YouSaid · the spoken record

Jon Taffer

lines on the record: 53
first: 2020-05-22
most recent: 2020-05-22
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“But I really think look, the second public building ever built in America, Barry, was a bar. The first public building built in America was a church. Those bars were called public houses. State borders were discussed in those bars. Our constitution was originally discussed in these bars all across the country. So bars are in the fiber of America. Our first distiller was George Washington. So bars have a place in our society that coveted third place, Barry. You go home, you go to work, and then there's that coveted third place. To some people, it might be a country club, to other people it's their local bar, but that third place is an important place to our society. It's where we all converge. It's the place of community. So they can't go away. And as people, we want to fight for this industry and protect it. And I'm asking the government to step up and look at some...”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A number of things. One, gift cards are a great way to do it. There's a website anybody can go to that's called Shift4cares.com, S-H-I-F-T4, the number of cares.com. If you go to that website, you can buy a gift card for any restaurant in your local town, and they pay them 5% more than the value of the gift card. So if you're going to buy a gift card, go to shift4cares.com, get them the extra 5%. I think that's very, very important. I think calling restaurants and trying to do some catering programs, if you're having any kind of family over, if you can order dinner for fours, I think that's very, very important. I think bars should start selling deconstructed cocktails. You know, some of this out tequila vodka rum and stuff at home. Sell me the cocktail without the booze. The government can't regulate that. They can only regulate it when there's booze in it. I'll put the booze in at home. So we have to be innovative as restaurateurs to offer packages to people that they can buy.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Marketing is only three things, Barry. And in a hospitality industry, I didn't know when I was younger, I don't think they did. Marketing is new customer programs, frequency programs, and spend programs. That's all we got back. I got to get you to come the first time. I got to get you to come more often. And I got to get you to spend more while you're there. That's all we got. Most hospitality operators don't cut marketing into those three things. They just spend the money generically. And if ever, post-pandemic, we need to isolate our dollars into new customer programs, frequency programs and spend programs. Now is the time to do that. But I didn't know any of that. I was just spending money and trying to fill buildings. Today, these types of knowledge are frequencies and customer loyalty is what's made our industry so successful. And Candley Barry, that's what's built the brands that we have today is those loyalty efforts.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, I think the world of hospitality today is we didn't appreciate loyalty like we did today. You know, we didn't have loyalty programs and frequency cards and all of those things. We used to look at guests as transactions. We didn't look at them as relationships. It was only in a later years of the industry that we all started to understand the power of frequency and building guest relationships. And that's when all the software programs created and the tracking programs and the frequency programs. The one thing that I didn't know when I started in this business, and I learned my financials, I learned my operations. I never learned what really marketing was till much later years.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Who's graduating this year. That's great marketers are going to market really well, great promoters, great operators. Be one of those. If there's anything that this pandemic has taught us, it's mediocre is not going to work coming out of this. We need energy to come out of this. We need ideas to come out of this. We need those young minds, those young ideas that understand social media so well, grew up living”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, both industries are somewhat of a metamorphosis, if you will, or a fork in the road. The hospitality industry is not going to go away. We need hotels. We need restaurants. We need bars. It's an important part of our society. But those who go into that business today are going to be the instruments of change. Great marketers are going to bubble to the top, Barry. Great promoters are going to create revenue. Great operators are going to find new systems. So I personally see this as a time of rebirth. It's almost like when there's a forest fire and those new sprouts pop out of the ground. Certain ones grow quicker than others. I really believe that. I believe there's going to be an exciting time as soon as that vaccine comes out in the industry. I'm telling to people that want to go into this space don't not. Don't hold yourself back. Think of the greatness. Think of the amazingly powerful ideas and programs that are going to redefine and relaunch the industry. So I would not divert into a different way. I would remember for every person.