Sunday, March 16, 2014

Bar Rescue - Johnson County Line (KC's Bar) Update

On tonight's episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer and crew are in Merriam, Kansas to try to rescue KC's Neighborhood Bar & Grill.  KC's has drunk owners, bartenders who do not care, and a raccoon that makes an appearance in the bar.  During the Bar Rescue makeover, KC's Neighborhood Bar & Grill  was renamed Johnson County Line Bar, which is the county in Kansas the bar resides in.  That name did not stick long, as they still go by KC's bar.

Let's take a look at some information, reviews, and updates of KC's Bar since Bar Rescue came and made all of the changes to the bar.


Reviews:
There have not been any reviews of KC's bar since Bar Rescue did the makeover, but there is plenty of info below.

Other News and Links:
Photo - Facebook
  • KC's is a membership only bar that allows smoking inside of the bar.  Here is their website, and the membership is only $10 per year (membership info).  That is the lowest allowable membership fee by law, and here are the membership terms.
  • Here are 2 video previews of the episode that show a raccoon in the bar and someone chewing a mozzarella stick for supposedly a minute.  I highly doubt she chewed that bite for a minute straight.
  • Here is the KC's Bar Facebook page and the Bar Rescue makeover happened in October.  
  • During the Bar Rescue makeover, the show made them enforce a dress code of no hats, no jeans, no cutoffs, no colors.  This angered many of the regulars and they all hated the new name and feel of the place.  Here are 145 comments worth of people complaining on their Facebook page, and here are another 69 comments complaining about the no jeans.
  • In those comments, bartenders respond to some of the comments and pretty much say that they had no control over anything and that it would be back to the normal KC's soon.  It seems like the new name Johnson County Line bar was changed back to KC's bar pretty much after Bar Rescue left.
  • Here are some photos (one is to the right) from June 2013 of bartenders and patrons at KC's Bar holding a friendly raccoon in the bar.  Perhaps someone has a pet raccoon and the footage was a setup?  Or maybe they have just had a raccoon problem for a while.  
  • Here are the Facebook pages of the owner Bill, and the bartender Shawna.  From them, a picture from the makeover with Jon Taffer and others in raccoon hats:

Conclusion:

It sounds like the owners and regulars at KC's bar did not like the drastic makeover done by Bar Rescue and have gone back to the old name.  They are still a membership only bar that allows smoking.

It also sounds like there was some manufactured drama as is usually the case with reality TV.  This season may be more about Jon Taffer sound bites and other ridiculousness rather than the saving the bars.


*To see how all of the bars from Bar Rescue are doing, go to the Bar Rescue Update page, and also Like us on Facebook or Follow Us on Twitter to stay up to date with all things involving Bar Rescue.  

110 comments:

  1. I feel significantly stupider after reading those Facebook comments. Jesus christ my brain hurts.

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  2. Looks like they could use a good dose of the "All In" guy...

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  3. What exactly happened with the former manager's debt obligation? I kind of missed that.

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  4. best thing Liz did was leave

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  5. It was never even a legitimate contract

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  6. Those threads are both gone now. The comments on the tweets make it seem like the somebody else is handling the page now. Good thing they took them down, because they made the "loyal regulars" look like overgrown assholes. What self-respecting adult complains about not getting to wear jeans?

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  7. So the contract was not legitimate just like the stocks weren't legitimate? I hope this was a good, albeit expensive, business lesson for her.

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  8. Agreed. Hopefully she's doing well at her new bar; she was pretty cute. :p

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  9. The debt obligation was torn up by the owner. They edited that part out.

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  10. Biff SchmuckatelliMarch 17, 2014 at 1:52 AM

    the whole partnership/debt obligation doesn't pass the smell test. If there was really a dispute, it would have gotten ugly over 50k or more. I think what happened was that the old guy told the lady that if she hung around, the bar would be hers one day as a ploy to shape up his son. If there was a real dispute, it would be in court as people don't nonchalantly forget about 50k of debt.

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  11. Something was weird about this episode with regards to the ownership, management and succession plan. I'd like to know what really happened.

