Jon arrives with expert mixologist Alex Goode and chef Anthony Lamas to recon the bar. They note that the area is not ideal even as a drinking spot with a bowling alley. They think that the separate entrance to the bar, down a dark tunnel way looks shady and unsafe. This is a list of minor characters appearing across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 1 Movies 1.1 Iron Man 1.2 The Incredible Hulk 1.3 Iron Man 2 1.4 Thor 1.5 Captain America: The First Avenger 1.6 The Avengers 1.7 Iron Man 3 1.8 Thor: The Dark World 1.9 Captain America: The Winter Soldier 1.10 Guardians of the Galaxy 1.11 Avengers: Age of Ultron 1.12 Ant-Man 1.13 Captain America: Civil War 1.14.
On this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Rob Ben’s in Oakland, California.
Rob Ben’s is a popular community bar and restaurant owned by football legend Marshawn Lynch.
The bar was opened in 2018 and named in tribute to Marshawn’s late childhood friend, Rob Benjamin.
Robert Benjamin was shot and killed in a violent altercation in Oakland in 2007.
Marshawn gave his aunties Kecia and Shawny, a chance to run the restaurant side of the business.
In his bid to give Rob Ben’s a family-like feel, he also hired family members Donte and Dave, his cousin and brother as bartenders.
He also hired Ralph, Rob Benjamin’s brother as a cook in the kitchen.
Marshawn had other businesses and charities that needed his attention so he let Kecia take over running the place.
She doesn’t delegate and tries to do everything herself.
As a result of this she is overworked and has started getting stress-related illnesses.
With her absence due to her illness, other family have refused to step up to lead the bar and with no leadership the bar is quickly declining.
Marshawn meets with Jon in his car outside Rob Ben’s and tells him about his love for his community about the bar.
Jon notes the colours in the bar are red and black and Marshawn says the colour scheme is based on the colours the Saints football team.
These were the colours of his former team when Rob came to watch him play and it is a treasured memory of him.
Marshawn tells Jon how much of an influence Rob was on his life.
He introduces the staff shown on the footage to Jon including his aunty Shawny, who had worked at the bar under the previous owners and his uncle Cullen, who helps in the kitchen.
Donte is shown on the footage drinking behind the bar and he is too busy drinking and ignoring the customers trying to get his attention to order their drinks.
One customer asks to order a chicken salad and they take the order even though it isn’t on the menu and they don’t have the ingredients to make it.
Ten minutes later, they return to the customer and tell them that they are unable to do the order.
Marshawn doesn’t know his sales figures and is unsure how much liquor is sold in his bar.
Jon shows Marshawn a Partender report for the previous weekend.
They lost $3726 in two days, leading to a projected loss of $16,000 a month and $193,000 a year.
As Donte continues to drink, he begins rapping and using swear words in front of customers including a mother and daughter, who are sat at the bar.
He climbs on the bar to sit on it and is rude to staff and customers.
Marshawn is upset by what he is seeing in the bar and Jon says it is time to go in.
They both enter the bar and Jon heads straight for Donte to point out the uncleared glasses and plates.
Donte gets defensive and Marshawn explains that he is the one paying the bills so things need to be in order.
They confront Donte on his language and how it was offensive to women who were sat at the bar and it is bad for their business.
They also talk to Shawny about how she could allow the behaviour of Donte to happen and doing nothing to try and stop it.
The next day, Kecia comes in to work on payroll when she should be on bedrest.
Jon calls the staff together for a staff meeting and Kecia says she was disappointed with what she heard had happened on the previous night.
Jon shows them reports that shows that their food costs are too high and they are losing money with their food sales.
Jon reveals the results of the Partender report and they are astounded to hear about the losses they are making via drinks.
Donte claims he paid for the beer he had drunk the night before but his aunties don’t believe him.
All the staff say they are onboard with making changes in order to save the bar.
Jon brings in Mixologist Alex Goode and Chef Jason Santos to train the staff behind the bar and in the kitchen.
Jon tells them that he is taking down the awning to make the sign more prominent.
