new.

945. When we ripped up the floor,

946. we found that there was bad plumbing all over the place.

947. Ohh.

948. Then, we had to pull all the wires and rewire everything.

949. Then after we did that, then we could put the bar in.

950. Put in a brand-new manitowac ice machine.

951. I saw it.

952. I got Harbor Touch to give you one, two, three P.O.S. systems.

953. I got you the TurboChef. That thing is incredible.

954. Yeah.

955. Freddy, is it not?

956. It looks good.

957. And you only had bottled beer, didn't you?

958. - Yeah. - Yes.

959. I got Kings draft service to work all night long

960. to put this draft beer system in for you.

961. Man.

962. I got you Turbo Taps.

963. It's a special stainless steel unit that goes in the glass

964. Oh, look at that. Oh my god.

965. And not one drop went down the drain.

966. Now I wanted to take care of your profits.

967. I got you a lifetime subscription to Partender.

968. It will take inventory using the camera on this tablet.

969. - I'm so happy. I'm so grateful. - This is all because of you.

970. They weren't here to get rich.

971. They knew they weren't gonna get rich.

972. Now you got a shot, don't ya Freddy?

973. OK, so. You got a great bar, right?

974. Oh my god, yes.

975. So they will come, won't they?

976. Yeah.

977. Let's go to it.

978. We open in five minutes, buddy.

979. Let's rock.

980. OK.

981. Hi, Jon.

982. Rhonda. About two weeks ago, this started right there,

983. where we met. Remember the list?

984. Yes.

985. Everything's checked off the list.

986. Everything.

987. OK, let's open it up. Go ahead.

988. OK, let's do it.

989. - Go. - All right.

990. - Hello everybody! - (CHEERS)

991. Welcome to Rhonda's. The mayor has shown up from Sanford.

992. Cut that ribbon and let's go inside and see what's goin' on.

993. - Thank you! - (CHEERS)

994. - Come on in! - Let's go!

995. Welcome to Rhonda's.

996. What can I get for you guys?

997. You got it.

998. Double up.

999. One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two.

1000. Boom. Ice it. Seal of steel.

1001. Put it in, slide it. There you go. Up top.

1002. Unbelievable. He's goin', the food's goin' out.

1003. All right, next to the bar, who needs a drink?

1004. Thank you.

1005. We got a Rocktail for you, ma'am.

1006. And you have a Rocktail as well?

1007. How we doin', chef?

1008. Great. Just, hammerin' them out,

1009. and he only has one ticket in the kitchen right now.

1010. This TurboChef cooks it unbelievably fast.

1011. - Feelin' a lot better? - I love it, man.

1012. Delicious! Yes!

1013. Oh, double-fistin' right here! That's what I'm lookin' for!

1014. Wow, you've got this room almost served, guys, let's do this.

1015. Yeah! Look at that! Jasmine, amazing.

1016. Yeah, Jaz!

1017. I'm a big draft beer drinker, so,

1018. We love the new neighborhood Rhonda's.

1019. Food is out, drinks are out, what do you think, folks?

1020. Drinks are comin' out of the bar

1021. at twice the speed that they did during stress test.

1022. Even Freddy in the kitchen has it together.

1023. Two nights ago he couldn't get one out of the kitchen at all.

1024. Fact is,

1025. this is one of the smoothest openings we've ever had.

1026. Sylvia. I've got some drinks ready for ya,

1027. and I'll take their order, OK?

1028. How are you enjoying the food?

1029. It's delicious.

1030. What do you think of the drinks?

1031. - Very good. - It was great!

1032. I'm glad. You know, you gotta shoot those shots,

1033. right, ladies? It's party time.

1034. - (LAUGHS) - Yeah, right?

1035. When I open a bar like this,

1036. typically I'm really proud of the bar.

1037. Tonight, I am really proud of Rhonda.

1038. She's one of the greatest changes I've seen.

1039. She knows she can accomplish this.

1040. She is accomplishing it. All the orders are in.

1041. Every single table has a drink.

1042. You realize you are a contributor.

1043. Yes.

1044. You are effectual now.

1045. - Yes. - You're doing this.

1046. - Mhmm. - I'm proud of you. Good job.

1047. Thank you.

1048. I am so excited about the future because I have the repairs,

1049. I have all the stuff I need. I have all the tools.

1050. Sky's the limit.

1051. Please thank Jon Taffer for all he has done for this bar.

1052. Thank you.

1053. Rescue me, set me free 'cause my hands are tied.

1054. Done everything that I can do, Lord knows I've tried.

1055. I promise you I'll make you proud Jon Taffer now.

1056. You can yell and scream, laugh at me, I won't back down.

1057. Most rescues are about fixing a business.

1058. But when I looked in Rhonda's eyes when I got here

1059. and saw the tears and the pain that she was in.

1060. Oh it was rough, but I got tough

1061. There was no way in the world

1062. that floor wasn't gonna get fixed.

1063. I had to rescue this bar because I so wanted to rescue Rhonda.

1064. Rescue me. Rescue me.

1065. And I think I did.

1066. Rescue me. Oh yes, you rescued me.