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  12. Bill the father and Ryan the son are a scum bags I hope they burns in hell. They wanted her to stay to rake her over the coals. Pay for the Bar and on top of all that pay for Bill to retire. Meanwhile Bill was taking her to the cleaners night after night so the bar wouldn't make any money because he was having everyone drinking over poured drinks and not having new members. Bill himself said that he didn't want to have his sons own the bar but then again when Jon came in and smelled through their B.S now it's okay for his sons to own and run the bar. B.S

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  13. No, they're both pretty honest dudes. Liz had the choice to stay and really make the business work but she told the entire bar on camera she didn't want to work that hard. She want to stay at home having babies on somebody else's money. Running a business doesn't work that way and Liz is the reason this show had to be brought in. I don't know how she lives with herself but I bet she laughed all the way to the bank since she was paying herself even though the other people weren't getting paid. Not everyone gets to rip off their boss and walk away free. If I were Bill I would of sued her.

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  14. they filmed him tearing up the contract he signed with her and john gaffer telling him to make her pay up but bill said no ryan is a friend of mine and he makes close to 80 grand a year in sales his big brother does even better but bill doesn't want to give them the bar because they would have to take a cut in pay to manage it he's does have another son but he's a kid like 9 years old. i know ryan has a twin sister who lives somewhere else but i dont know why she's not in the picture

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  15. What an a**hole, Alaina.
    Her comment was she didn't want to obligate to herself to the current worth of the bar, which Bill had run down it to at this point.
    Where the F go YOU get off on that "have babies on somebody else's money"
    If she only had 48 bucks in savings, she's hardly laughing all the way to bank.
    There was someone underhanded going on there what with the son's involvement and the super fast clean up of the dad.
    Liz was getting hustled.

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  16. To me, the biggest shock of this episode was that the part owner, the one who called Bar Rescue and the only one we saw actually putting in an effort got booted from the picture altogether but Taffer still went through with the remodel. WTF?!?


    OK, we have a guy who has an asset. He agrees to sell this asset to his daughter. She spends the next 7 years trying to make this asset pay enough to complete the purchase while he sits there and causes it to deteriorate to worthlessness. Now they discover that the sales agreement was not legal and needs to be redone and the owner wants his daughter to agree to the original terms they set out for an asset that actually was worth something. She chooses to walk and Taffer decides that it's OK that the person who called him in got screwed over and that it makes sense to then drop however many tens of thousands of dollars they spent on a remodel for a guy who deliberately screwed over his daughter. That's just damned disappointing.


    The other thing that disappointed about this episode is that Taffer is usually pretty good at seeing the difference between a dive bar and a fru-fru club (though he does seem to want to push nothing but top shelf liquor wherever he goes). In this case, the crowd in the bar was obviously blue collar (so blue collar that coons in the ceiling weren't that big a deal to them) and he thinks the makeover that makes sense is smoking jackets and pure pretentiousness. While that direction could end up being more profitable, it's no longer the dive it was. It's spirit is gone.


    Yeah, this show is always the same thing over and over (learn to clean, learn to cook, learn to make drinks), this episode felt like he walked into "Bob's burger shack" and renovated it into "Madame Agatha's Tea and Scones".

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  17. '...In those comments, bartenders respond to some of the comments and pretty much say that they had no control over anything and that it would be back to the normal KC's soon'......so back to normal means losing money, over-pouring so folks are sure to be hammered before they drive off for home, and raccoon crap everywhere.......yeah nothing spells success like that!

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  18. Liz wasn't his daughter.

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  19. Alaina, you're an idiot. Since you don't work for the bar how do you know what she told them. Plus she is not on anyone's dime but her own. The statements you just made make you sound like an ignorant bitch.

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  20. Seeing as I work there and you don't, stop spouting off at the mouth. You're making yourself sound stupid.

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  21. Nothing in this episode made any logical sense. Bar Rescue has shown its true face as a dumb TV show for dumb people.

