In this Bar Rescue episode, Jon Taffer visits Libad’s Bar and Grill in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Libad’s Bar and Grill is owned by Jessica.
She always wanted to own a bar and her father Barry gave her his retirement money of $285,000 to buy one in 2005.
Her brother David is a business partner and ‘Libad’ is their father’s childhood nickname.
They enjoyed initial success once they opened.
They opened in 2005 and were making $40,000 a month.
Lenny, their cousin ran the kitchen and the food was good.
Then Lenny got some personal problems and sadly took his own life.
They closed down the kitchen which lost them customers who loved to eat there.
They hired more family as staff and they take advantage of the relaxed nature to overpour and behave inappropriately.
They are now losing money and need help.
Jon recons the bar with Barry, who tells Jon his story and expert mixologist Peter O’Connor.
Jon has expert chef Tony Gemignani and Brenna, a bar professional as his spies.
They order a drink and the bartenders overpour so it is too strong.
They order a blue hurricane but it is green because of too much whiskey.
Brenna decides to ride the mechanical bull but it is really tattered and creaky.
It is strange for a seaside town bar to have a western themed bull.
The spies order food as it is a bar and grill but are told there is no food.
Eddie, the bartender offers Brenna a drink and drinks with her as well.
He is drinking from his shoe and David and Jessica do not react.
Jon and Barry go into the bar and meet with the siblings.
Jon berates them for hiring friends but they try to defend them saying it is who they trust even though they are wasteful.
Jon quizzes them on the basics of beverage costs and they have no idea.
They clear the bar so Jon can meet with the staff.
Jon tells them all they did wrong from the shoe drinking to drinking behind the bar and overpouring.
They also centre on Jessica for not reprimanding the staff.
Peter tests the staff on pouring into blacked-out glasses to see how accurate they are.
They all pour accurately so it means they intentionally overpour at work.
The staff say they overpour in the hopes of keeping people longer and selling more.
Jon has a partender report and one bartender gave away almost $1000 of drinks in one night.
They are losing $98,000 of drinks annually by overpouring.
Shannon is Jessica’s best friend and roommate and one of the worst offenders.
The staff complain she is difficult to work with.
Jessica defends her friend and all the staff, which infuriates Jon.
They all say the lack of food at the bar is one of the main reasons they are losing money.
The next day, Peter starts training them on rum-based drinks since the town has a rich history of rum.
Jon meets with the siblings and takes them to the basement kitchen.
He helps them overcome the loss of their cousin and encourages them to reopen it.
Jessica is opposed to the idea of someone else in the kitchen.
The stress test is upon them and Jessica will be managing the bar.
There will be stickers that will be put on bartenders if they underpour, overpour or make bad mistakes.
If they get three stickers they will be tapped out.
The customers are let in and bartenders are overwhelmed quickly and earn stickers.
They run out of glasses and customers are left waiting up to thirty minutes.
Shannon is doing great and working fast and Eddie is too slow earning his second sticker.
He forgets napkins and is given his last sticker and pulled from the bar.
Jon notices they have no POS system, an old cash register and have a post-it note system that is inefficient.
The customers complain about a lack of food.
The bar runs out of lime wheels and Jessica runs around aimlessly so the bar is closed.
The team get together for quick feedback and Jon highlights the system is poor and Eddy is a bad bartender.
They leave for the night and the next day Jon meets with the siblings and Barry.
He finally has the numbers and shows them that their beverage costs are too high.
It is an eye opener for them.
Jessica is made to promise her family she will manage the expenses of the business.
Jon takes them to the basement kitchen that has been deep cleaned professionally and has some new equipment installed.
Jon calls the staff together and introduces Tony his spy and expert at Pizza making.
Danny, a member staff with some culinary experience, is to train with Tony along with Josh and David.
Tony trains them on making a non-round pizza so they can charge more.
Peter trains the bartenders on making a variation of a bloody mary that goes well with pizza.
Eddie is called to demonstrate making the drink and Peter notes he just need confidence.
The Bourbon Chicken Pizza on the menu will be a tribute to Lenny.
The bar is renovated over thirty-six hours and the staff are gathered at night to reveal the bar.
The bar has been renamed to their old name Libad’s Seaside Tavern.
The worn out exterior has been cleaned up and repainted with clear signs and logos to attract customers.
Inside has been revamped, made warmer with seaside themes including the bull that is now a whale.
There are three new POS terminals from 2Touch POS systems and real glasses from Thunder group.
They are given some time to set up and they open for the relaunch.
On relaunch, the customers are let in.
The bartenders start serving great drinks.
The kitchen is swamped and mistakes are made so pizzas are returned.
Eddie is stressed and makes too many mistakes so he is fired.
The kitchen is still swamped with a table ordering everything on the menu so they are backed up.
After a while, Eddie begs for another chance and he helps run food.
Customers love the food, the drinks and riding the whale.
What Happened Next at Libad's Bar and Grill / Libad’s Seaside Tavern?
One month later, it is revealed that drink sales have doubled.
Food sales are bringing in $4500 a month.
Eddie runs food but tends the bar on slow nights.
No one is pouring drinks into shoes anymore.
Libad's Bar and Grill / Libad's Seaside Tavern closed in February 2021 and the business was put up for sale.
Reviews are mostly positive after the episode with compliments to the pizza, cheap drinks and great staff.
Click for more Bar Rescues
Previous episode - Cliques Bar and Grill / 22 Klicks Bar and Grill
Next episode - The Hammer / Hammer and Ales
This post was last updated in February 2022.
Did anyone find it creepy that the pic of the cousin had a vertical black line above his neck? Jon should’ve had someone photoshop that out!
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