The Original Hideout - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits The Original Hideout in Tucson, Arizona.

The Original Hideout is owned by Ramiro Flores, a local attorney.

He bought the bar with some co-investors in 2008 with his life savings.

A year after, he bought out his co-owners even though he had no previous experience of running a bar.

His brother Raoul Ramirez is the manager and is just as inexperienced.

He is also known to be bad tempered at times.

Ramiro is still very hands off even with full ownership.

Jon comes to recon the bar with expert chef Anthony Lamas and expert mixologist Jacob Forth.

They find out the bar first opened in 1952 and the area is predominantly Hispanic.

On the cameras they see Ramiro, who is in debt of $300,000 and Raoul, who wants more help from his brother.

They meet bartenders Gloria and Summer, their sister Lisa and cook Manuel and server Patty.

Susette and Melissa go in as spies to test the service for Jon.

They order a draft beer but the bar doesn’t serve any.

They also don’t have a cocktail menu or the ingredients for a basic cocktail they wanted.

They settle on a Margarita and a Tequila sunrise.

In the kitchen, there is clear signs of contamination in the kitchen with cooked chicken and raw chicken kept side by side.

A tub of chicken is stored on a bin and the fryer is dirty.

The experts and Jon agree the food shouldn’t be served and enter to shut down the bar and kitchen.

The bar customers all cheer when they see Jon, who goes directly for Ramiro and Raoul in the kitchen.

Jon confronts them on the state of the kitchen and how Raoul clearly doesn’t respect Ramiro’s money for the standards to be so lax.

Jon mainly faces Raoul and asks him to clean up without excuses before leaving with his team.

The kitchen starts arguing and blaming each other for different things.

Raoul is embarrassed by the exchange with Jon.

Issues come to the forefront for the brothers, Raoul walks out with his wife and Ramiro chases after him to come back, reminding him its his bar too.

Jon is still in the parking lot and they now wonder if the brothers even want to continue working together.

The next day Ramiro comes in but Raoul has refused to come in or answer his calls and told his wife not to talk to Ramiro.

Jon comes in while they are waiting and notices Raoul is missing.

Jon talks to staff and Ramiro says they are all responsible for the decline in the business and singles out Raoul as the chief problem.

It is pointed out Raoul blamed Lisa, who has been with them for 7 years and has problems conforming to processes.

Gloria says 60% of the problem is the kitchen and it stresses Raoul out.

She also says that Lisa also causes a lot of stress for him.

As Lisa had been fired previously by Raoul and rehired by Ramiro.

Jon points out it is Ramiro’s fault for bringing her back against his wishes.

Jon points out Ramiro took the power from Raoul so can’t hold him accountable.

When asked to step up by Jon Ramiro fires Lisa, who willingly leaves.

Jon asks Ramiro to try and contact Raoul and mend things with his brother.

Jon introduces his experts to the staff.

Anthony takes the kitchen staff through making a fry bread taco.

Manuel the other cook is now expected to head the kitchen.

Jacob takes the bar staff through making a tequila cocktail.

During the training, Raoul’s wife calls and passes on that Raoul got Ramiro’s messages but he is still done and he is not coming back.

For the stress test, they are two men down, without their manager and a cook.

The staff are tasked with closing ranks and Ramiro has to step into Raoul’s shoes.

At the start of the test, the bartenders are slow and make mistakes because they are being regulated by recipes.

The kitchen is trying their best to keep up.

Ramiro is called from the kitchen to see that seated guests hadn’t been asked their orders.

He pulls Gloria from the bar to do so and it disrupts the bar’s flow.

There is complaint on the food with cold corn served to a customer.

Customers start to leave and Jon is forced to shut it down as they won’t be able to meet up.

Anthony takes the kitchen staff through a new signature soup.

Jacob trains the bar staff on some tequila cocktails using warm salts with agave.

Jon sits with Ramiro and talks to him about Raoul.

He reveals they are okay, but he is giving him some time hoping he would change his mind.

It is all on Ramiro to manage the bar but he also has a full time job.

They pull in Gloria to step up and support Ramiro when he isn’t able to be at the bar.

The bar has been worked on by Jon’s team and is ready for the reveal.

The exterior has been brightened up playing up on its heritage from 1952.

The interior has been made warmer and branding is present all over the bar from the POS systems to the chairs.

There is also a stage that can be covered up with the Bar’s sign in the background.

There are 3 Harbour Touch POS systems and a small distillery system that makes Mexican moonshine for a signature shot.

They have lifetime subscription to Bevinco for inventory tracking.

On relaunch the waiting customers are let in and the bar and kitchen get busy almost at once.

The signature shots are selling and the bar staff, with new cowboy uniforms, are doing well with their newly acquired techniques.

Ramiro is doing well between the kitchen and expediting while Gloria is supporting him from the bar.

Jon leaves to the applause of the patrons.

What Happened Next at The Original Hideout?

Six weeks later, it is revealed sales are up 25%.

Manuel is running the kitchen.

Raoul came back to the bar as a manager.

The Original Hideout is open.

Reviews are mostly positive with the odd complaint on service.

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Next episode - Crossroads Grille

This post was last updated in March 2022.