Fans of Bar Rescue love a dramatic makeover.
With ultra high stakes and a fast turnaround, this show has been a hit since its 2011 debut.
But there's a lot that's left on the cutting room floor.
Let’s pull back the curtain on everything that doesn't make the final edit.
"It became about people, not bars."
One fan-favorite staple of the Bar Rescue transformation is the appearance of a professional
mixologist or bartender, who's there to assist the bar staff in bringing their A-game...
or at least their C or D game, which is always a major improvement on whatever they were doing before.
Los Angeles Magazine spoke with Joseph Brooke, one of the show's behind-the-bar specialists,
who said that his goal was to get most bartenders to master the free-pour.
Anything they can muster up after that is just gravy - or garnish, if you will.
"One and two and three and four and five and six."
"Good."
Brooke also talked a little bit about what might be the greatest thing about the show:
those signature cocktails.
He says that it's not just the mixologist on hand who comes up with the cocktails, then
serves them with host Jon Taffer's blessing.
In fact, it's a little more complicated.
Bar Rescue is sponsored by international alcohol company Diageo, and Brooke says they're heavily
involved from the beginning, picking one or two of their brands that they want featured
front and center in each episode.
They give those guidelines to the mixologist, who then comes up with around 10 different
options for the signature cocktail.
That shortlist then gets whittled down to the one that eventually makes it into the
bar and onto the show — with Taffer giving the final thumbs-up.
It's inevitable that once Taffer gets his foot in the door and sees just what's going
on at each bar, he's going to call everyone together for a meeting.
But if you watch an episode of the show, you might think the whole process is pretty short,
sweet, and right to the point.
But it appears, that's not really the case at all.
You know the feeling you get when the boss calls you in for a meeting and tells you that
you'd better all grab coffee and get bathroom breaks out of the way, because you're in for the long haul?
That's a more accurate picture of your typical Bar Rescue staff and owner meeting.
Those gatherings can drag on for hours, according to Taffer.
But there's a reason for it.
From start to finish, he has just five days to get in, get everyone on board, and do what
he needs to do to help out the struggling establishment.
He told the International Business Times,
"There's a clock that ticks in the back of my head every second and I'm under pressure
all the time on Bar Rescue.
I can't fall behind [...] That's what causes my aggressiveness."
"Go fire his a--."
One of the biggest issues that nearly all Bar Rescue locations initially suffer from
is a lack of customers.
So, when Taffer fills the bar for the stress test on day two of filming, where the heck
do all those patrons come from?
Are they hired?
Lured in with free drinks?
And who would even want to deal with a night of notoriously bad service.
On Reddit, Taffer revealed that this part actually takes quite a bit of legwork.
He reels in all those customers by heading out into nearby businesses and inviting them personally.
This on-the-ground work doesn't make it into the final show, however, as much as those
other businesses might like the free publicity.
He also says that when he's recruiting for a stress test, he'll sometimes post about it on social media.
But that there's a catch; there's no free food or drink for these extras.
Anyone who participates in the bar's stress test is going to have to fork it over for
their own beverages — that is, if they ever get to order them.
Image is everything, especially when you're trying to promote something like, say, your struggling bar.
And when you're relying on your brand to keep your business afloat, social media becomes
even more important.
A 2018 survey found that 48 percent of businesses named social media their most valuable marketing
tool, and 93 percent said it increased their traffic.
So why doesn't the show seem to be about the likes?
"Need a direction.
That's what I need."
Here's your direction — Learn!"
Taffer focuses a lot on making the bar look good in order to keep people coming back.
But what about teaching bar owners to use social media to drum up business?
Taffer was asked that very question when a Redditor wondered if he'd ever thought about
featuring social media on the show.
To that, Taffer replied,
"I've tried it but there [are] always better things to show."
It appears that social media may be good for business, but it just doesn't make for good TV.
"Look at the sign!"
"Legendary."
"I love it."
Most bars on the show get a new theme, name, and signage.
But some of those made-over signs deserve more of a perplexed silence than a round of applause.
Taffer was asked what was up with the trend of badly designed signs, and he explained on Reddit,
"Signs are one [of the] biggest challenges because of city codes."
Getting planning permits for new signs can be a lengthy process, involving submitting
new art for approval.
With just two days to go from design to reveal, that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room to get creative.
Other times, Taffer says the bar's landlord can add an extra layer of complication.
It appears that there are a variety of hurdles production is forced to deal with when it
comes to some simple signage.
Bar owners and employees know they're going to be on the show.
There are cameras in place, and the staff is all mic'd up.
So, you might be wondering how everyone is still consistently surprised by Taffer.
"F--- he's here."
"What are you crying about?
The fact that your bar is a s---hole?"
The host explained that it all starts with a few days lead-time.
That's when the cameras are installed.
The bar owners are given a heads up on the day Taffer's going to arrive…only, it's
never the real date.
He revealed on Reddit,
"Typically they think I'm coming tomorrow, was supposed to come the day before or I come
a few hours early.
We need to catch them."
