In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Country Nights in San Antonio, Texas.
Country Nights is owned by Dalia DeMoore, who opened the bar in 2015.
This bar is the seventh bar she has opened in 15 years.
A millionaire bought her first bar for her but as the relationship ended, she was pushed out of the bar.
She continued pursuing bar ownership and began purchasing her own bars.
She is $144,000 in debt so leased out part of her building to a BBQ spot that closes at 9pm.
Dalia is 52 and still parties hard at her ba.
Crystal her daughter who also works at the bar is embarrassed by her behaviour.
Bartender Melissa is just as lively as Dalia and they encourage each other’s excesses.
Dalia allows staff to drink at the bar and Melissa does so happily without paying.
Jon recons the bar with expert bartender Mia Mastroianni.
They observe the bar sign outside is broken with only ‘nights’ visible and they are not optimistic of the interior.
They get to see Dalia, Crystal and Melissa on the monitor.
Ed is a barback and Kara is a bartender.
They see Dalia place a bet with a customer which she loses so she buys the whole bar a round of drinks.
Jon and Mia are frustrated because the customers were already drinking and she was giving away money she doesn’t have.
They see Melissa is drunk and has an attitude issue.
She insists on a break on her second hour instead of every 4 hours.
Dalia is drunk and twerking.
She gives out $5 shot specials from her chest after she sees Melissa give a body shot to a customer.
There are no takers and Jon goes into the bar and it takes a while for Dalia to realise he is there.
He calls her out on her freakshow but she starts talking about her body which is embarrassing.
Jon manages to get some financial information out of her and how she is close to ruin.
She isn’t taking it seriously and offers Jon a drink with her.
Jon walks away but Dalia chases after him and calls him back.
He makes her admit she needs help and says he will help if she stops making everything about her chest.
After he leaves, she flashes her chest again and gets into an argument with her daughter and Melissa.
He sees her on camera in his SUV, gets angry at her turn around and goes back in to confront her again.
She refuses to listen and makes empty promises.
Crystal is charged with talking to her mother and letting Jon know the next day if Dalia is ready.
Dalia is sober the next day when Crystal makes the call.
Jon agrees to come over.
Melissa is also present but its 2pm and she is having her first drink of the day.
Jon meets with the staff and finds out about Dalia’s struggles.
He then faces Melissa and runs through her sloppy behaviour the night before.
They talk about how she is stealing from the bar with all the drinks she consumes.
Jon reprimands Dalia for allowing Melissa take a drink.
He tells her that she needs to be her boss and not her friend.
Jon introduces Mia and Kevin Bludso, a BBQ expert.
The training begins and Mia takes the bartenders through making a Texas tea.
They also have a challenge - they are to make drinks while wearing googles that imitate drunkenness.
They fail the challenge spectacularly and are made to clean the bar before the stress test.
Kevin meets with the cook at the BBQ place and they go through smoked pork tacos.
For the stress test, Dalia says they are not ready yet but they have to open the doors.
Melissa starts making mistakes, overpouring drinks and they have to be dumped.
She seems to be doing everything wrong.
The food is coming out quickly and the kitchen is doing well.
Dalia is running around looking to break a $10 bill and Jon suspects they don’t have enough cash to operate.
He gives a customer a $100 bill for one cocktail as a test.
Dalia runs next door to make change and Jon checks their till and sees $102.
Jon shuts the bar down because without change they can’t run the business effectively.
Dalia comes back with a Slurpee to see the bar shutdown.
Jon shames her in front of everyone for going to purchase a Slurpee.
Dalia gets upset and for the first time shows remorse and concern for her business and her staff.
Melissa confronts her and wants to get paid for her work that night.
She manages to wrangle some change leaving Crystal, who has a babysitter at home, without pay.
She leaves the other staff to do the cleaning.
Mia trains the staff the next day on making a BBQ based cocktail and Melissa is noticeably absent.
Jon sits down with Dalia and Crystal.
He tells Dalia that her staff don’t respect her and she needs to make a change.
They all agree Melissa needs to go.
Melissa is invited to the meeting and she is fired.
She gets emotional tries to beg for her job back but storms off in tears.
Jon’s team work all day and night and soon it’s time for the relaunch.
The new bar is revealed and it has a new name, Madam Dalia’s Country Bar.
The brand is to capture her essence and fun personality.
Inside the bar has been made to look more country styled with warmer tones and lots of branding.
The POS system connects to the kitchen and there are three Harbour Touch POS systems.
East Coast Chair and Barstool provided new furnishings.
They have lifetime subscriptions to TVT for training and Bevinco for inventory.
They open the doors and customers come in.
On relaunch, the bar is doing great in their new uniforms.
The kitchen is serving great food and customers are enjoying it.
There has been a major turnaround and the night is a success.
What Happened Next at Country Nights / Madam Dalia’s?
Six weeks later, it is revealed sales have gone up.
Dalia doesn’t know by how much they have improved.
Melissa never came back to work at the bar.
Dalia has kept the name to some degree but the bar sometimes still goes as Country Nights .
Dalia’s Country Bar / Country Nights is open.
She appears to have removed the Madame as it made the bar sound like a brothel.
Reviews are mostly positive with praise for the bartenders and drinks prices.
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Next episode - RJ'S Replay / Frozen Cactus
This post was last updated in June 2021.
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