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've been looking at a number of books. It's interesting. I just read one of mine again the other day. Don't BS Yourself. But there's a book that I love that I've been telling friends to read that I read years ago and I pulled it out again. It's called E-Myth Revisited. And it's a book about the entrepreneurial myth. And it's a short book. It's a quick read. And it really makes us think about ourselves, whether we truly are entrepreneurs, business people, administrators. It cuts us into categories of business through personality and helps us to understand ourselves. It's a fun book. It's called EMIth Revisited. It's written by Michael Gerber.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Who taught me that the only way you can become a millionaire in life is to be the smartest guy in a room. And the other thing he taught me was, John, if you don't have a big checkbook, you better have a big idea book. And those are the things he taught me when I was young, but he was probably my biggest mentor.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, it's interesting. I didn't really have any television idols per se. Gordon Ramsey, of course, was out before me, sort of created the genre. So watching Gordon, of course, the way he works has impacted me. But, you know, I have strange mentors. I mean, Thomas Jefferson is a huge mentor to me. I know everything about his life. I have huge respect for Jefferson. He's a real mentor to me. Believe it or not, Howard Hughes, I've read every book ever written on a man. He's been a huge mentor to me. The fact that he stepped from one industry to another was hugely powerful to me. More locally, there are people, a gentleman by the name of Stillman, who created Fridays, was a mentor to me. He redefined a whole dining segment. But I tend to be more motivated by global figures more than smaller industry figures. And of course, the greatest motivator of all to me was my grandfather.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I've been watching Ozark, of course, which I love, and I just finished the new season, so I'm a little bummed. I got no more Ozark for a while. There's another show on Netflix called Stranger, which is a British show that I've been watching, which is really great. It's a mystery show. And then, of course, on Disney, I must confess I'm a classics guy. I've watched the little Star Wars, but I must confess I watch Beauty and the Beast the other day. I couldn't resist.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because we had so much labor in a market, we didn't have labor in the marketplace. I wound up with a kitchen that's perfect for post-COVID-19. But that wasn't what we built. We just tried to build the most sanitary kitchen that would be the most efficient kitchen in America. And we wound up with a COVID-19 kitchen. Isn't that interesting?”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We have to have hats that we issue, not hats that they wear from home. It's a different style of operating now. They have to have masks. They have to have gloves. But we have to have less contact in the kitchen. So I think it's designed the way it's going to change the way future kitchens are designed. And it's changing kitchen equipment hugely. Companies like Middleby, who owns about 60 professional grade ovens and cookies. They're focused on all these robotics. And everyone is focused on how to do this without people. What's interesting, Barry, is six months ago, we all were doing this. We were all trying to create robotic kitchens without people in them because we had no labor pool back then. Remember, just a few months ago? We couldn't find any people. We had $15 minimum wages. Many of the hires we had with New Americans, they didn't speak so well. So we had to simplify and reduce the labor burdens in kitchens. So it's interesting when I started that process two years ago.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm of the belief that we do return to normal. You know, I think we're social animals, and we need social interaction. And six feet apart isn't going to work for us long term. Once we have a vaccine and people feel safe, I believe we go back to normal activity. And I think that there might be some adjustments to society. I think kitchens will never quite be the same. And I'm all for that. I'm opening a restaurant in Atlanta in July called Kaffer's Tavern. We've created the kitchen of the future. It's all robotic cooking. There's no human touching of food as it goes through the cooking line process. And if you looked at a kitchen today, and we'll send you pictures when it opens, Bosch, you can see what the kitchen looks like, but we're changing the industry. You look at a kitchen today. It almost looks more like an operating room than it does a kitchen. You know, we can't have street clothes and kitchens anymore. We can't let people wear their ball cap from home in a kitchen anymore. You know, we have to have gloves. We have to have uniforms in a kitchen.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, it's not at all. And I've said to myself if we can't do 100 lunches in an hour because I'm at 30% capacity, now I have to do those lunches over three hours. Okay, so I can do early bird lunch.