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  22. They were far from honest guys. They knew exactly what they were doing pulling a con for 50k. A couple of real winners

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  23. Kudos Alaina. I have been a patron for years and watched it all. I don't know who these other people are, but I do know how things shook out. I was there for most of the filming and was around when all of the "renovations" were going on before Bar Rescue got there. It was a sinking ship for many of the reasons you mentioned. I am disappointed Brian that you would be so quick to call out someone for offering insight. Was it presumptuous, perhaps. However, based on my more than 10 years around KC's......many of these things albeit pointed, are accurate statements.

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  24. best thing for both sides

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  25. You work there and you are defending someone who ripped your boss off? If I were Bill, I wouldn't employ you much longer. You don't know who I am so really it is who is making himself look stupid with your assumptions.

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  26. I was there when the filming happened, so don't tell me what I do and don't know. Liz is a lazy ungrateful brat who wanted KC to pay her to keep having kids while she drove the bar into the ground. She always hated Ryan because he saw her for what she was. I don't even think you are who you say you are. I bet you're actually Liz or Gaylan. Nice job on not paying the vendors for months at a time. Best thing you ever did was open your mouth and say you don't want to work that hard. Bar Rescue is fake but they told the truth about you.

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  27. Bill had not even been involved in the bar for over three years. You must of missed that part of the show? The bar was doing well when Bill and Liz made that contract. She stopped paying vendors even though she never went without a check even while she wasn't paying Bill. The 48 bucks in her savings just shows how much she screwed everything up. Bar had a record year and then after three years of her 'management' she has to bring in Bar Rescue. They told a lot of lies but they were truthful about what a piece of crap Liz is. Liz had it out for Ryan because Ryan tried to talk Bill out of selling the bar to her before it even happened and he was right to do so. liz was doing the hustling and she is lucky bill didn't sue her. I would of.

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  28. NO control meaning that how many people they only allowed 30 in for filming when Taffer was going to appear also dress code for relaunch while filming. Would've been stupid of them to keep JCL as their name considering they are on the line of Wyandotte and Johnson County. The business is booming better than ever not cause of Bar Rescue but because the staff and under new management ( not his son). It's really stupid for u to thInk that raccoon shit would be all over the bars floor.

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  29. What do you mean Bill wasn't involved? He stayed in the bar and drank the business away! he forced bartenders to over-pour and created an atmosphere of who gives a crap so that Liz couldn't get anything done. He overcharged her for that piece of crap business from day 1 and, as a result, it put everyone in a financial bind. She paid Bill over $120,000 over the 3 years she was "part owner" and, in the end, Bill hadn't honored any part of the agreement. He ran the bar into the ground and then wanted her to cover the financial hell-hole he helped to create. She went from bartender to "owner" overnight after Bill's heart attack and when he showed back up, he turned the bar into a party house where everyone gets wasted. She was only a 10% owner so what real power did she have?

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  30. It's funny that everyone has an opinion, it's exactly that, your opinion ... the only people that really know what what happened is Bill and Elizabeth, sorry to see things happen the way they did .... alot of good people walked out that door and haven't come back!!!

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  31. Bill was the drunk sitting there at the opening.
    According to the story, and the video, he's there most nights drinking, pushing over pours by his bartenders and generally drive the down the bars values.
    Re-watch the show.

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  32. Very little about reality TV is actually real. As someone who knows all parties involved, I can tell you that what was portrayed wasn't accurate. Liz absolutely did NOT pay him over $120,000. Bill is a good guy, as is Ryan. They would give you the last shirt off their back if you needed it. Was the bar worth $300,000. No. And Bill admits that in one of the "extra" videos on the official bar rescue site. But he also explains why he was charging her that much. She made no down payment, had a very low interest rate, was basically given a "loan" that she wouldn't have been able to get from a bank, etc. I like Liz and I like Bill. I'm not saying that it was the right decision for Liz to buy the bar. But shame on her if she didn't do the math before she signed up for the deal. A quick Google search for an online calculator could have told her what she would pay in total.

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  33. Because turning over management from someone who appeared to have respect of her employees to someone who was a part-time employee is a good idea.

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  34. If his son isn't running it, who is?

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  35. FYI, I don't hate anybody. I will always remember the great people I met and everything I learned. I walked away for a lot of reasons. I knew how much Bill wanted for the place and I can count. The money didn't scare me other parts of the contract did. I had been an idiot for too long about the money part, and it was my chance to get out. So I did. It was a business decision, for my part Ive moved on. I am happy with where I am now and they are happy with me.

