- Hi, I'm Jon Taffer
and we're counting down
the most delusional bar owners
in Bar Rescue history.
(guitar heavy rock music)
The owner of The Dugout, a sports bar in Chicago,
had dug himself into mounds of debt
and struck out every time he went to bat for himself.
- The smartest people have people on place
that know exactly what they need to be done.
- In some sense.
- This guy won't talk to his customers,
he won't talk to Phil,
won't talk to Ryan.
Let's see if he talks to me.
- Look at all these bars
that are around you upstairs.
They're doing a great job,
they're packed.
You're making excuses for me right now.
- Ed, tell me, how much money are you losing each year?
- Each off-season, $30 - 40,000.
- $30 - 40,000, you think that cleaning it
might help a little?
- It gets cleaned every day.
- Oh!
(laughing)
- Look at all these flies
up along the railing.
Look at all of the (beep) flies everywhere.
Flies breed off of yeast.
They breed off of filth.
They build nests and they grow out of your drains.
- How 'bout the fact,
that he's in the kitchen
cooking food,
never washing his hands.
- Oh, forget it.
- So he touches raw chicken,
then he touches the handle of the refrigerator,
then he takes the hot dog bun
with your raw chicken on it.
When you hear that,
do you wanna come back here?
- No. I ain't coming back here.
- Do you wanna drink that right now?
- I'm done with it.
- Does anybody wanna drink this?
- No.
- Of course not.
- Does anybody wanna drink this?
(pitcher crashes)
- Of course not!
This bar in Austin, Texas
had a huge roach problem.
But my biggest bug was the owner,
who hadn't paid his staff in months.
How often do you see a roach?
- Every day. - I see them a lot.
- A few every day?
- Probably - A few every day.
- Where do you see 'em?
Do they walk across the bar?
- [Female Bartender] Yup.
- Yeah, we had 'em in our cash register
with our money.
- When people ask about Headhunters,
they're like, "Oh, that bar that smells real bad?"
That's us.
- And what does our owner say about this stuff?
- Nothing.
- I'd like to meet this guy.
Where the hell is he?
- There
- Hi, how are you? Steve.
- Jon Taffer.
- Pleasure to meet you, thanks for coming.
- Pleasure.
Let's walk over here and talk for a minute.
- Sure, let's go.
- My wife wanted to drink,
the bottle is filled with a cockroach and bugs.
- Wow.
- The other liquor bottles are filled with bugs.
The staff told me that they see cockroaches every day here.
There's no cockroaches in bottles.
- Let's go ask 'em.
Chloe?
- Yes?
- How often you see cockroaches in here?
- Uh, about every day.
- About every day.
So your staff is pulling your liquor bottles,
they're telling me there's roaches here every day,
you don't see it?
You don't know it?
- Chloe, why don't you tell me about this?
- When I talk to you-
- Why are you telling him that
but not me?
- I've told you that we have a problem which is why we
- You own this place, you're supposed to know these things.
- We switched-
- There are no bugs in the bottle.
- Do you know this is happening or not?
Yes or no?
Do you know it?
- Do I know what?
- That there's bugs all over your bar!
- There's bugs all over Austin.
There's bugs all over America.
- This is a college town.
They don't want clean.
It's not the culture.
Austin doesn't like that.
Is it a sterile, clean room environment?
No, it's not. We're not in that business.
- I know (beep) when I see it.
- I've been a-
- They are there!
Either you knew it and you didn't give a (beep),
Or you fixed it!
- Are you gonna lower your voice or talk like a man?
- No, cause you're frustrating the hell out of me.
- I'm not frustrating-
- And when I talk to idiots, I get loud.
- I'm shocked, and I'm shocked-
- You live amongst a mess of cockroaches.
- I'm shocked at your professionalism.
- You know what a professional is?
- Yeah.
- A professional is you don't serve bugs to your customers.
- Maybe you're the biggest bug.
- I'm responsible, even if Steve isn't.