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So think about it. A restaurant operator does everything right by the book PPE procedures processes. A bunch of customers come in. They're irresponsible. People get sick. Now that restaurant is shut down.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that makes no sense. Vanity shouldn't come before safety. Vanity shouldn't come before the safety of the person next to you. Vanity shouldn't come before destroying a local business. So I'm trying to communicate to people that if we don't behave in these ways, we're going to lose more of these businesses. People are not going to come. So I put the burden equally on the customer as I do the restaurant. The restaurant will do what it's supposed to. Will the customer do what they're supposed to? And if they don't, that restaurant is doomed. Today we're living in a culture of accountability, Barry. If you go out to dinner and have a bad dinner, it's on Yelp in a matter of seconds. If we have infections in any of these restaurants and we have crises that break out in any of these businesses, it will go public and it will destroy that business.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, my point is this, those customers that are saying I refuse to wear a mask because of vanity are risking all of these businesses, not just the health of the person standing next to them. And it's a powerful point. The only reason why somebody would not wear a mask today is because of vanity”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Third is not going to go. So I suggest that the actions of the customers these first few weeks, more than restaurants, are going to determine whether this works or not. And think about it. If you're driving by a restaurant and it's four people standing in front spaced and they're wearing masks, your immediate impression is, okay, they got their stuff together. That must be a safe place to go. Drive to the next restaurant, crowd in front, nobody wearing masks. Are you going to go in that restaurant?”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Invisible energy. But the chemicals have to change a little because it's viral rather than bacterial. But the processes don't change that much. We still have to wipe our surfaces all the time. We still have to wash our hands all the time. Now we're adding masks and other PPE to the process. But make no mistake. Unlike the retail business or the car business or the furniture business, restaurants know how to do this. We've been doing it our whole lives. Here's my fear. I am scared more about the customers than I am the restaurants. And let me give you an example. We talked about that first, third, that second, third, and that third, third. If that first third goes out, doesn't wear masks, doesn't employ social distancing, so that we on the news, that second, third, all they see is images of people being irresponsible in restaurants. Nobody's wearing masks. They're hanging together. There's crowds in front.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's going to impact the luxury sector, and nobody's talking about this far greater than the casual in other sectors in a restaurant and bar industry. They're the last ones to come out. And that's why I worry about brands like Neeman Marcus and luxury brands and how they're going to be impacted during this whole thing because of the certain third, as I call it. So that's what's happening outside. But here's the interesting part. I have great confidence in the restaurant business, Barry. We've been dealing with invisible enemies since our inception. We call it bacteria. And bars and restaurants deal with bacteria every day. We know how to clean our surfaces. We know how to wash our hands. We know what chemicals to use to clean those services. We know to separate raw product from cook product. We are really good at this. A good restaurant operator manages bacteria in his kitchen every single day and people don't get sick. Well, now we have a virus. It's a different.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm worried about the latter. But if I can, I made this pretty simple, right? Let's cut it up in thirds. I believe a third of the population, a younger third, the invincible third, they're going to go out right away. They're going to go out. They're going to party. We've seen a bunch of them out the past weekend or two in states that are allowing it. The second third I call the reserve third. They want to watch and see for a couple weeks what's happening. Was there any spike in illnesses? Do the restaurants look safe? Are people wearing masks? Okay. If it looks good and feels good, that second, third will start to come out in a few weeks. The third third, I call the certain third. They're not going out till there's a vaccine and they can be absolutely certain. These are people who are a little older demo, maybe pre-existing conditions. But Barry, that's the sector of the audience that has the highest disposable income.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, yes, that's in many cases. The numbers that you're talking about is product cost. Food costs in a restaurant could run 30%. Beverage costs can run 20%. So you're making considerably more dollars per revenue dollar off of liquor. You also can sell liquor without the burden of a kitchen staff. So your labor costs connected to liquor and to drinks is a little lower as well. So yes, when you take the beverage sales out of a casual dining operation, let's say where it's 30% beverage sales, now it's 100% food sales, lower profit item, and it's only a 30% potential. There's no way it can make money. It's barely sustaining itself. And when it runs out of the resources to save itself, Barry, how does it reopen when the pandemic's over?”