    Yelena, not very many people were in that room, if you are indeed one of them, or closely affiliated, you could get someone in a lot of trouble if you keep up the libel. I dont understand why you are so upset with me but I would appreciate it if you wouldnt attack my family. Also, I think you owe Bucky an apology.

    All I can really say is that during my time there I was met with challenges I was not experienced to handle. Sometimes I rose up to meet them sometimes I fell flat. I always did what I thought was best. Can anyone reading this post say anything different?

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  36. Bill tearing up the $50,000 promissory note? They showed that.

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  37. To give the bar a Johnson County name when it is on border with Wyandotte just tells me Taffer doesn't understand our area & was mesmerized by the idea of getting a bunch of high income JoCo people in the door who would never do so in a million years. Not to mention the bizarre, out of place concept the show put in place

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  38. I would suggest for Liz to sue John taffer for talking her out of buying the bar...becouse he knew they would put in over 100 thousand dollars into remodeling, training and marketing...she was actually getting a steal for that price. He had No right stealing her kids futer away by not giving her proper consultation...Very Dissapointed in Taffer

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  39. Kudos for walking away from what was a bad situation for you Liz. BTW, I wouldn't worry too much what anonymous posters on a website say. Better to ignore trolls than to feed them!

    I'm curious as to what you thought of your overall experience with the show, and what you thought of Mr. Taffer.

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  40. You should really consider suing Jon Taffer and the show becouse they misguided you...they should of explain that they were still going through with the renovation...that means All you had to do was wait a month to see if the money would start rolling in AFTER the 100k + renovation, training, and multi million dollar FREE TV MARKETING ...I feel bad that you got ripped off and Jon Taffer talked you out of by scaring you with the numbers...you were actually getting a Steal of a Deal...but they stole the future for your kids right underneath your feet...very disappointed with Taffer

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  41. John, I'm sure there were much more to the negotiations than what we saw on the show.

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  42. It was a made for TV reality show. Every part of the episode was edited. I've watched this episode a few times and if you pay attention every conversation is pieced together. One shot someone is sitting in one spot then the next shot everyone is moved around then the next they are in their original place. You can't believe any part of the show. It is however Bar Rescue wanted it to be.

    The bar had raccoons in the ceiling. But during the filming one did not run across the bar when customers were there. They trapped it and let it run loose and recorded it. The shots of everyone turning their heads were actually them looking to see Taffer walk in. The poop was planted.

    Just about every scene had to be recorded several times. Almost every reaction wasn't real cause it had to be done multiple times....If you didn't act happy. Taffer yelled at you to "act happy".

    The hidden cameras were big and in plain sight. People were told to get the bartenders shots. Employees who were off duty and getting drinks bought for them were told by the show to go behind the bar and work. The employees had to wear the same clothes for two days in a row so the filming would edit to look like one night. During interviews if the show didn't like your answers you were coached to "say it more like this...." The training the staff received was a whole 3 hours long. The stress test is always set up for the staff to fail. During the almost a week long filming process the staff was forced to sit for hours inside a van until they were needed in a scene. Production staff were like babysitters watching to make sure they didnt stray too far away from the van or talk to the public about the show. The two month updates were actually filmed two days after the show but didn't make the editing. Instead they just typed the updates. Ryan is not on the road to be the manager...and yes membership is up. But what the show neglected to say was that the name was changed back the next day. Most of the makeover was just for the camera. Lots of things didn't get fixed that should have. All the bar chairs within 2 months were broken. Half of the fake marble top tables have had to be repaired. The bar top actually is lower quality than what the bar originally had. Nothing significant was done to the kitchen. Besides the bar back, turbo taps and a used Craigslist freezer nothing really was done to optimize productivity behind the bar. When the filming was over and the production crew was gone. The bar and kitchen were left not completed and a complete mess. A mess the staff had to clean up after a long shiftless tipless week.

