Bar Rescue

Jon visits a failing Maryland tavern where the owners and staff are reluctant to let go of the cheesy pirate theme, despite it slowly killing the business.

Note: For the recon in this episode, Jon brought in the owners of The Chicken Bone, featured in the seventh episode of season 1. This is the first bar to change back to its old name and theme. During the Back to the Bar special, the bar is shown to be failing badly and requests a re-rescue. However, Jon is not sure he is willing to do it due to the disrespect the owners showed him but will consider it for the sake of their daughter.

Jon has serious work to do in Florida, when the owner's lack of a backbone has not only allowed staff members to walk all over him, but also caused short tempers with other staff and a bar that's slowly falling apart.

Jon goes to Baltimore to help two frat brother owners who don't know how to properly run a bar, including one whose arrogant and abrasive attitude has cost them key staff members.

Note: This is the second bar to not have either a stress test or a soft opening; the bar was structurally unsound.

Jon helps two club promoters who took over a once popular bar whose reputation is badly tarnished by not just a murder that took place a few years back, but also poor management, declining conditions, and a promoter who brings the wrong people.

When the owner's drinking and behavior toward women threatens to shut down a long-running dive bar, Jon must get his daughter to step up and take over.

Jon has a long list to complete at Cheviot when he helps a bar owner who is too busy with his jobs to keep his Irish-German pub in check and has over $800,000 in loans that his family doesn't know about.

Jon's attempts to refurbish a former strip-club-turned-bar in California are complicated by an untrained staff, a head bartender who steals from the till, and a kitchen serving dangerously undercooked food.

Note: This episode was dedicated to Yvette Taffer (1924-2012), Jon Taffer's mother.

A former Navy man who can't run his bar properly and lets his partner/musician run wild has Jon doing a serious tactic in an attempt to save the owner's bar.

Jon has some major hurdles to get over to rebuild a once popular bar, which fell from grace due to a recent change in laws, but has fierce resistance with regular customers who scare away women.

When an owner's early success goes to his head and causes him to get drunk and let the staff become divided, Jon must get him back to reality before his once successful bar closes down.

Note: For the recon in this episode, Jon brought in the owner and general manager of Angel's Sports Bar (re-branded as Racks Billiards & Bourbon), featured in the first episode of season 1. Extremes also appeared in season 4 and was originally going to be the first re-rescue.