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Correct. We need some type of an inventory credit so that we can spend dollars on product and it should be structured the same. If the money spent on product, it's not repayable. If it's not, it is. But we must get these refrigerators full again so the restaurants can get to real capacity levels as far as having the products to sell. The other thing that terrifies me, Barry, is the separation between bars and restaurants. The industry doesn't separate them. We talk about them in one glut. They're not. Bars, for example, if you look at the regulations around restaurant openings, you're not allowed to walk up to the bar. You're not allowed to sit at the bar. There's no standing room allowed. You have to be sitting at the table. So by effect, the regulations to open a restaurant has closed the bar. Now, you can order a drink at your table, but the bar itself is closed.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Weeks when people are more comfortable, I'd open with a bang with a little marketing. I wouldn't just open quietly with everyone else. And I'm just very concerned that in our government stimulus package, Barry, they gave us money for payroll, rent, and utilities. But there's no inventory allocation. Now, when these restaurants really open to 100% capacity down the road, three, four, whatever months from now, keep in mind they've been running at a deficit so they don't have resources. Now they have to fill their refrigerator. Really fill it because everything is bad. They even have to change their beer kegs because those are bad, Barry. So now they need the resources to create a completely new inventory to open properly. They don't have those resources, which means they don't order from the food distributor. The manufacturer doesn't make it, and the farmer doesn't grow it. So if we don't get America, Americans restaurants to refill their refrigerators, we're going to have an impact right down the whole.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think decimated is the right word, Barry, and obviously I'm heartbroken over this, and many restaurants are running a closer to 90% off, 10% of what they did. And many, of course, haven't opened yet. And making a couple of points. I'm very concerned about the difference between sustaining and opening. And we've gotten government stimulus dollars. We're all spending our money sustaining ourselves when we have no revenue potential. And I'm terrified we're not going to make it and have the resources to open properly when we do have potential. That's what's horrifying me about the industry. And every week more go down that don't reopen again. Because what we're doing, we're causing them to bleed to death slowly. Now, I'm not saying every restaurant, but I think in many cases I wouldn't open now. I would stay closed. I would retain my resources for a real opening. I would open in a few years.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Ourselves deliver the show to the network. And we operate very autonomously of the network, which enhances the reality of the show.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And it takes a week to make one. So if you can imagine the amount of work that year. But bar rescue is successful, I think, for one main reason and one reason alone. It's real. I never met these people before. I get a 60 second briefing before the show starts, Barry. That's it. I've never been in a bar before. So bar rescue lasts because people know real. They know fake. And I don't know anything about these people at a bar. When I find out the audience finds out at the same time. So I've worked very, very hard to keep the show authentic. Sometimes I'm at odds with the network to do so because, you know, in a television business, they want to know what they're getting before they write a check. In bar rescue, you're not going to know what you're getting until after you write the check. It just doesn't work that way in my show. You have to trust me. So it took some time. Now, of course, we have the level of trust with the network. We never have network executives on show. The network really has very little to do with what we produce.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we created a sizzle reel, and the network picked it up in four days. The show launched. You'll get a kick out of this. First season was 10 episodes. Second season was 10. Third episode was 40 episodes. Fifth season was 50 episodes in one year.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Not really, honestly. All they did was look at me on TV. Honestly, that's all they did. These are television stations. Sure, they cared about my background a little bit, but, you know, I learned on television that, you know, a lot of television chefs can't cook at dinner. They can cook one place to TV, but they can't run a kitchen. So there's a big difference, particularly in a hospitality space, between TV hospitality people and operations hospitality people. Huge difference. And I've worn that and bar rescue. So they didn't much care as long as I could create a good TV show. They knew I had a background in it, so they knew I was a quote expert, but they didn't put much effort into learning my background in hospitality business. They were more interested in what I could do on camera.