Alex trains the bartenders on new cocktails and notes they show promise, while Jason focused on food presentation in the kitchen.
Jon wants to perform a stress test to see how the staff cope after their training.
Orders start coming in but customers need replacement drinks because the ones they were served are poor.
Jason notices that there is no process for food delivery from the kitchen with no table numbers or order tickets.
Jason shows the kitchen staff how to plate multiple plates of food rather than one at a time.
The stress test isn’t too bad and Jon commends the staff for their efforts.
The Stress Test is ended so Jon’s team can start remodeling the bar.
Jon meets with Jason and Alex to figure out signature drinks and food that can help the restaurant.
Jon also sat down with Kecia and Marshawn and told them they need to communicate better with the staff.
They need to praise them when the do good and they need to punish them when they do bad.
It is obvious that the staff care for the success of the business.
The staff changed in attitude and effort as soon as they were made aware that they were losing the bar money.
After the renovations, staff are brought in and see the new awning with the bar being slightly renamed to Rob Ben’s Neighbourhood Soul.
The inside of the bar has been modernised, with a football mural of Marshawn from his high school days to his NFL career.
Marshawn and all the staff are happy with the changes that Jon has made to the bar.
There are two Harbour Touch POS systems, SkyTabs and OneStone for video graphics.
There is a new ice machine from Manitowac Ice, a lifetime access to TVT and a subscription to Partender.
Alex Goode Bartender Salary
They surprise Jon by giving him a staff uniform for the bar as he is now part of the team.
On relaunch night, the staff are working hard and they are doing well.
The kitchen is doing well with them taking 7 to 8 minutes on food orders.
The patrons are loving the new food and are happy.
Jon and Donte swap a jacket and shirt to the sound of cheers from the bar.
Jon reflects at the end of the episode that it has been one of his favourite Bar Rescues.
What Happened Next at Rob Ben's?
Six weeks later, their costs have reduced and sales have increased.
The menu changes has been well received with customers, with repeat business and customer favourites.
Reviews after the episode appear to suggest the bar is focussing more on food sales and leaning more towards being a restaurant with a bar, rather than a bar with a restaurant.
Reviews are mostly positive on the food but there are negative complaints on customer service and rude staff.
Marshawn came out of retirement and started playing for the Seahawks in December 2019.
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This post was last updated in February 2021.
In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Pepe's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina in affluent Canyon Lake, California.
Pepe’s is a 50 year old bar that is owned by Victor and Laura Demonero, who bought it some years ago.
The bar was once a popular fun place, they left it to run itself thinking it would stay successful but there was a steady decline in the customers.
The food has also declined with staff using a microwave for almost all of the meals that they serve.
The owners lock themselves in their office, they are not interacting with staff or customers and oversee the business on their 16 security cameras.
They are losing $6000 a month and are $2,000,000 in debt.
The staff are suffering from health issues because of the stress of the business and describe the bar as a dungeon.
Jon arrives at the bar with Chef Jason Santos and Mixologist Alex Goode.
They notice the neighbourhood is affluent and surrounded by golf courses with golfers who have time and money to spend.
The sign on the bar is confusing and they aren’t sure quite what the place is.
Inside the bar, there are Christmas lights behind the bar but other than this the decor is bland and uninviting.
The kitchen is pre cooking meat for later orders that have yet to come.
They see the owners who hardly come in, monitoring the bar using their cameras.
They meet Victor the server, Devon the manager, Shawnda and Jessica who are both bartenders.
They quickly see that there is a lot of wastage from spilled beer foam when they are pouring beer.
They see their service process for ordering food and it is not up to the task.
They take customers' names for orders but an order was messed up and they gave out the two meals for free.
They can't understand why there is a perfectly good kitchen and they are microwaving the food.
Whilst there are issues in the bar that need intervention from management or the owners, they remain their office.
Jon has organised for some golfers to come in and try out the bar along with him.
Jon immediately talks to customers and finds out someone ordered a margarita but was given a beer instead.