    My point to all this is: Unless you were there, you don't really know what actually happened. I was there and I don't even know what exactly occurred because I wasn't in some of those private tapings. But what I can say is you can't watch the show and believe that is what truly happened. And it's really unfair to post mean hateful judgmental small minded comments about any of the staff members. Doesn't anyone practice the golden rule anymore???

    The Bar is doing great. It had a record month last month. And it was accomplished because of its staff (management, bartenders and new kitchen staff) Not because of Bar Rescue. Not because of a new name or a cosmetic makeover.

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  43. 100k renovation????? Lmao. That's funny

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  44. highlandcrestforlifeyoMarch 19, 2014 at 9:28 AM

    Best thing about any of this was during the rescue when me and the other 9 people in highland crest who can read were laughing our asses off reading the butt hurt regulars Facebook comments. That shit was priceless!!!!

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  45. Oh gawd, you weren't one of those old hippies making out at the bar, I hope. Gross.

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  46. That was interesting. I have to wonder if she wasn't prepared for bar ownership.

    Also, she may not have been able to maintain the changes being only a ten percent owner.

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  47. Liz, as an objective viewer of the show (no relationship to the business at all), I'd like you to know that you were the only one in that partnership that my husband and I were rooting for. Good for you for moving on!

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  48. Hard to make money in a bar with the staff and owner's drinking the profits.

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  49. You have a good point and you made me laugh, but remember:

    The bar is the ONLY smoking bar in a county with an average income of around $75000. If they upgraded from a dive bar, they very likely could make much more money.

    If nothing else, the health concerns in that bar were literally life-threatening.

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  50. The best thing about this episode was seeing them install a smoke eater.

    Reality hype aside, that bar was quite toxic in several ways. For your child's sake[your health] Liz, I'm glad you got out of there.

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  51. Ummm....it's stupid to call it JCL because it's on the JCL? wow

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  52. Biff SchmuckatelliMarch 19, 2014 at 1:08 PM

    thanks for the info, I appreciate it. Perhaps since you seem to be in the know - Was Bill using the lady Liz in the sense that he promised her the bar to get her to work for nothing. Or was he infatuated with her and was helping finance her. It still doesn't make much sense. I mean the part about the lady and bill.

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  53. Hell NO!No one can say honestly anything different.You talked about the great people you met,well as a customer you was one of the great people I met.glad you are happy with your decision.You are missed by many.

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  54. Those "hippies" you are referring to are fantastic people who spend a substantial amount of money at the bar. I'm sure they would rather be a "hippie" than a judgmental person like yourself.

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  55. Wow - you misunderstand. I'm not disparaging hippies. I'm just disparaging their PDA. Really, it was gross. She opened her mouth like a cobra about to swallow a piglet.

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  56. Alaina, you're an idiot. What a show were you watching? You sound like a friend of that scumbag owner taking his side when he was obviously trying to rip Liz off because of her age, inexperience and ignorance in business dealings. I felt bad for the son having a sheisty, white trash crook for a father but it looks like he takes after his Dad and is the same way. I wish Jon Taffer said forget it and left them hanging with their white trash dump of a club.

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  57. Bill was the one doing the "hustling" moron.

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  58. You are a brain-dead Piece of shit you know that?

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  59. Please stop talking you brain-dead moron, you obviously have no clue what the hell you're talking about.

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  60. Why are you calling everyone names? Is that really necessary? ....you are making yourself sound ignorant.

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  61. Matt,

    I think you summed up this episode very nicely in your final paragraph, "This season may be more about Jon Taffer sound
    bites and other ridiculousness rather than the saving the bars."

    This episode was so bad in so many ways, from a production standpoint, I am strongly tempted to stop watching Bar Rescue. As I and many others have said, we want Bar Rescue to return to the days of being about bar science instead of this fake drama.

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  62. +1 to that. I'm glad Liz got out of that ripoff deal. I really was rooting for Bill and his bar to go down in flames - whatta ripoff of that single mom. I hope she finds something that'll do her better.

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  63. Thank you for your comment. I was a bit puzzled by the timing of your decision, as unlike most episodes of this or similar shows where somebody is trying to leave there had been no set-up. It makes sense that you looked at the big picture, recognized you had another option, and made the best choice for yourself.

