In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Game Time Sports Grill in Arlington, Tennessee.
Game Time Sports Grill is owned by Teresa and Bryan.
They bought the bar in 2008 while their son Cody was in college studying to be an Air Traffic Controller.
The bar did well in the beginning making $3,000 to $5,000 a month.
Their inexperience eventually caught up with the bar and they are now $250,000 in debt.
This caused Gametime to crash.
They put the bar in Cody’s name while he was still in college so they wouldn’t file for bankruptcy.
Cody had to come back and run the bar even though it was not his dream and he has inherited debts in his name to clear.
Despite being the new owner, he is not being respected as the owner.
Jon recons the bar with expert mixologist Lisamarie Joyce and expert chef Vic Vegas.
They observe the neighbourhood is young and affluent, which is good for the bar.
The exterior of the bar is not memorable and there are no call to actions on the windows.
Jon fills them in on the owners of the bar and their history.
Cody had the debt thrust on him along with the expected arrival of a new baby.
Bryan is sitting at the bar while Teresa and Cody are expediting and helping run the bar.
They see the kitchen staff work without gloves and cross contaminate surfaces.
Jon says the bar needs to be female friendly as the community is populated mostly by married couples.
He then gets three affluent local women to spy on the bar and its services.
They sit and order an old fashioned and the bartender playfully makes fun of her choice.
Bryan asks the females for their IDs without introducing himself as a manager but they do so.
Teresa calls him out and asks him to leave the ladies as it is the bartender’s job to do that.
Behind the bar she calls him out on drinking but he goes ahead and has another drink.
Cody is running around making and serving drinks while Bryan gives out shots to the ladies.
Teresa once again tries to stop Bryan from making a fool of himself.
He follows her outside where she loses her cool with him.
Cody joins them to tell them to keep it down and there is pushing when Bryan storms back into the bar.
Jon cannot take it anymore and goes in to meet Teresa, who is in the office crying.
When he hears Jon is around, Cody meets them in the office.
Bryan barely acknowledges his presence and carries on drinking.
Jon points out Cody is the owner, the one with the debt and the owner of the liquor his dad is drinking.
Jon asks Teresa to call Bryan into the back area.
Cody is encouraged to call him to order and ask him to leave.
Bryan gets upset and physically pushes his way out.
This causes a raucous in the bar and all three have a confrontation outside.
Cody puts his foot down and tells him that he is not allowed in the bar while drunk.
Teresa also says that she will not talk him into returning.
The next day, Jon has a staff meeting with all members of the family present.
The staff are shocked to find out about the debt.
Bryan is called out for his drunken behaviour and shown footage of his shenanigans.
He is ashamed and looks away and Cody is embarrassed at what he sees.
Bryan apologises for his behaviour and Teresa hugs him immediately, which Jon is not happy about.
Jon reveals that Cody says she enables Bryan and he sees it too.
Jon brings in his experts.
Lisamarie first inspects the bar and finds out their cooler does not work.
She also discovers that the bar dumps a lot of beer, losing income.
It is decided to shut the beer service down for the night until it can be fixed.
Vic and Jon inspect the kitchen and the cleanliness is an issue.
The walk in freezer is broken and food is improperly stored in a deep freezer.
They are made to clean the kitchen before any training can begin.
Lisamarie calls out Bryan for berating the staff while not helping them the night before.
She then has father and son make a cocktail tied together while the staff are made to act like old Bryan and berate them.
Bryan feels what he had been doing and he is remorseful about his actions.
Jon introduces the stress test and Cody delegates Bryan to take care of the bar and Teresa to take care of the kitchen.
They use five minutes to do the final set up and open the bar to customers.
The bar is overwhelmed with orders and tickets pile up.
Soon customers at tables are waiting about twenty minutes for drinks.
The kitchen gets orders without temperatures so they cannot make the food.
Cody is making mistakes on tickets and spends too much time correcting it.
The kitchen is behind and has not sent any orders out in twenty-three minutes.
Bryan is doing great making drinks behind the bar.
The first table to arrive timed their order.
The food comes after more than thirty minutes but it is the wrong order and served with a knife but no fork.
Vic catches raw chicken almost going out.
The cook David keeps eggshells on a counter, potentially contaminating the food.
Jon says no food can go out again.
David gets angry and goes outside to cooldown.
Corrections are not made on an order and customers are walking out.
Jon shuts down the bar as it is all falling apart and the stress test is a failure.
Jon calls for a meeting after the test.
He is disappointed with the kitchen but commends the bar for working hard even though it fell apart.
Jon has decided to retain the sports bar theme but improve it.
Vic trains the kitchen staff on making a ribeye steak dish.
Lisamarie trains the bar on a sour mash whiskey cocktail that is female friendly.
Jon meets with Cody, Teresa and Bryan to hopefully fix their relationship.
Jon points out Cody stepped up for the family is deserving of their support and respect.
Bryan pledges to give these to his son.
On relaunch night a new bar is revealed.
It has been renamed to The Legacy to remind the family of their commitment.
Jon says the city will not allow them to put words on the windows.
He puts the call to action on the blinds which are clearly visible from outside.
Inside the bar has been made warmer with wood and brown leather everywhere.
The walk-in freezer is working and David is happy about that.
Jon transformed the stage they don’t use into a seating area with railings.
East Coast Chair and Barstool provided the furnishings and the plumbing and beer coolers were fixed by Schneider Plumbing and HVAC.
They also have a lifetime subscription to Partender and ServSafe for kitchen training.
They have been provided with Bistro style uniforms so the staff look more upscale and David has a chef’s jacket.
David was overwhelmed and gets emotional over all of the changes.
He is nervous at the pressure of the relaunch.
Cody is happy to invite customers in who make the orders fly in.
The kitchen starts great getting into a rhythm that pushes food out.
At the bar it is crazy but they are meeting up.
Cody pitches in to help making drinks.
The bar and kitchen are working well and Jon is confident when he leaves.
What Happened Next at Game Time Sports Grill / The Legacy Bar and Grille?
Six weeks later it is revealed food and beverage sales increased by 20%.
David now cleans the kitchen everyday.
Cody’s child was born.
The Legacy Bar and Grille closed in January 2021.
They were ordered to close for 14 days in December for breaking a local COVID health directive.
The bar passed an inspection that would allow them to reopen.
They were waiting for the official permission to be granted but this appears to have been delayed.
After this they decided to close permanently due to the loss of income and mounting bills from the closure.
Click for more Bar Rescues
Previous episode - Lucky Leprechaun / Lucky's Corner Pocket
Next episode - Havana Mix Cigar
This post was last updated in March 2022.
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