He asks for the owner and the staff don’t really know what to do or say.
Customers complain the food is still frozen in the middle despite being microwaved.
Victor and Lauren are still watching all of this happening in their office without moving.
Jon comes to their office to confront them about the issues during the service.
They admit they are failing and Jon challenges them to come down to the bar.
At first, they resist but they agree to come down to meet the unhappy customers.
They get booed immediately and the customers shout their displeasure with the bar and how they won’t come back to the bar.
They are encouraged to work at the bar; clearing and cleaning that night.
Jon has a staff meeting and Victor introduces the staff to Jon and tells him their roles at the bar.
Devon says she's more of a glorified waitress than a manager when she is introduced.
They are unhappy the owners are distant from them and sit in the office rather than being present in the bar.
They complain that their pay is inconsistent and Victor is insistent it is within the law and is more interested in the money.
Jon shows their Partender report and they lost a massive $11,000 in liquor sales in three days.
This adds up to $48,000 a month and $572,000 in a year so it is no wonder that they are in so much debt.
Jon says they might be good businesspeople, but they have overlooked Pepe’s cost management and they don't see their staff as people.
The rest of the staff are sent into training with Jason and Alex and Jon speaks to the owners privately.
He discusses their goals for the business and their motivations as they don’t really seem that interested in running the bar.
Jason shows the kitchen staff how to make some flavourful crispy chicken wings and tells them that they should never use their microwave.
Alex challenges the bartenders to a pour-test to show them how to save money by pouring with accuracy.
They learn to make some new drinks whilst working on reducing their overpouring.
It's time for the Stress Test and Jon puts the owners in the thick of things instead of locked up in their office.
Laura will be at the front of the house and Victor in the kitchen.
The bartenders seem to be doing well and Laura needs help working the machines.
Victor stands around until Jason tells him to run the food out to make himself useful.
Alex Goode Bartender
There is a backlog of food orders in the kitchen and one whole side of the bar isn’t being served at all.
The thirsty customers soon start chanting ‘We want drinks!’ putting ever more pressure on the bar staff.
Food keeps being sent back for being cold and the meals need to be replaced putting more pressure on the kitchen.
Victor is causing a disaster in the front of house by giving people the wrong food.
The owners are chastised for the poor performance while the bar is shut down and the stress test ended as Jon has seen enough.
The next day a staff meeting is called and the owners apologise for their behaviour since they took over the bar.
They read out a list of promises to the staff and promise to change for the sake of the bar.
The training continues with new cocktails designed with couples in mind.
It is relaunch night and the bar has been renamed ‘Par Bar’ to attract the local golfing community.
There is a free golf cart that can be won by customers and the bar is now golf themed with a classy decor.
They have a new draft beer system to serve ice cold beer and Glacier Design systems reworked their existing cooling systems.
East Coast Chair and Barstools gave them new furniture and Harbour Touch gave them four new POS terminals and two Sky Tabs.
Alex Goode Instagram
Alter Design company did the graphics for the wallpapers and they have One Stone for video PR.
They also now have a subscription to Partender and TVT to keep on top of inventory.
The promise the owners made has been framed and put on a wall as a constant reminder that they are committed to change.
Customers are let in to see the new Par Bar and they love the new decor.
The food and drink orders are being fulfilled and the customers love the food and new cocktails on office.
Victor is more confident running food now that they have clear table numbers and a better ordering system.
It is hard to find customers without drinks and all the customers are happy.
Alex Goode Bartenders
What Happened Next at Pepe's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina / Par Bar?
Six weeks later, their sales are up, Victor and Laura are more involved with the business and Devon is now more fulfilled in her manager role.
They reverted back to their previous name Pepe's shortly after Jon left.
They haven't been able to properly reopen as a bar due to restrictions but they are offering takeout.
Reviews about the food are mostly positive with compliments to the food.
There are a few minor complaints about a wrong order and struggling to contact them by phone.
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Previous episode - Kalaveraz Cocina-Cantina
Next episode - Bottoms Up Bar and Grill
This post was last updated in February 2021.