Grinders / The Cajun Belle - Bar Rescue Update - Open or Closed?

In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Grinders in Santa Clarita, California.

Grinders is owned by Dave Murrie, who was looking for another business opportunity.

Grinders was originally a pizzeria when he bought it in 2014.

Dave says that the bar was a great investment and that it was time to move on to something else.

Dave originally bought the pizzeria for $77,000.

He decided to turn the pizzeria into a fully functional bar.

However, the city stopped the renovations on him as he didn't have the necessary permits etc.

Dave’s wife Jessica spent $100,00 trying to get permits to finish renovating the bar.

Bartender Sterling says they have to run around trying to find the things they need because the bar is so unorganized.

Grinders has a very bad wait time and have had people threaten to shut them down.

Dave is no longer engaged in the business and tends to drink while working.

Grinders is losing $2,500 a month and they are $250,000 in total debt.

Jessica would tell Dave that he isn’t man enough to fix the problems.

Dave says that all the good stuff in their lives is gone.

Jessica feels like she doesn’t have anything else left to give.

Jon brings in expert Mixologist Daniel Ponsky and expert chef Tiffany Derry.

Tiffany points out that there is no sign for the bar.

The city has given them six more weeks before they shut down Grinders.

Jon brings in Lindsay and Sheridan for the recon tonight.

Jon finds out that they don’t use mixing cups.

This bar is lacking a lot of essential things such as a workstation.

Daniel says that they are spending more time running around than they are serving.

Lindsay and Sheridan say that the drinks they ordered were the grossest they’ve ever had.

They order food but nobody is in the kitchen.

So far, they have been waiting 12-minutes for their food.

The cook puts food in the microwave that looks to be covered in plastic.

Lindsay and Sheridan receive their food and the turkey is questionable.

Lindsay asks multiple people if that looks like turkey.

The bartender puts a match in a drink.

Jon says this makes him want to put a spear in his eyes.

Someone drinks the shot that had the match in it.

Enraged by what he has seen, Jon decides to go walk in the bar now.

Jon tells Jessica that he notices she’s working her butt off but asks what Dave is doing to help.

The answer is that Dave doesn’t help out at all.

Jon points out that it’s not legal to have a bar without the proper structure.

Jon says that Dave is probably the stupidest bar owner he’s ever met.

He is not even sure if he can dig Grinders out of a hole this big.

Jon says that this bar has code violations and that he needs to go in with his team to see the true state of the bar.

They go over all of the violations on this bar to help come up with an idea for renovation.

Because of all the code violations, Jon wants to see if Dave is even worth helping.

Jessica says that she thinks Dave drinks too much but he says he doesn’t agree.

Dave gets an attitude with Jon, basically going against the things he is saying.

Dave admits that he’s been acting like a loser.

Jon asks if he has the ability to stop acting like a loser and Dave says maybe and asks him to give him a shot.

Jon brings in his experts.

Daniel puts a step counter on Sterling and asks her to make him a margarita.

Daniel said that should’ve taken less than 15 steps but it took Sterling 53 steps.

Tiffany wants to make a menu based around pizza since the kitchen already has a pizza oven.

Jon says he has a list of code violations that he doesn’t think anyone could accomplish in 36-hours.

Jon says tonight’s stress test is to make Dave prove himself.

They are only allowing 35 people in the bar due to the limits made by the city.

Customers have been waiting for around 15-minutes.

The food is moving fairly quickly but the bar is struggling.

Jon says they need to be putting out three to four drinks every minute.

They are only putting out one drink every three to four minutes.

Jon says the city should’ve put the bar out of their misery weeks ago.

Sterling begins crying because of Jon yelling at them.

Jon says that Dave did a great job with helping out the bar.

Sterling does not handle pressure very well.

The next morning, Jon talks about his plans to add more southwestern pizzas.

Daniel introduces a technique called batching to save time with making drinks.

He also shows them drinks like the Bayou Bloody Marry and the Voodoo Rodeo.

Tiffany adds on to the pizzas they added last night but with adding Cajun and peppers to them.

Before Jon changes the bar, he wants to make sure Dave actually wants it.

After talking about the bar Jon begins renovation on the bar.

The bar is revealed and Grinders has been renamed and is now called The Cajun Belle.

It is now very clear which building is the actual bar.

They go inside and they are greeted with an amazing looking bar.

The bar is fully functioning now.

Jessica says that it doesn’t feel like it’s the same building at all.

She said it was dark before but now its lively and inviting.

Jon added two complete workstations.

He also added two 2-touch POS systems and a lifetime subscription to TVT.

They open up for the first time since renovating.

Everyone is very excited.

On relaunch, the bartenders are handling all of the orders way better than the stress test.

Dave is involved with every part of the bar and helping wherever needed.

Food is going out smoothly to the customers.

There is not a long wait time and it looks amazing.

The customers look very happy.

Jon asks Dave and Jessica if they are happy.

They answer is Yes and Jon says his work here is done.

What Happened Next at Grinders / The Cajun Belle?

Six weeks later, food and drink sales have increased by 35%.

Customers love the new menu.

The city is finally off their backs due to the renovations made during the episode.

Jessica revealed in an interview that they had returned the board games and arcade games, mixing their ideas with Jon's changes.

Dave sold the bar to a new owner in September 2017.

Grinders / The Cajun Belle closed in July 2019.

Reviews before the closure were positive after the episode was filmed and after it was sold to a new owner.

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Next episode - The Bridge Lounge

This post was last updated in February 2022.