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  64. If the deal Liz had were as good as some here suggest, it doesn't seem likely that the owner and his son (who by all appearnces wanted the bar) would have been pressuring her to stick with the agreement.

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  65. Getting to the raccoons for a minute, since you work at the bar can you tell us the history there? You suggest that the raccoons are wild and infest the roof, but above we see pictures of patrons handling a raccoon like a pet. What's the full story?

    Complaints about the state of the bar, or the state of the (unused) kitchen after the show's departure seem best addressed to bar management. When you get the type of publicity boost offered by a show like Bar Rescue, you need to show the competence necessary to take full advantage of the resulting boost in business. If you can't figure out how to get a recipe, where to buy food, or that you should hire a cook, the problem isn't that Bar Rescue gave you a free used freezer instead of a free new freezer.

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  66. Maybe they could have a new show called "Bar Rescue Rescue" and have a reality TV expert pop into the show about half-way through and explain the science of getting renewed for another season? ;-)

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  67. That's not credible. If you want to buttress your credibility, I suggest toning down the vitriol and posting under your real name.

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  68. Liz stopped by and explained her departure, above. There's somebody with an axe to grind against Liz who is posting here under several names, and I've reached the point that I don't view anything that person says as credible.

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  69. No One of the Crew, I actually was in the other day and re newed my membership, TY

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  70. You and Alaina "must of" missed the part of 9th grade English class where they taught word choice and how retarded phrases like "must of" and "would of" make no sense. Clearly you don't read much (although you do seem to shit a lot on your keyboard).

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  71. For all we know, your name is Bill or Ryan. So anonymous comments on a blog don't really do much to negate what we saw on the show.

    I'm NOT claiming that the show was entirely accurate, but what I am claiming is that there seemed to be some massive issues with the bar caused by the way that Bill was operating the business and Liz didn't even have a valid share certificate to show for her debt owed.

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  72. Why are there so many idiots posting comments on this blog? Seems like someone that appeared on the show is butt-hurt or something and posting nonsense. If you think that Bar Rescue put in anywhere near $100k, let alone more, then you're a moron.

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  73. There is not a single reality show on air that is not contrived in some fashion to produce drama. Without conflict, there is no drama, and people will not watch it.

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  74. I don't know where Jon got his legal education or dug up that shyster lawyer but in Kansas oral agreements are binding after 5 years.
    And why was the son in the meeting since he had no financial or legal interest on the agreement but he seemed to be very prepared. I think that there was off camera discussion with Jon and these guys to screw her out of the deal.
    If the son is such a standup guy why did he sit on butt while his father drank himself to death, I agree with the others that the father had a big part of driving this bar under; she should have sued him for defrauding her by willfully devaluing the business.
    This deal did not smell right.

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  75. You were there for the filming so that made you an expert on the history of the bar? And Ryan showed he was and a** for letting his father keep drinking himself under the table.

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  76. Jon has stated many times that he does not interact with the staff when there is no camera present. If any of that happened, it is on tape somewhere at SpikeTV, just not on the show.

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  77. "Jon said he doesn't interact with the staff when there is no camera present"
    I am sure that is true as a general statement but the whole episode where she was waylaid by the lawyer Bill and his worthless son seemed to contrived. And as I said earlier Jon's assertion that the agreement was worthless is not true. There was an agreement and I am sure that the rest of the bar staff was aware and would testify to it.

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  78. You must be Bill's son's wife.

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  79. There's no big mystery. Liz posted her reasons for leaving, and her lack of regret about leaving, in the comments below.

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  80. This highlights a growing problem for me with this show... It seems the producers are hell-bent on finding the shittiest bar owners ALIVE. The majority of episodes are just rife with scumbags who deserve to fail. I'm not asking for sappy bullshit either. (Another recurring theme, for another thread) The episodes that find the middle-ground are the most enjoyable. People who get shit-on by useless owners, who then get pushed out, so people who care, (sometimes equally guilty, but shit gets real when they realize they'll cash-in after remodel) can actually make a living. When it's obviously just ignorant, drunken owners going with the flow, or fighting every step of the way, (only to reluctantly agree after they remember they told us 20 minutes ago, they are going out-of-fucking business), so they can fuck up their brand-spainkin' new bar, it just leaves me hollowed out.