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it really didn't. So I'm back to my Paramount story. So I leave Paramount, I put together my chizzle reel, and I go to Paramount. Of course, I told you, I'm told I'll never be on television, so I didn't accept that. I wrote it up, sent it to four production companies. And the four production companies sent me four offers, I couldn't believe it. And these guys all knew your background.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The three TAFR documents and said, you know, this is really good. Let's do it ourselves. So they put me on a board of NFL enterprises and Sunday ticket came to be.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Analog dishes, it became sort of cost prohibitive. Since compression was created in that second document, we then created the premise of Sunday ticket. You could watch seven or eight games at the same time off one satellite system. The technology worked. And then we started putting together the ad slicks, the promo manuals, a marketing book, a promotion book for the bar. We put it all together and then we delivered that to CompSat. CompSat then came back a third time and said, this is great. Now give us a marketing universe, John. Who the heck can we sell this to? So we put together another document filled with the Fridayism, Damon's Ribs and Applebee's and all of those brands and their corporate offices and all their contacts. In essence, they target marketbook and gave them that. And they paid us very well for each one of these. ComSat then took my three pieces of work, brought it to the NFL to license the signal. The NFL read”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So they asked my company to assess it what could we charge for it? Would bars want to buy it? What would be the fee structure? What support do they need to be able to sell it to their customers and promote it, et cetera? So they retained us to do this feasibility study. So we did. We did the feasibility study. We identified huge market potential for this type of product. And they paid us dearly for that work. And then they came back to us a couple of weeks later and said, John, we really like this. Tell us what the product would look like. So then we did a second phase of work where we started to design what Sunday ticket would look like. And while we were doing that work, Barry, something happened technologically called compression. And compression changed the satellite industry where now I could receive multiple signals on multiple transponders off one dish. Prior to that, you might remember, Barry, to watch seven football games at once, the bar had to have a half acre field behind it with those big”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, that's a heck of a story. Years ago, I had won a sports bar operator of the year in America. And I also had a consulting practice. And we consulted to not only people in the industry, but products looking to break into the industry. And I got a phone call one day from a company called ComSat. And ComSat is based in Maryland. They have a huge field of uplink dishes. And they manage most of the satellites in space, including government satellites. So they're a satellite management company, and they manage the signals coming up. The signals coming down. So at the time, this is the mid-90s, they managed things like pay-per-view cinema for hotels went through their satellites and most entertainment channels did. They came to me and said, John, we would like your company to do a feasibility study on out-of-market sports programming. Concept being that you sitting in New York, Barry, could watch a Dallas Cowboy game. You could get that signal on your home TV.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“What they do, not how they do it. And by changing how you think, I can't help but change actions. So that's become my signature. And as I give my speeches all around the country, I'm very focused on shaking up the way people think so that they can begin to think differently.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Failure. And once you own failure, I believe you have a chance of owning success. If you never own your failure, how the heck do you get to success? So finishing up this point, Batt, I believe that when I go in and train people and I do this in my public speeches and my keynotes, I give keynotes all the time. These days I'm doing VNOTs. We have a special camera and a stage set up and we do VNOT speeches and we do very, very many of them. And every speech I give, I always started with the same premise. I don't want to change what you do. I want to change the way you think. You see, if I say don't do this, do that, don't do that, do this. When I leave, you'll go back and do it over again. 70% chance you will. But if I can change the way you think, Barry, then I can help but change what you do. So I'm very aggressive in that focus, whether it's bar rescue, whether it's in my educational or keynote programs. I am very focused on forcing people to assess.