Last night's “Bar Rescue” creator Jon Taffer went to New Orleans, La. to rescue "Turtle Bay," a Bourbon Street establishment.
In this episode, Jon comes to the rescue of Brad Bohannan, the owner who used to be an owner of the bar across the street; his biggest competitor. When Brad opened "Turtle Bay," he even took the manager of that bar with him and made him a co-owner. However, stealing the same tropical theme and similarities of their style, "Turtle Bay" has yet to turn a profit and faces lawsuits from their biggest competitor for copyright infringement. Can Jon Taffer save this bar?
Bourbon Street is one of the only places in the United States, where drinking on the street is legal. The annual retail bar sales are over fifty-two million, with plenty of room for everyone on Bourbon Street. Jon watches over and sees that nobody is going into "Turtle Bay." So Jon brought in friends to survey the situation, a chef and mixologist and set up hidden cameras. The make-believe customers ordered gumbo, but it was microwaved from a bag and was not fooling anyone.
Jon wanted to know why he was stealing the competition's trademarks? Jon asked the questions that the partners should have known off the top of their heads, but had no clue. Jon called them a failure to their faces, and they were not happy. Jon declared, "Turtle Bay" as dead. Jon met with the staff to get their take on the situation. The bartenders had no set rules for making drinks and had liberty to do as they wanted.
The chef found lots of violations. Jon had a brand new testing device that showed how much bacteria was on a swab taken from the refrigerator. At the bar, the drink machine was never cleaned, new product was added each week as another batch was made. The manager, Steve was willing to fight Jon every step of the way.
In the kitchen, the staff cleaned the place and passed with flying colors. At the stress test, the bar tending staff was too slow and customers walked out. Steve was a good manager through this, but the chef tasted the gumbo and threw up. It was bad, and they learned a lesson when Jon shut down the kitchen. The cook gained Jon's respect when he apologized for his actions.
Jon got Brad to leave the old bar behind and start anew. Brad challenged Jon to give them the best bar and theme on Bourbon Street.
They created a new cocktail called "The Resurrection." A fresh new gumbo was made by Jon's chef, and the kitchen staff was thrilled. The fresh menu was awesome, and the drinks were different than the rest of the competition. Now the new bar was called "Spirits" for the alcoholic beverages and the spirit of Edward Dubois, who was allegedly a womanizing barber that was killed by his mistresses. Jon put in a barber chair near the window with a "to go" station for those who want to walk Bourbon Street with a brightly flashing drink in their hand.
The opening night was amazing, and their future was no longer in jeopardy. They went from losing $15,000 a month to bringing in almost $10,000 a night, thanks to "Bar Rescue," Jon Taffer and his crew.
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