True Grit Tavern / The Roost - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits True Grit Tavern in Maricopa, Arizona.

True Grit Tavern is owned by Ralph Skrzypczk.

In 2015, Ralph borrowed $150,000 from this father John to open up the True Grit Tavern.

Ralph says that the initial idea was to open up a bar that was in a good location and that could be profitable.

The bar was a hit among the locals.

Ralph says that they roughly hit around $100,000 to $120,000 a month at first.

Problems soon began to surface with the leadership of the bar.

General manager Samantha says that it’s challenging at times working with Ralph.

She also says that it’s rare that she ever saw him there.

Bartender Janiece says that Ralph is a child born with a silver spoon.

Bartender Brandie says that Ralph took everything from the bar to put into his various other businesses.

She also says that Ralph just doesn’t care much about the bar.

Ralph owns a dating site and is also partnered with a comic book store.

With so many different businesses to focus on, Ralph failed to learn how to run any of them.

Before getting into the bar business, Ralph didn’t know anything.

He failed to give his more experienced staff the support they needed to succeed.

Ralph doesn’t work well at the bar and he spends a lot of time talking to customers.

With no experience or leadership, the bar is now in $500,000 of debt.

Ralph says that if this bar goes down then everything else goes down as well.

John says that is this bar fails then he’d be involved with debt and his wife as well.

Ralph makes a call for help to Bar Rescue.

John says that with the ways things are run right now, he doesn’t see a way to survive.

Jon arrives with Chef Jason Santos and sits in the control room watching the surveillance.

For tonight’s recon, Jon brought in Joey Rodriguez, a local radio DJ.

Joey brought his friends with him and he orders an Old Fashioned.

Joey and his friend don’t like their drinks as they weren’t made properly.

The food is prepackaged and is not fresh.

Ralph is really nice to customers but the food is extremely greasy.

For the bar, Jon brings in expert mixologist Mia Mastroianni.

She will also be doing the recon.

Mia orders a margarita.

Once she gets a margarita, she orders a mai tai.

She laughs because of how badly the drinks were made.

Jon decides now is time to go in the bar and get to work.

The wings are really dry.

Ralph admits that he doesn’t even know how to make drinks.

In five years, Ralph hasn’t learned a single thing.

Later, Jon is with Ralph and John to discuss Ralph’s failure.

Jon says he will be doing this for Ralph’s father, not Ralph himself.

The next morning, Jon meets with the staff.

Ralph admits that he doesn’t have the skills to run the bar.

The staff admits that Ralph could learn how to run this bar if he really wanted to.

They say this bar can’t be successful unless Ralph tries.

Jon brings in his experts.

Jason says that he saw so much processed food in the kitchen.

Mia tells them that they need to learn how to make drinks because they don’t know what they are doing at all.

Jon introduces a Partender report.

They poured $10,349 but only put $7,494 worth of liquor through the till.

Jon tells them that all it will take to get out of debt is to have some decent recipes and make sure the staff follows them.

Jason is in the kitchen with Ralph and the cook.

Jason shows them a spin on mac and cheese.

He lets them try it and they love it.

Mia meets with the bartenders.

Mia says they aren’t set up to be a cocktail bar and they have to change that.

She shows them how to make basic drinks.

True Grit tavern opens up for the stress test.

Jon is impressed with the staff.

He says that with the right leadership, this bar will succeed.

The orders are all mixed up and the organization is bad.

Some customers haven’t ordered yet.

People have been sitting for 19 minutes without having someone take their order.

There’s no tickets for all the food in the window.

Jon says he has seen what he needs to see and tells Ralph to close the bar down.

Jon tells Ralph that this place was poorly run tonight.

Ralph admits that he is the problem.

Samantha admits that she gets so frustrated with Ralph’s lack of not knowing that to do.

She also says that Ralph has a lot to learn.

The next day begins with more training.

Jason says he thought the kitchen did okay, which isn’t good enough.

He shows them recipes including a bison French sandwich.

He lets Ralph and the cook try it and they love it.

Ralph thinks this will be a hit with the customers.

Mia says that there are a lot of things that they can be focusing on.

Mia shows them drinks that will be added to the new menu.

She has Ralph try to make the drinks.

Jon and his construction crew begin the remodel.

Jon meets with the staff to show them their new bar.

John admits he is proud of his son for how far he’s come the past few days.

Jon shows them the new bar.

True Grit has been renamed and is now called The Roost.

They head inside the bar.

The staff are amazed by how great their bar looks now.

Jon installed six Harbortouch POS systems and two complete workstations.

He also got them an Orange Door entertainment system and a free subscription to Partender.

The Roost opens up for the first time since remodel.

On relaunch, orders have been taken and they are on top of the ticket times.

Jon tells John that his work here is done.

Jon gives Ralph a plaque as proof that this bar was rescued by him.

Ralph is sure that with the help of Jon Taffer, this bar will be successful and will be able to bring himself out of debt in time.

What Happened Next at True Grit Tavern / The Roost?

The Roost is open.

Reviews are mostly positive after the episode with customers liking the new food.

Some regulars don't like the changes that Jon made to the bar.

Click for more Bar Rescues

Previous episode - The County Line Lounge and Grille / The Billy Bar

Next episode - Gilly's Sports Bar

This post was last updated in March 2022.