"I've just received a telephone call, and gentlemen, I'm very sorry to report that Jon
has decided to rescue the other bar."
Taffer went into further detail, explaining that sometimes they tell bar owners and staff
that something unexpected came up, and that he won't be able to make it at all.
Sometimes, they're told he's tied up at another bar, and then — surprise!
— Taffer strolls in anyway.
He told Bro Bible,
"You'd think [...] they'd clean up before I come because they know I'm going to go ballistic.
I've found that it speaks to why you're failing.
Even when you know I'm coming, you still can't get it together."
"Can we not do the camera thing?"
One of the biggest things the camera doesn't reveal is the sheer size of the Bar Rescue operation.
Viewers see Taffer, his experts, and maybe a handful of people who are on-site for the
renovation, but there are many more people involved with the full transformation.
"First of all I'm not a 'TV bar man.'
I've got a 35-year reputation in this business."
"And these freakin' cameras don't mean s--- to me."
The team is actually composed of at least 57 people who roll into town with five huge
trucks, a mobile command room, trailers, and tons of equipment.
On top of that, they also set up administrative operations, as well as workshops for artisans
like their carpenters.
It's said that Rome wasn't built in a day, and Taffer's definitely not doing all this
work with just the few team members featured on-screen.
Taffer has spoken about just how grueling it is to film an episode of Bar Rescue.
Even though he's only on-site for five days, it's a long, hectic schedule.
But it doesn't go down in the order you might think.
Judging by the show, fans could assume it all starts with Taffer rolling into town and
sending someone into the bar to test it out.
But apparently, there's a lot more involved.
"I have a backup plan."
In reality, Taffer spends part of the first day doing recon in and around the bar itself,
and also throughout the whole neighborhood.
He checks out the scene with potential local customers and evaluates the typical culture of the town.
For these experts, identifying the target consumer and the nearby businesses that are
already established is the best way to see how a struggling bar might shape up and fit
into their surrounding community.
A typical episode of the show might wrap up with Taffer heading back out into the wild
blue yonder to help the next bar in need.
But that's not actually the end of the story — at least, for the bar anyway.
"My job is to make a bar profitable.
I make every bar profitable."
Bro Bible talked to Taffer about why so many bars failed even after extensive renovations, rebranding, and training.
And he claims that he knows early on whether or not a bar is going to succeed or fail - for
the simple reason that he's keeping watch even after he leaves.
When he updates a bar's cash registers and POS systems, he doesn't just hand the reins
over to the old owners.
One thing that the cameras aren't catching is Taffer's staff linking all of the bar's
sales data to an app that reports directly to Taffer's phone.
He said,
"You know what's amazing?
I have an app on my phone because all the cash registers I put in these bars all report back to us.
I know everybody's sale every day right on my app."
This allows him to keep close tabs on exactly how each of the bars is doing, long after
the cameras stop rolling.
While audiences might have to settle for a few follow-up clips and maybe checking in
with the bar on Yelp, Taffer gets his updates in real-time.
Yet, even a little bit of Big Brother hasn't always been enough.
Some bars still fail after Taffer's intervention.
Any regular viewer of the show knows what they're in for when it comes to these bar owners.
And for many different reasons, they are almost always in desperate need of help.
As a result, there's a good chance most fans have found themselves shaking their heads
at the screen more than once.
So…is it real, or is it all just made for TV?
"Have you always wanted to open a pirate bar?"
"It's sort of the ultimate adult fantasy."
When Bro Bible asked Taffer about the most notorious failures of Bar Rescue, the infamous
pirate-themed bar Piratz did, of course, come up.
Taffer said of the bar's owner,
"Tracy is not quite the fool she comes off as on TV.
She was a marketing communications specialist in corporate America before she opened this place.
She's a bright lady, but she acted like an idiot."
Florida Today reported that Tracy Rebelo closed Piratz, but went on to open a place called
Bar Refuge in Florida.
And, yes, it was a total dig at the show.
Rebelo noted she was happy to play the antihero of the series.
But even so, her revenge bar was sold by 2018.
Some episodes of Bar Rescue just seem too insane to be real.
How do these people get hired?
Why on earth do they still have jobs?
And are bar owners clueless, or are they just bringing in characters that will make for good TV?
"This is a freak show."
Taffer told Bro Bible that production is strict about making sure everything's on the up-and-up
within each bar featured on the show.
Not only do they go to great lengths to make sure the bar is actually struggling and regularly
losing money, but they also film pre-interviews before they shoot the show, which serve an important purpose.
Taffer says,
"I send the team in with a cameraman and we interview every employee for five minutes
to make sure they are real employees and they all really work there, and they're not actually
actors or characters or anything."
"Any owner who doesn't notice that their bar is packed and there's no employees either
doesn't care or is an idiot."
Bar Rescue only invests its time in a bar once they know they're dealing with authentic people.
But with a seemingly never-ending cast of drama queens and bad decision makers, it looks
like this show will be doing their best for struggling barkeeps for a very long time.
"Can I see somebody who owns this place?"
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