I've only got five days to fix this bar.
And I think it's the worst bar I've ever seen.
- There's mold
everywhere in these ceilings.
This place has never been cleaned.
You see all that it's all mold growing.
- I never noticed that.
- Yeah. It's not connected to the ceiling.
It's falling in your drinks.
- That's right.
- That means you're drinking mold.
- Let's show what happens
when a moron defends failure.
This is what happens.
- Oh my god.
- There's about thirty cockroaches in there.
Look at that.
- Seeing that many cockroaches was disgusting.
- Look at this guys,
those are bugs.
Those are cockroaches
- He had people in the crowd standing there
looking at him with utter disgust,
and he was still sitting there
smiling and laughing
and thinking it was a joke.
And that it was funny.
It's not a joke.
This is the livelihood of a good ten to fifteen people.
- I am gonna get on the phone,
and I am gonna fumigate this building tonight.
You didn't have the balls to do it!
I'm gonna.
You didn't write the check, I'm gonna!
I, your employees, Joe and you Jessie,
are not walking back in this building
until we can do so safely.
And you my friend, are an (beep).
- You guys are horrible.
- Yeah this isn't my job.
- It is your job - No, it's not.
- to clean and clean well.
- You know what, if you paid me, then it would be my job.
But you don't.
It would take me hours, hours to clean this bar.
Why the (beep) would I do that for you, Steve?
- Because then you would be a professional.
- You're a piece of (beep)
- We don't get paid anything.
We get paid tips, and that's it.
We have to come into work two hours early
so that we can clean the bar and stock it for free,
and then we may or may not make twenty dollars.
- Let me ask you a question,
what do you make an hour?
- I make nothing an hour.
- What do you make an hour?
- Tips only.
- This guy hires you, doesn't put you on a payroll-
- That's not the case,
I offered them the option of paying.
They refused.
- People been asking Steve a long time to be on payroll,
he's (beep) and (beep)
and he just got caught with his pants down.
- You're full of (beep) man.
- This is a business of adults that are children.
'Cause if you're looking for a paycheck,
I don't get one.
My pay is my love, my compassion
my relationships with lady friends.
The older I get
I realize that it's not all about money.
It can't be.
- He could frickin' care less about you, right?
He's gonna stick his hand in your pocket,
he's gonna screw you at every opportunity,
and he looks in the mirror
and believes his own (beep).
How do you feel right now?
- I feel fine.
- You feel fine.
How do you screw people like that
and live with yourself, man?
- That's what I do for a living,
I fight lions.
I fight demons.
I mean, everybody comes at me.
- In the service business,
attitude is everything.
If you don't have the right attitude,
then I can't be of service.
And that's exactly what happened at O Face Bar.
- Oh!
- We gotta fight.
- They're really beating the hell out of each other!
- It's a full-blown cat fight.
Russell,
let's stop this.
- (beep) - Get off me!
- She's hitting her!
Stop! What are you doing?
- (beep)
- Get off! {beep)
- Are you (bleep)in' doin' irons? What is wrong with you?
- Hold on, this is your bar!
Wait a second, you're the manager of this bar.
How dare you disrespect that girl!
- Shut the (beep) up. Get outta my face!
- Where's the owner of this bar?
Get him out here now!
Is this your manager?
Do you allow her to beat up your employees?
- No.
- You have an employee beating her up.
Her head hits that concrete,
you're out of business.
- I understand.
- That's assault!
If she got hurt, she could sue you.
This is your representative.
She's beating up an employee!
Why aren't you upset?
Why am I screaming and you're not?!
- I wasn't out here. I wasn't out here
- I will scream at you all day long,
but I will never hit you.
- I don't listen to people who yell at my wife.
- Matt.
- I'm trying to save her ass.
- You aren't talking to her - Calm down, calm down!
- You're yelling.
- Why don't stick up for her a little bit?
- I am stickin' up for her!
- Bull(bleep).