    But I probably would gave gotten the fuck out just like she did. Don't deal with people you know to be liars.

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  81. I wish the armchair quarterbacks that watch the show and think they know the ins and outs of what was happening would just sit back, shut up and enjoy the show as an entertainment medium.

    With respect to the purchase price they had originally agreed upon, a lot of restaurant bar owners think their businesses are worth a lot which in reality, have very little resale value. When buying that type of business, the business's value is only really worth the price of its equipment inside, not its projected revenue. That's because there's no guarantee customers will show up ... So I'm not surprised he sold her the bar for that price and she was business stupid for not getting a second, professional opinion agreeing to buy. Live and you learn

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  82. this episode discucted me , not for the dirt or the animals but for a woman that came in and took over the buisness from the family obviously the oldman wants more then money from her , and the son to stay around and work , wow now thats a man

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  83. Photoshopped pictures and a inbred owner.

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  84. This episode was very convoluted and from this thread several "insiders" have chimed in. I watched this one twice and still don't totally get it? It seems that the minority manager had a "agreement" to purchase the place that wasn't completely valid. I understand that laws vary from state to state. I think that there is more to this situation than revealed in the episode?
    As it unfolded it seemed very disingenuous when the majority owner turned around and his son ended up with the place? Many aspects of this episode seemed very contrived; the raccoon, the drunk server, etc... It's getting very repetitive for supposedly being "reality" and non-staged.
    Maybe an epilogue or note about this episode would have been helpful from Jon?

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  85. I just watched this episode, and Liz is a go getter, and very ambitious.. And very cute :-) If liz was givin the right opportunities, worked as hard as she could, I believe she can be a successful woman, and thrive in the bar business,..and she always smiling, so cute !

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  86. VeryFriendly NihilistMay 14, 2014 at 6:06 AM

    There is more to the situation than you realize, but the raccoon was not
    contrived at all. The raccoon was actually the manager's boyfriend.
    He had been trying to wrestle away control of the bar for years. You
    can not make this stuff up. Anyways, the scene was heavily edited but
    the raccoon had a big dispute with the owner which ended with the
    raccoon shitting on the floor. The owner's son then went to the
    raccoon's living quarters upstairs and took a shit on his floor. The
    raccoon then called a pest control company to come in and remove the
    owner's son as well as clean up the droppings. However, the owner then
    turned the table's on the raccoon by offering the pest control company
    some freebies and having them remove the raccoon. Once the raccoon was
    removed his girlfriend felt the bar wasn't worth it anymore so she left
    and is now working at one of the raccoon's other bars in the area.

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  87. VeryFriendly NihilistMay 14, 2014 at 6:08 AM

    The raccoon is the manager's longtime boyfriend/sugar daddy and he owns a lot of bars in the area. He was trying to wrestle control of this bar away from the owner.

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  88. VeryFriendly NihilistMay 14, 2014 at 6:10 AM

    Why in the hell would you expect Taffer to understand your shithole area?

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  89. VeryFriendly NihilistMay 14, 2014 at 6:11 AM

    The raccoon. His name is Kevin. He owns a lot of bars in the area and was able to successfully take control of the bar from the owner. His girlfriend now works at another one of his bars.

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  90. VeryFriendly NihilistMay 14, 2014 at 6:13 AM

    Yeah, she was the girlfriend of the raccoon that was trying to take over the bar but she is in no way related to anyone else.

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  91. VeryFriendly NihilistMay 14, 2014 at 6:14 AM

    Yep, her boyfriend is the raccoon from the show who happens to be a very successful entrepreneur that owns several bars in the area.

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  92. You have to realize that the majority of owners on this show, Restaurant:Impossible and Kitchen Nightmares have no clue what they are doing. Bar owners open bars because they like to drink. Restaurant owners open restaurants because they like to eat. And many do it because they can't hold a job anywhere else because they are narcissistic. The narcissism kills the business because they do what they want, not what the customers want and the business needs. It's not hard to see the owners who agreed to be on the show so they could get a free makeover and promotion.

