Jon Taffer: A Real American Hero

For this latest post, I thought I'd take a departure and introduce you to someone who accepts nothing less than perfection when it comes to bars. For any of you who have been living under a rock for the last 2 years, there is a force on network television that rivals nature. His name: Jon Taffer. 

Taffer is the host of the reality series Bar Rescue on Spike TV, which attempts to turn failing bars around back to profitability. The show emphasizes his experience and credentials, pitching him as "one of the best bar consultants in the world". And a little research on the web confirms this as he is the owner of Taffer Dynamics, Inc., the president of the Nightclub and Bar Media Group, 'inventor' of the NFL Sunday Ticket concept, and has been responsible for managing over 800 successful establishments. That's all well and good - he's definitely a guy who knows his stuff, but any attempt to describe or explain this man's style or personality in how he goes about doing this, is merely futile. 

Wikipedia attempts to describe Taffer as follows:

"Taffer exhibits a boisterous, no-nonsense, and confrontational approach intended to shock and push the owners/workers into making drastic changes—not excuses—immediately. As people are naturally resistant to change, at different points along the way, members of the ownership and/or staff resist Taffer's new ideas, strategies, and tactics—which he presents on "my way, or, the highway"–type terms (even though the owners do not have to keep any of the changes the production company brings to their business, after filming ends)."

Again, this explanation doesn't do justice to the power of Jon Taffer, he must be experienced. Just check out how he responds to the poor cook when he finds out that she picked up raw meat before handling cooked food without washing her hands. It's a short snippet, but you'll get the idea:

So sub-par bar owners beware. Taffer will call you out on your inadequacies. If he finds out you don't have a working POS system, he'll tell you "Friday's does it." If your excuse for not turning a profit is the economy, he won't sympathize, he'll just tell you "that's bulls*&t, you should know better" with a look on his face that will shame you in front of all of your employees. And if you're cross contaminating your kitchen by handling raw food and cooked food at the same time... well, you know.

Send this man to Washington D.C.! He'd have that whole place turned around in no time. Forget the Republican or Democrat nominee in 2016, write in "Jon Taffer" on your ballot.

 To watch more of this genius work his magic (shame the unsuspected but deserving, shut down bars and bend an owner's staff at his will) Bar Rescue airs on Sundays at 9PM.