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Foreign.
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Hello, and welcome to this episode of Kennedy Saves the World. It is the happiest happy hour. This is a person that I've been watching for years. I am such a huge fan, and I'm delighted that he has made his way into the Kennedy Saves the World studio emporium of happy hour alcohol, drinking, and sometimes mocktails. But not today. John Taffer from Bar Rescue is here. Welcome to Kennedy Saves the World.
A
I am so thrilled to be here. I can't believe we've never met before.
B
I know.
A
So here we are.
B
Well, I feel like we have because I watch so much bar rescue. Like, when there's a Bar rescue marathon on, I will plant myself. There will be ass imprints on the couch after hours and hours of me yelling at the screen on your behalf.
A
Well, I think I know you as well from watching you all these years.
B
Well, fantastic. So cheers to you.
A
Cheers.
B
This is a boom.
A
Oh.
B
Let's have a look.
A
Oh, boy. Let's see how your skills are.
B
Mm. That's good.
A
That's very good.
B
Yeah. So this is Taffer's browned butter Bourbon. It is incredible. And he has recipes where you can make all sorts of concoctions. This is a twist on a gold fashion because I did add a smashed cherry. I used orange bitters instead of regular, and I used grapefruit instead of orange essence.
A
Ooh. That's why it has. But it has a very nice balance to it.
B
Oh, thank you.
A
And you know the three elements to a cocktail. Sweet, sour, alcohol. Too sweet, you don't like it. Too sour, you don't like it. Too much alcohol. So that balance is key. And you nailed it.
B
I like the brown butter Bourbon because you can't taste the alcohol.
A
Makes it a little smoother.
B
It really is. No, this is a wonderful drink, and it's a natural extension of your brand because part of saving bars when you go into places is making sure they don't over pour. And they pour with the right stuff.
A
Yeah. And provide balance and quality.
B
Yes.
A
That's a funny story how that was created. I was in my restaurant in Georgia. My cook was making brown butter. And after 283 episodes of Bar Rescue, I'm always searching for something.
B
By the way, season 10 premieres February 22nd on Paramount Network.
A
And I said, give me that. I take the brown butter, I pour it in a cooking bag, pour, pour in whiskey, boil it for four hours, put it in a walk in, take it out of the walk in. Butter's coagulated on top, scoop it off, pour it Through a coffee filter and brown butter, bourbon was born. Wow. Then we put it in a cocktail at the restaurant, the Taffer's Tavern in Alpharetta, Georgia. We put it in a cocktail called the Campfire. We're selling over 1,000amonth of these cocktails. We said we have to bottle it. Okay, so there it is.
B
Yeah. And this is also. Jimmy Fallow likes to give out this as a Christmas present. So thank you, Jimmy. I have been introduced to this in the past. This is the first time I've made a cocktail with it and I really love it. So what I love about the show is I feel like you talk to banks and banks are like, okay, we're about to foreclose upon a restaurant with the saddest story you've ever seen in your life. There's always drama, there's always an emotional connection. How do you, how do you find and filter out the people who really, really need it that viewers kind of care about? Because it's not like you're just going into dumps and, and people are like, ah, condemn the rat hole.
A
No, no. I want to go to places where there's a meaningful story.
B
Yeah.
A
Y', know, you'll be surprised by this. I have no idea where I'm going before I go there, really. I have a casting company that does that.
B
Okay.
A
The network approves the locations. Now I provided standards. I want a certain amount of employees. I want a kitchen, I want an owner and a manager, things like that. So when I show up, I don't know anything.
B
You don't know the problems before you go.
A
I know nothing really. And then, and then I sit down in my makeup room because they don't let me go out like this, Kennedy. They put me in my makeup chair and I get literally say, help me, God. A 60 to 90 second briefing. John and George are ready to kill each other. John lost his house, George is gone and his wife is ready to leave.
B
More like they're always, they've always either lost the house or they're in foreclosure, or they're down to their last $500 after sinking 250,000 into the, you know, this place of their dreams that they've run into the ground because they haven't had the right help.
A
Yes. Or their ego gets annoying many times too. But so, so after I go right in and with recon happens, if they're nice, I'm nice. If they're not nice, I can be not nicer.
B
You get really mad sometimes.
