Look at this.
So this is the original Forth Worth Stockyards.
- Beautiful. - It’s a really cool place.
It really looks like-- almost like the old Wild West out here.
So there’s the bar.
- Whiskey Girl Saloon. - Huh.
We have the weakest front when you’re in an area
- where you need activity. - Yeah, you do.
And I know that there’s colleges around here, too.
So, where are these kids going?
They wanna come out to a place that’s lively, that has action,
that’s exciting. That place is not doing it.
For the bar, Jon brings in veteran mixologist Phil Wills.
Phil’s expansive expertise will be essential
in order to create an on-trend cocktail program
that will get the Fort Worth Stockyards buzzing.
Jon: The owners are in there cleaning,
but this is not our typical bar.
They’re only open two nights a week now,
so we can’t even do recon.
How do you even sustain that way?
- You can’t. Especially in The Stockyards... - No.
- ...when you all this business to be had. - Exactly.
So the problem is I got a lot of choices.
- I got a bar there. A bar there. - Mm-hmm.
Jon: Bar, bar, bar, bar.
Why the hell would you go to that one?
Phil: The hell if I know.
So this bar is owned by three owners.
- Fred... - Is that syrup?
- Keith... - Need to go get ice.
...and a third owner whose name is Luke.
Luke owned the bar
and talked Fred and Keith into investing in it
and run the day-to-day operations.
Luke was supposed to remain the silent investor
through all of this, but he’s not so silent.
So these guys are losing-- are you ready?
$6,000 a month.
- A month? - A month. They’re ready to close it.
Here’s my thought. I was gonna go in, talk to the owners.
I thought it’d be great if you could walk around, check out the competition.
Jon, I think that’s a great idea. I could report back to you
- and let you know what’s going on in the city. - Yeah.
Any intelligence you can get
will help us position that bar.
Sure. You got it.
( indistinct chatter )
Gentlemen.
- Hello. - I really couldn’t believe my eyes.
The bar is not open,
and out of nowhere, Jon Taffer walks in the bar.
Keith?
- Yes, sir. - I’m Jon.
Keith: It was so unexpected.
I didn’t know what to do. I was like a deer in headlights.
- Fred Barnett. Nice to meet you, Jon. - Fred.
I don’t have any idea what’s going to happen.
- It’s gonna be interesting. - I wanna talk.
- Let’s go sit down for a minute. Come on. - Okay.
Keith: Honestly, I’m super nervous about the whole thing
because we don’t know what his game plan is.
- So how long you been in the bar business? 11 years. - 11 years.
- And does this business mean something to you? - It does.
Now, we’re not open here.
And this is, what, a Monday night?
- Correct. - Now, I just sent my expert Phil Wills
down the street to go check out the bar scene
because we could hear the music and noise from the street.
- Really? - There is money to be made
that you’re not tapping into.
The first bar I went to was absolutely packed.
Welcome to The White Elephant Saloon.
- We are most famous for margaritas and tequila. - I like that.
The most popular drink is the margarita here?
We sell a lot of margaritas, yes.
They had live music. They had an unbelievable mix
of older people, younger people.
It looks like you have a pretty good mix as far as demographics.
Absolutely, we get everything
- from all over the world. - Yeah.
- We think that’s what makes this place so special. - Right. Cheers.
It’s earlier in the week, so bars really shouldn’t be that busy.
But there’s opportunity here to tap into the local market.
People wanna go out, they wanna have a good time,
and what I did see is that people are out and about
and they’re spending money.
What is our busiest night of the week?
- Saturday. - How much are we doing?
It-- $2,500 if we’re lucky.
- You should be doing 6, 7 grand in this room. - Yeah.
So, what do we do for food here?
We had a, uh, air dryer oven.
- That didn’t work out so well. - Okay, so we have no kitchen.
- So it’s really just a bar operation. - Yeah.