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  93. VeryFriendly NihilistJune 3, 2014 at 8:13 PM

    Why would you make such a mean-spirited comment?

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  94. Why comment when you have no clue what your talking about.

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  95. Best of luck to you Liz! You belong working in a much nicer establishment than that crappy little redneck shit hole anyway.

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  96. VeryFriendly NihilistJune 5, 2014 at 1:22 AM

    I just noticed that your name is "Hollywood" How coincidental that just happens to be the nickname of the Raccoon in question. You may be a hotshot in real life but you aren't going to stop me from exposing the truth!

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  97. I'd bet the bar Yelena, Alaina, BeenThereDoneThat and a few others are the same person. Why someone would continue to spin the truth on the character of a person after Bill already exposed his true colors for the camera. Not like he didn't know they weren't there. Bill has no integrity. Hopefully Liz is taking this to court to recoup her money. If what Bill gave her to sign wasn't legal they have an oral agreement and she has it him saying on camera. If oral agreements are good enough for the IRS to go after business partners they should be good enough to hold up in court.

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  98. is shawna single? such a cutie!

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  99. No I'm not single, thanks for the compliment :)

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  100. Liz from Johnson County Line Bar, look me up on FB because I think your very pretty and GEORGEOUS.

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  101. John is such an ass and he can't do math. An 1/8 ounce overpour in 1.5 ounces only results in 2.6 ounces out of a on liter bottle NOT four.

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  102. "t also sounds like there was some manufactured drama as is usually the case with reality TV. This season may be more about Jon Taffer sound bites and other ridiculousness rather than the saving the bars."


    YOU ARE 100% CORRECT .... The Show Is A JOKE!

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  103. I live just a couple blocks from this place. Literally, as a kid I'd walk down to the convenience store this bar is abutted to for a candy bar and a fountain drink. It was a Circle K back then, you're probably older than 35 to remember those clearly.


    this bar has always been known as a POS and still is. It used to be also attached to a little Minsky's Pizzy, which is great pizza, but it shared an open door with it, and nobody wanted to go in and get a pizza b/c they'd have to deal with the bar people, owners and customers alike. So that Minsky's is no longer there.


    Also of note is that the convenience store keeps changing ownership, and the ownership has been as bad as the bar since I was a teenager. I'm talking "tobacco pipes" (re: crack pipes) being sold, cheap shitty cigars to go with, various paraphernalia to turn the 'tobacco pipes' into more efficient crack machines, that kind of thing. One time they even sold racist potato chips. I know, how can chips be racist, you ask. The packaging was like a Japanese person watched BET and tried to make a product for what they think black thugs want. "bling," platinum, gold, medallions, characters looked like Flava Flav's shadow. It attracts nothing but assholes.


    Part of these business's problem is their location. On county line between Johnson County, the riches county in the state, and Wyandotte county, which does significantly less well. The residence believe all kinds of shit about each other, lots of tension all the time. Add alcohol, private membership, and you get crappy clientele and owners.


    I guarantee you everything the owners said about their debts and contracts is even smellier than you even suspect.

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  104. The biggest mistake this club made was putting in a buffet. Have you SEEN the size of those corn fed heifers in Kansas??? As far as the drunken sot of an owner, I think he had ideas that he was going to get a little wiggly wag from Liz eventually, despite her being a family woman. Typical old man wanting some young action. She is WAY too hot for him or his redneck son. The best thing that could happen to hat place and that old drunken jerk would be an F5 tornado relocating it to some field in North Carolina it with him in it. Why is there even a Midwest to begin with? Because people who have no self esteem need a place to live?

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  105. In this episode where a man is selling his bar to a lady. He didn't have the paperwork drawn up earlier, and he was at fault for it. However had the genders been switched, Jon wouldn't help a man get out of the deal like he did for the lady. He would have told the man to honor his promise/deal he made. I could just hear him say... "A man honors the deals he made" The odd thing was, she didn't want to pay that much for the bar over the years payments. If she had a business loan to purchase the bar, she would have paid the same over the life of the loan due to interest. Yet she even asked for the first payment back, which she didn't have a right to do as she backed out of the deal.

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