Bar Rescue Jon Taffer's mantra: “Get them back!”

While Jon Taffer is an internationally known and award-winning consultant in the bar and restaurant industry, mainstream America has come to know and love him as the explosive, yet sensitive host of Spike TV’s popular reality program, “Bar Rescue.”

Watch any episode of Bar Rescue, and the range of Taffer’s temperament is on display. In one show, he lambastes a bar owner for serving drinks that were poured from liquor bottles infested with fruit flies. Other times, we see Taffer’s softer and intuitive side, like when he uncovers an owner’s inner struggle that is causing the business to fail. Either way, Taffer never breaks eye contact with his target, and most every verbal exchange is accented with grand hand gestures, slightly odd head nods, and frowns that morph into smiles.

At the start of Bar Rescue, fans of the show wait for the tipping point. That’s when Taffer can’t tolerate another second of lazy owners, untrained staff, and filthy conditions. “Shut it down!” he bellows throughout the bar, sending customers out the door in front of a stunned staff.

The rest of the show is dedicated to Taffer’s customer service mantra: “Get them back!” He says it sounds simple, but there is a lot to it. 

“Here’s the core of who I am. I don’t believe I sell food and beverages, and I don’t believe I am in the hospitality business. I’m in the business of making reactions. When I send a plate to your table, one of two things happens. Either you sit up and react to that plate because it looks so great, or you don’t. The cook in the kitchen is not making an entree, and the product is not the food. The cook is making a vehicle and the product is the reaction. He or she who creates the best reactions wins. End of story,” said Taffer.

“I’ll design that plate one hundred times until you sit up,” he continued. “I’ll train my staff for hours until they know how to get you to smile and react. With the knowledge of those interactive skills, now I can look at my team and say you all have the same job: Get them back! Use your eyes, your smiles, and your service. Get them back!”

Taffer has trademarked the term, Reaction Management? and elaborates on the concept in his book, “Raise the Bar: An Action-Based Method for Maximum Customer Reaction.” He says the principles of reaction management can be applied to any business, not just the hospitality industry.

In addition to his book, Taffer created a free mobile app called “BarHQ” and it is currently used by some 40,000 bars and restaurants to help them manage scheduling, promotions, and revenue tracking. The app was so well-received that he wanted to continue to use the digital space to support business, so he went to work on a new project which launched in January.

Taffer Virtual Teaching (TVT) is an interactive digital learning program designed to teach business owners and their employees how to increase profits through marketing, operations, and customer service. And it is no surprise that Taffer brings his high-voltage energy and winning perspective to the project. 

“Training is a dirty word. What if I said to you that you have to do two hours of online training? You’re depressed about it before you’ve even logged on to your computer,” Taffer said answering his own question. “The perception of training is awful. I wanted to reinvent it.”

“Taffer Virtual Teaching is a way for me to take all the lessons I’ve learned and bring it to someone on their smart phone or on their computer. TVT is interactive and fun, and I’m really excited about it. It took me four years and a whole bunch of money to finally figure out how to make training fun,” said Taffer.

TVT participants are asked questions about their business and depending on the answers, they are directed to interactive video-based lessons delivered by Taffer who produced all original content for the program.

“It’s coming out specifically for hospitality at first, and then we roll into a small business program over the next few months. There is nothing like it out there and it really fills a need,” Taffer said.

The popularity of Bar Rescue suggests that it, too, fills a need whether viewers watch it for business advice, entertainment, or both. At the close of season four, one hundred and twelve episodes will have aired and Taffer has signed on with Spike for another twenty shows. 

Taffer is elated by the show’s success.

“I thought I’d shoot a pilot and go home. Then when I got season one, I thought I’d do that and go home. I haven’t gone home yet and I’m shocked!” he said.

Every shoot sticks to a tight five-day schedule. Having never seen the bar or met its owners before, Taffer receives about a 90-second briefing from his team before he goes inside to conduct his reconnaissance. Viewers see all this playout as each episode begins. The tension starts immediately as Taffer fires out one criticism after another aimed at the bar’s management and employees. Some owners sweat, some make excuses, and some try to fight back and dominate Taffer – that never works. When recon is over and the cameras are turned off, Taffer goes back around midnight to redesign the bar. 

On day two, Taffer and his team train the owners and staff on bartending basics and the finer points of mixology. A crash course in customer service and overall bar management also plays out as the camera zooms in on those who need it most, and those who do it best. Meanwhile, off camera Taffer picks out bar stools, carpets, and wall finishes and works with the art team to finalize other design elements including logos, signage, and menus.

Later that same evening comes the aptly named “stress test” to see how much the staff has learned. The bar doors swing open to a crowd of noisy and thirsty patrons while the Bar Rescue team watches it all play out.

On day three, reconstruction begins and during the next 36 hours they remodel the bar according to Taffer’s vision.

On day five, the owners and staff are gathered outside the bar wearing blindfolds. The cameras roll as the transformation of the exterior is revealed, and at Taffer’s urging they enter the bar and are blown away by the renovations and improvements. 

Taffer’s work is done. He wishes the bar owner well, and blows out of town as fast as he came in.

“I’m off for two days and then I go do it all over again,” said Taffer emphasizing the show’s production schedule that takes him from city to city throughout the country.

“I’ve got a great team around me that helps me do it all. But I sign off on everything. At the end of the day, it is my name on it. The challenge is that after doing one hundred episodes I can’t use the same ideas over and over again. So how do create an idea I’ve never used, with finishes, colors, and textures that I’ve never used, and still make it be as good as the first ones I would have selected. But that also makes it fun!” said Taffer. 

“You know, at the end of Bar Rescue, two things happen. I get a hug and I get a check, and the hug means a lot more to me than the check at this stage of my life,” said Taffer. I love the fact I get emails from people saying that we have impacted their business. And I love that I can train people, create more success for small business and entrepreneurs, create some jobs along the way, and help a few families.”

For more information on Jon Taffer and Taffer Virtual Teaching visit: www.jontaffer.com

In addition to filming Bar Rescue and launching TVT, Jon Taffer has recently partnered with the National Restaurant Association (NRA) to elevate awareness and participation in the organization’s ServSafe online educational programs.

ServSafe is a sanitation certification program for managers, cooks, servers, and others in the industry that teaches them safety standards in handling food, cleanliness, and related processes.

“I’ve teamed with the NRA, the world’s largest trade association, to really get ServSafe out there to consumers, restaurateurs, and bar owners,” said Taffer. Foodborne sicknesses and bacteria from restaurants would stop and end if they all went through this ServSafe program. It’s too cheap and too important for restaurants not to do it. Customers should know if ServSafe exists and look for the ServSafe certificate on the wall of an establishment.”

For more information visit: https://www.servsafe.com