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It is fascinating, but think about it. What is an excuse, Barry? An excuse is a reconciliation of a mistake. You did something you shouldn't have. You didn't do something you should have, or you screwed up somehow. And now you create an excuse which makes you feel good about the failure. It lets you explain the failure to other people. So you go to sleep that night. And when you look in the mirror, you don't blame that shortcoming on yourself. You blame it on the excuse. So in the morning when you wake up and you say to yourself, Why am I failing? Well, it's that excuse. It's not me, so you have no reason to change. But if I can get you to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror and say, I'm failing because of me, you all like that, Barry. That's self-accountability. Then you'll start to change. So the ugly part of bar rescue is when I'm forcing them to say that to themselves. I am failing because of me. They need to say that. Now they own.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I am. You know, great employees know what to do. Give them an environment. Let them do it. Train them, of course. But so many cases, it all comes down to the owners. And it gets very conflicting, and it gets intense, as I know you know about it. And here's why. Because of accountability. I forced them to tell me that they're failing because of them. I won't let them say they're failing because of the bar. The bar is them. I won't let them say they're failing because of the competition or the recession or the whatever the case is. They always push an excuse. And my second book, which was the New York Times bestseller, Don't BS Yourself, Cut the Excuses that are holding you back, identifies to me the single denominator of failure in business is an excuse in almost every case. It's quite fascinating.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I walk in within about two or three minutes. I can scope the operation. I can determine what operational potential it has literally in minutes. Things like smell, music, pace, energy. And every failing business has a failing owner. So I start there. I start on the owner. If I can't make the owner want to clean, if I can't make the owner embrace change, if I can't make the owner change his life day to day, his processes, his procedures, that I cannot change the business, I could build him the Taj Mahal and he'd still fail there. So that's why bar rescue gets so intense because I can build a bar with my eyes closed, Barry. I can put in a computer systems, the recipes. That's easy. That's logistics. The challenge is creating an owner who knows how to be successful and has the desire to be successful. That's always the biggest fight in bar rescue.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, you know, when I took over to Trouvadour, it was fascinating to me because I had never run any place before, so I didn't know how it should be. But I learned very quickly how it shouldn't be. I mean, everybody giving away drinks to their friends, overpouring like crazy, making themselves drinks, giving away food, taking food home, no standards if he's your buddy. You cut the steak thick. If he's not your buddy, you cut it thin. I mean, there were no standards, no rules. It was a complete flea-for-all. And I learned that a young age, when I worked at the Troubadour, I was an legendary facility when it came to music, but I was in the worst run bar in America. There was no question about it. Nobody could survive with the set of rules or lack of them, as the Troubadour had. So I walked away from the Troubadour experience with a very powerful knowledge that great places can be poorly run. Great places can close. And I learned how type the margins are in a bar business, which is 12%.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Wasn't there. So it was a real battle running to Troubadour. It turned into a system whereby I took the money home with me every night and then came back in the morning with it so I could buy liquor and such. But here's a funny story. When I took over the Troubadour, we had about two inches of water in the kitchen, a flood. And the Troubadour did not have the money to fix it. It was struggling at the time. So we put together the Troubadour's 25th anniversary event for a month. Everybody came back, Barry, Linda, Ronstadt, Elton John, Jackson Brown, even bands like The Knack, they all came back. We made a fortune that month and were able to fix the floor and the Troubadour survived.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, a number of things. First of all, there were no rules in the Troubador, and everybody who worked there was a musician. I mean, that's just the way it evolved. If you were a musician and you needed a job, you worked at the Troubuter. People would take a side at least, throw it in the back of their car, and take it home, Barry. I mean, people would take full bottles of liquor home. There were no controls whatsoever. And the half of beef that they took home, the other half of it they ate while they were working that day. So there were no controls. The club had no money and there was a floor safe in the kitchen. And at the end of the night, we put the few hundred dollars we made in the floor safe. And in the morning, I had to come in as the manager empty the force safe and use that money to buy liquor that morning because we were on COD. We had no accounts