Do you want fries with that?

I've got a new favorite show! "Bar Rescue". It's on SPIKE TV as I discovered yesterday while flannel chipping. They had a bunch of episodes,  I caught a few and I think I might become a regular.

Bar Rescue is kind of a "Yard Crashers" for bar/restaurants that are severely in the weeds. The expert comes in and along with a team analyzes what's wrong with the business, takes over and transforms it into an operation that actually makes money. That's pretty basic HGTV type programing but it's a nice take on it since it involves bar/restaurants instead of backyards and kitchens.

I was in the bar business for 15 years. I'm well versed in the bar aspect of it and can keep up with the back of the house dilemmas and even though I haven't poured a drink in anger in a long, long time, I still think about it. I have no idea what a Mojito is and, frankly, I don't wanna know. Can I get ya a beer instead?

Most of the kitchens I saw on the show were quite dirty. Some dangerously so. You might be very afraid if you were to spend time in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant. You might not. Actually, because of health codes (as long as we still have them...) public houses are held to a much higher standard than your house. It's all about common sense and whether you or they care to think and act on it. But, corners will be cut out of ignorance and certainly to promote profits.

People get into the restaurant and bar business because they think it looks fun and profitable. And ya know, if you've ever been out and about and the owner bought you a drink, you know how special you felt and you also know how god-like the owner appeared in your eyes. People want that power. They really do. That in itself may account for the thousands of restaurants that fail each week. A surprising number of people are truly flying by the seat of their pants, never having even been a cook, bartender or server before. The easiest way to make a small fortune in this business is to start out with a large one. No one teaches them about bar/food costs, menus, promoting the business, dealing with staff or food handling. Even the one's who might have a concept of these things find themselves overwhelmed in time. It's a tough business.

Jon Taffer is a tough guy. He looks and talks like he's be a semi-retired legbreaker for the mob. But, he's got 35 some years of bar/restaurant experience and I think it shows. He's been there and done that. Like all reality shows, there's conflict. These owners have contracted with the producers to have Jon take over their business and do whatever HE thinks is necessary to transform it. But, they still reserve the right to fight with him. THAT seems unreal but, I promise you, the ego and hard head you need to get into the business is VERY real. I haven't seen any re-enacted arguments yet. I would have liked to see Jon straighten out one of the places I worked at for the better and worse part of ten years. The better part was before the father passed the restaurant on to his son, possibly admonishing him, not to lose it. There's a lot of that too, in any business- apples falling not far from the tree and rotting away. I doubt Jon could have changed the Greek kid's evil ways. He sold that one before he lost it and wound up losing the next instead.

Like all the reality shows, the time frame seems ridiculous to me. Five days to clean a kitchen, change a menu, re-train a staff AND redecorate?! This isn't building a '65 GTO from the ground up, after all... No doubt they take the usual TV liberties here and I understand that.  Rome wasn't built in a day. Five, I guess...

But, I like the show. In checking it out on Wiki, I learned that one place resisted Jon and his staff's help even before they completed the show and went back to their original pirate theme!

Pirate theme. Now, THAT would be a helluva an episode for Yard Crashers.... Arggghhh!