Paramount Network’s hit reality show Bar Rescue returns Sunday night at 10 p.m. Eastern, and its star Jon Taffer tells ABC Audio, “this season may be the most intense of all.”
The no-nonsense Taffer, who uses his more than 30 years of experience in the bar and restaurant industries to turn around failing establishments, admits he’s shocked the show is still going strong after eight seasons. “I thought I’d do a pilot and go home. I never expected season two, three, four or five, so it feels like I’m hugged by America every week. It’s a pretty amazing feeling.”
Bar Rescue recently helped owners weather one of the most challenging periods in the hospitality industry, the pandemic. “It was very tough times, you know. It was the only time during Bar Rescue when their excuses were real, you know: Government shutdowns, people not coming out, The impacts of COVID, that’s real. It’s hard to scream and yell at them when COVID has taken them down.”
However, Taffer adds, “This is different now. People are out in bigger numbers than ever before. The opportunity is greater than ever before….So if ever an operator has no excuses and should up his game, it’s now.”
Taffer expresses, “This season, you’re going to see a wife look at her husband and say, I’m pretty much done over this. You’re going to see a family who’s a who blew their parents’ retirement money…college funds for kids gone, kids walking out on fathers, fathers letting their children down. It’s deep.”
He adds, “That’s why I fight so hard. People think I’m a raving maniac over a bar. It’s not over a bar. It’s over a family. It’s over their future. It’s over their security. There’s a lot at stake here!”
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