- I'm fighting for her right now.
- Get out of my face!
- You stick up for your business.
- This girl will bury you!
Fire her ass!
If she's here tomorrow, I'm not!
That's your choice, goodnight!
- Thank you.
- I never even went inside this bar tonight.
I broke up a fight in a parking lot,
got in a fight with the owners,
gave them an ultimatum
and left.
That was my first night.
Totally unproductive.
- Get the (beep) away from me.
(electric guitar music)
- I did hit her a few times.
(laughs)
- Did you?
- Mhmm.
- Like, in the body?
- Like in the head.
(laughs)
(dramatic music)
- Hello.
What I saw last night was a freak show.
You beat the hell outta that girl on purpose.
Which apart from being inappropriate,
could lead to a lawsuit.
And I gave you a choice last night.
Are you sober enough to remember?
- Yup.
What was the choice?
- That she couldn't be here.
- And you have the audacity to bring her back here?
(dramatic music)
You perpetuated it as owners
- And why was I on the ground?
- Theresa, you ask for it all the time.
- And you expect me to help you guys
after that's the choice you make?
Would you have any part of this
if you were me?
- No.
- You made your choice.
See ya.
The owners of this pirate themed bar,
were drowning in debt
and were ready to let the ship sink
instead of charting a new course.
- Have you always wanted to open a pirate bar?
- It's sort of the ultimate adult fantasy.
Dangerous and sexy.
- And how's it working?
- I think the people
that come in here and get it
absolutely love it and they come back.
They extremely-
- Not a lot coming back.
- Not a lot coming back, yeah.
I know we're losing money.
I know we don't have the money to pay all the bills,
but we're a niche market and when people do come in here
they love us.
- Are you making money?
- No. I have not drawn a salary for six years.
- How are you surviving?
- I live with my parents in the basement of their house,
with my husband and my seventeen year old daughter.
- So it's impacted your daughter.
It's impacted your parents.
It's impacted your life,
but it's still a vision
that you think has been worthwhile for you?
- Yes, I do.
(dramatic music)
- She's delusional.
She doesn't accept the reality of her own mistakes.
As soon as she accepts that reality,
I can start taking her to success.
So my question is this,
when do you get good at running the place?
Cause you're not good at it now,
you know that.
Your food stinks, right?
I mean I sent my recon people in
a couple in pirate suits.
- Really?
- You comped their entire food, didn't you?
- Yes.
- The fresh fish was frozen,
it was a lie.
But you sit before me
saying this is your dream.
- That's true.
- I'm realizing, I might not be able to fix this bar.
If Tracy doesn't change the way she thinks,
she will fail.
I need you to come clean with me, Trace.
- Okay
- Are you ashamed?
- No.
- You're not ashamed?
- No.
- Well, if you're not ashamed
of what you served tonight to people,
then I'm gonna tell you
you should close this place now.
If you're not ashamed
by the fact that you have menu lies,
that you're serving food that is undercooked,
what makes you ashamed?
- I have an establishment that I beli-
- You're not ashamed of what you're doing?
- No.
- Then I can't help you.
Cause you're never gonna have pride in it.
- What the (bleep)in' bull(bleep)!
(bleep) that guy talk like that, yeah?
- Are you ashamed
of the food that was served here tonight?
- No.
- The food is good ass(bleep)!
- Your food is the worst I've ever seen
and it stinks!
- I don't think so.
- Really?
- Yeah.
- Well, you should stop cooking tomorrow
and not cook anymore.
Your food stinks.
- Nobody claim about that.
- Let me explain something to you,
she had to buy them your dinner tonight
because you blew it.
- Because the customer is a (bleep) ass(bleep)!
- No, because you blew it!
And how dare you put her
- I clean my (bleep) hands too!
- I got my work cut out for me.
You're a fool, man.
You're a fool.
I cannot succeed.
I can't fix this bar
until these people accept that they're failing.
(bluesy guitar music)