anywhere. And in those days, the owner used to engage in recreational activities, and he would go in there at four in the morning and take the money out of the safe. So I would come in at 8.30 in the morning, hoping that money was there so I could pay for liquid delivery in a”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was an incredible thing. Doug Weston, who founded and ran a Troubadour, would get these real tapes back in those days. And he would listen to these tapes. There were no videos. He would listen to these tapes and pick the bands that he would book in a Troubadour. All of those bands you mentioned played there when they weren't famous. That's the amazing thing of it. Doug's ear reacted to them and he saw potential. So they came and played an Itur. So I wasn't watching Stars per se. I didn't know it. They were going to be superstars, in some cases megastars. So to me, it wasn't as much about the star as it was the music. And when Elton would play or these people would play and they'd get off the stage, you were overwhelmed by the performance in the music. And you would say to yourself, this person's going to be a star. And the Troubadour, you got to see many of them learn your chops and become stars.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think Wilde is a good word. This was a very different time in our society. It was pre AIDS. So the sexual revolution was still going on in those days. There was no gang activity, no threat of violence. So it was a very different time, I hate to sound like a hippie and say love and peace, but it was sort of a little bit of love and peace back then. People didn't fear each other. They were quicker to get intimate with each other. And music was exploding then. All different types of music were exploding on the scene. And the Troubadour was sort of the center of it in Hollywood.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I am. But there's something to be said in this. There isn't any one person in the world who can tell you you can or cannot do something. And there shouldn't be a group of people in the world that tell you you can or cannot do something. When they walked out, when I walked off to Paramount Library, because of that meeting, it became important to me. It was an idea on the way in. But when he said no, it became a vendetta on the way out. And I thank him for that meeting.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You will never blanking be on television. You're too old. You're not good looking enough. It'll never happen. So I drive out of the Paramount Gates, a little disappointed, and I say, you know what? I'm going to do this myself. So when I shot my own sizzle reel, which is sort of a three-minute version of the show. That sizzle reel to four different production companies in Hollywood. Unbelievably, I got four offers from four. And one of them was at the television convention in France. They called me from France and said, no side with anyone till we come back. So now I have a deals on the table. So I look at the four production companies.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's what I thought. So I go to Paramount, and years earlier, I had done a project for Paramount with Bubba Gump Shrim Company, and I had worked on a restaurant concept, so I knew the president of Paramount. So I take my write up on the rocks to my friend at Paramount. He reads it, and I won't repeat his language, Barry. But he said to me, John,”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I wanted to pick experts. Remember, admission impossible, they picked the experts out of the file at the beginning of every episode. And there could be different experts for different episodes. Well, that was the model I wanted to use. So I created bar rescue, wrote it up on a piece of paper, and it was originally called On the Rocks. And you like this story, Barr. So I take the way that's a fact.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, bar rescue is interesting, Barrett. In all my hotel work over the years, I became a public speaker. And I spoke at all sorts of hospitality and industry events or all of it, the country. 30, 40 speeches a year to many companies. And many of those speeches were the brand conferences for companies like Marriott, Holiday Inn back then, Hilton. And when I would go give a keynote speech at a brand conference, one day somebody came up to me at one of those speeches and said, John, you should be on television. So Gordon Ramsey was on TV at the time. This is about 10 years ago, 11 years ago. He had his show kitchen nightmares. So I sat out and I put together my own concept, Barry. It was a cross between kitchen nightmares and mission impossible.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, it becomes what I call the dreaded special occasion syndrome. You'll go there on your anniversary, Barry. You might go there on your wife's birthday, but you're not going there more often than that. And when hotels would drop restaurants on the top floors, they inherently became that special occasion syndrome, which knocked off all frequency and destroyed their potential day to day. So none of them were ever really successful, with very few exceptions.”
2020-05-22 · Masters in Business · Jon Taffer on Bars, Restaurants and Hotels on Lockdown (Podcast) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source