Bar 44 / Apex Social - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Bar 44 in Marietta, Georgia.

Bar 44 is owned by Alade Aminu.

Alade is a former athlete; he was previously a professional basketball player.

He has played professionally for teams around the world.

Alade purchased the bar when he returned to his hometown.

He had no experience in the industry and decided to bring in a partner.

Gary Ellis was brought in due to his experience, and he was promised sweat equity.

If the bar was successful, he would take on some shared ownership of the bar.

Unfortunately, the bar has not been as successful as the pair had hoped.

Gary blames the young staff for the failure of the bar.

The staff blames his lack of management skills as a big part of the problem.

Alade is now in over $1 million of debt, and they are losing $15,000 a month.

It appears that Jon and Alade are the spies for the recon?

Their ordered drinks arrive, and Jon asks Armani if the drinks are consistent.

She says that she can already see that mistakes have been made on his drink.

Jon asks Gary to join them and calls him out on the bartenders not following the recipes.

Gary says that he is a partner in the place, but Jon says that he is not.

He has no ownership at all, and Alade is financing the place.

Gary admits that he has not improved but is trying.

The food arrives, the jerk chicken fries look good, but Jon is given plastic cutlery rather than silverware.

Jon calls Gary out on how lazy it is and the poor impression that it gives.

The next morning, Jon meets with Alade, and he makes references to big brands like Amazon.

Jon says he is in denial about his strategy, especially as he has admitted he would have to close in 4 months.

During the stress test, the expert questions why the chicken isn't pre-prepared before the service to save time.

Multiple orders come through at once, but the cooks are still having to prep.

They are partially completing orders, and there is a lot of wasted movement.

There is no chicken or tortillas on the grill, despite orders waiting.

The bartenders are struggling to make the drinks and are not working the bar correctly.

Many drinks are dumped.

The next day, Jon meets the owners, and he says that he likes them but feels like they are in a fantasy land.

He thinks that they think the business is a brand and operating well, but Jon doesn't think they are as great as they think.

Jon introduces himself to the staff and talks to them about business at the bar.

Bartender Armani tells him that Saturday is their busiest night.

Jon believes that they have lost 60% of their Saturday business, and she confirms this.

Jon compares the bar to an empty basketball arena and questions the brand.

He reveals that he had googled him, and he doesn't feature in the top athletes from Georgia.

Jon basically makes it clear that, as far as he is concerned, Alade is not a brand and no one has heard of him.

(I think that is a bit unfair, as he does have a heavy online presence for his basketball career)

He says that the number 44 is irrelevant and they have lost $1.5million over three years.

Jon reveals the Partender report results, which reveal they have poured more than they sold.

They poured $8150 and sold $6750 worth of liquor in three days.

This is a loss of over $92,000 a year.

Their food costs at 50%, and they are barely making money on the food.

Jon says that anyone else would have fired Gary years ago.

He calls Gary one of the worst managers he has ever met.

Gary tells him that he is wrong; he knows the correct figures, so Jon says he is full of it.

He gets defensive, and Jon continues that he is all talk.

Jon tells Gary to admit the failures so they can move forward.

Alade vouches for him, and Jon calls him an idiot for standing up for the huge loss.

Jon says that he is going to change the brand, and if Alade wants to keep the brand, he will leave.

He says he is leaving the brand in the past and won't put money into something he doesn't believe in.

Alade is reluctant to drop the Bar 44 branding, despite the fact that it is failing.

Jon also wants Gary to admit he has failed too, and he is still defensive and failing to take ownership of the failure of the bar.

Eventually, he admits he has caused the failures at the bar.

The bar has been renamed to Apex Social, with new exterior signage.

At the time of writing, the episode is not available on demand, so I have been unable to do a full recap.

What Happened Next at Bar 44?

Bar 44 is open.

The bar was renamed to Apex Social during the rescue.

Unsurprisingly, they did not keep the new name.

Reviews are positive with praise for the food (it didn't look too bad during the rescue).

There are several fake reviews based on the episode, particularly the owner/manager, rather than genuine visits.

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