Whiskey Girl Saloon / Stampede Saloon - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Whiskey Girl Saloon in Fort Worth, Texas.

Whiskey Girl Saloon is owned by Attorney Luke Beshera and several other investors.

The bar opened in 2012 with high hopes but they started losing money in the first month of business.

Luke had to cover his partners portion of the costs and became sole owner.

He had to call on Fred Barnett and Keith Peterson, who have experience in bars to become co-owners and give him help.

Beer and liquor were not tracked and bar staff were stealing and drinking for free.

In the process of removing the staff responsible, some of their regulars started leaving.

Luke created a mascot to bring customers back in called Rick Roundhouse.

The staff and customers hate Luke’s alter ego Rick.

He gives out free drinks to customers in the hopes on getting their spirits up.

The other owners have been limiting Luke’s involvement in the bar to reduce the disruption that he causes.

The lax management has thrown the bar into disrepair.

The owners have lost close to $260,000 and Fred and Keith have called in Bar Rescue for help.

Jon and an expert bartender and mixologist Phil Wills come to the bar.

They note the area is vibrant and colourful meanwhile the bar is dark and quiet.

The saloon is only open 2 nights a week to save costs so they can’t recon it that evening as they are cleaning up.

Jon fills Phil in on the ownership situation of the bar and how they are losing $6000 a month.

Jon decided to talk with the owners while Phil checks out the other competing bars in the area.

The owners meet Jon and are slightly embarrassed the bar isn’t open when he has arrived.

Fred reveals that he has been in the business for 11 years.

Jon points out the other bars are open and noisy so there is business on a Monday night.

Phil first goes to White Elephant Saloon. It is packed and known for margaritas.

They also have live music and lots of old and young patrons are in the bar.

The other nearby bars are just as lively and are making money.

Fred says their busiest day is Saturday and they make $2500 if they are lucky.

They have no kitchen currently so they don’t offer food.

They tell Jon about Luke’s disruptive persona Rick Roundhouse and how he drinks too much.

Jon shows them some prior footage of Luke, as Rick in the bar using bad language in front of customers and hitting on female customers.

He is damaging the business and he should know better as an attorney to protect his and his partner’s investments.

Jon meets with Phil outside and he lets him know the market for bars is strong in the area.

The next day, Jon meets the staff and hears them out.

They say they are limited in what they can do and they get regular feedback from customers, which they pass on to managers often.

The manager is a glorified host and he believes the biggest problem in the bar is Rick Roundhouse, who shows up midway through the meeting.

Luke introduces himself as Rick and Jon asks him to drop his pretentious character.

Luke is accused of telling female customers how long his private parts are but he denies it and Jon plays the video evidence.

Jon also shows Luke the bill from Friday night, 57 drinks that cost $307 that the partners had to pay for.

Luke also owes the other owners a third of the investment they have put in.

Luke can’t handle the truth and walks out of the meeting and the bar.

He returned and apologises to both the staff and his partners.

Jon’s experts come in, Phil will be working with the bar and Kevin Bledso, a barbecue expert will be working with the kitchen.

To see if a food programme would help, a kitchen has been set up and pre-prepared meals will be served for the stress test.

Steve will be helping in the kitchen.

Phil trains the staff on simple drinks and tests them on how they handle making the popular drink in the area, margaritas.

They are not consistent with their drink making skills and will be serving blue margaritas for the stress test.

For the kitchen, a storeroom was converted into a kitchen overnight.

Kevin takes them through a mac and cheese and pulled pork dish.

For the stress test, Jon has a challenge for each bartender.

They have to sell 30 drinks in 30 minutes and they will be putting straws in their cups to signify the number they have made successfully.

Customers are let in and orders start coming through.

The bartenders are nervous and start one drink at a time but make mistakes and have to dump them.

Luke is running orders to the kitchen but Jeremy can’t find the owners of a meal and walks about lost.

Fifteen minutes in and no bartender has got to halfway on the drinks challenge.

Fred and Keith are not helping at the bar so they are called in.

The bartenders barely make it to 30 at the half hour mark.

Steph has 32, Kim has 32 and Ciara has 18 and the bar is shutdown.

After service, they all have a meeting and give feedback.

The customers loved the barbecue so Jon has decided to set up a proper kitchen.

They will be making use of a back patio and they will be training offsite.

They will set up a POS system to be able to monitor orders better.

The bar needs to make better quality drinks and Luke had nothing but water all night.

For the training, Phil points out Steph and Kim did make a lot of drinks but he also had to dump a lot of their drinks.

It is revealed that Ciara made better quality drinks but at a much slower pace.

He trains them on a vodka-based drink with shimmer, served in a pouch with food lights and a twisty straw.

Kevin takes them on cooking a brisket in a smoker and making brisket tacos.

Jon sits down with the three partners and Luke has prepared an agreement for the three of them so Luke can carry his own weight and pay them back.

Its relaunch night and the name has been changed to Stampede Saloon and the entrance has been lit to draw attention.

The owners love the changes that Jon has made.

The interior has been made to look like an old-time saloon with a historic look.

Their outdoor area has been set up and there is a brand new smoker in the corner.

They have a DJ booth with a monitor from Orange Door Entertainment, with over 50,000 songs.

Crown Audio Visual installed the lights and DJ booth.

Simple Booth put up a picture spot on the wall and Cold Tech Refrigeration fixed their walk-in fridge.

Baker Distributing provided a Manitowoc Ice machine and there 6 Restaurant Manager POS systems.

On relaunch night, the customers are let in and they are ready for the service.

The bartenders are confident and successfully fulfilling orders.

Luke is in the kitchen helping to make Tacos.

Jeremy is helping make drinks and has stepped up.

The new drinks pouches are a hit and everyone is happy.

What Happened Next at Whiskey Girl Saloon / Stampede Saloon ?

Six weeks later, Luke has started a repayment plan to his partners.

Jeremy is now fully acting as a manager.

Whiskey Girl Saloon / Stampede Saloon temporarily closed in early July 2019 before reopening three weeks later.

Stampede Saloon is open.

Reviews since they reopened are very positive.

It appears from the reviews that they no longer serve food.

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Next episode - Harbor Point Club & Grill / JB Taco

This post was last updated in March 2022.