A
I do. But here's what you don't know. After recon, I put everybody in vans in the parking lot and I go in, I design the bar that night.
B
Oh, wow.
A
I have about a half hour to do it. Okay. So I'm handed a demographic report, a psychographic report. I know what's competitive in the area. I come up with a concept. I look at verticals and horizontals of the space to come up with a design element, and we come up with a theme and a design that night.
B
Do you have an engineering background?
A
I don't, but I have a very experienced bar building background.
B
Okay. Because it sounds like that. It's almost like an engineering skill set
A
in a sense where you're able to
B
very quickly take things apart and put them back together as they should be.
A
Yes. And rearrange almost the chessboard and create different flow patterns and different connective opportunities. And then the second day, you see training and stress test. What you don't see is I'm finishing the design off camera. And here's a little secret. Next time you watch a bar rescue, look at the reveal at the end. The bar stools never match because I'm ordering everything. I need 24 hour delivery. I can't get 60 of the same bar stools in 24 hours, but I can get 12 of these, eight of these, six of these. So I try to organize them as we can. At the end of day two, the logos to the sign company, all the recipes and orders are done. All the equipment is ordered. The POS systems and controls and computer systems, everything is ordered. At the end of stress test day two, we start construction. I train in a different location on day three because we're building.
B
Yes.
A
So we, we build on night of day two, all day. Day three, the morning of day four. I reveal it as soon as sun goes down on day four.
B
What?
A
So that's how quickly. So I do build it in 36 hours, but I know nothing. And that's why I think I'm on TV so long.
B
I think I'm not ahead of the audience. Yeah, but, but also that's what makes it authentic. Because, you know, as we know in shows like this, when they're too pre produced, you know, when, when, when they're too like the ideas and the people are herded into a direction. The audience can feel it now. Like, that's why the audience loves authenticity and an emotional connection which your show combines. Now, did you create this show?
A
I did.
B
Okay.
A
Yeah, I did. You know, and you think of what I walk into. Imagine if you had a 60 day project and I gave you four days to do it. You'd be a raving maniac.
B
Yes.
A
So I have this pressure. There's this clock ticking in the back of my head every minute. I don't have time for them to assess whether they should get on the bus or not. They're getting on the bus right now. I mean, that's the way this works.
B
Have these places reached out to you or.
A
Many times they do.
B
Does the casting company find them?
A
Both. Both. But you know, imagine this. I'm dropped into a situation where the house is on the line, you know, and they've taken all their parents retirement money. They're 50 years old, they've wiped out their parents retirement and house. His wife is ready to leave him. His kids don't even respect him anymore. He doesn't even try. He walks past filth and dirt. Everybody walks in.
B
They don't see it. They don't see the maggots. They don't clean the grease.
A
It's disgusting. The things I've seen. Kennedy. And I think to myself, other people say, john, it's dirty. I say, why did he let it get dirty? So to me, every failing business is a failing owner.
B
Yeah.
A
So building a bar is easy, Kenny. I can do that all day long. But if I build them a palace, they'll still screw it up.
B
Yes. So how do you get past that psychological hurdle?
A
Yeah, it's very difficult. That's why there's so much screaming and yelling in the beginning. But here's what I've learned.
B
How do you get it to stick, though?
A
Well, it does about 70% of the time.
B
Okay.
A
But there are those people who are just, you know, it's crazy. Think about this. I put a new name and a new interior on your business. You're gonna be on national television in a few weeks and you take it down and change the name back to what it used to be. I mean, there's not a marketing professor in the world who would say that was smart.
B
No, especially so I, you know, I've watched the show and I've thought to myself, like, I want to go to that place. Like, I want to go to that place because it looks awesome and you guys improve things and come up with interesting cocktail and food items for people. But also I want to see if it sticks. Like, that's what I'm so curious about. Because I know other makeover shows, like when they used to do extreme makeover, you know, there was like, people were psychically damaged from that. And you know, a lot of times tried to go back, revert to what they were before the show, but you say 70% of the places are successful. Okay. And they.
A
And probably 80% and. Yeah, and probably 80% keep the name. Maybe 85% keep the name. About 15, 20% of them just walk away and go back to what they used to do, which makes no sense at all. So my attitude is I leave them in a better place. Kennedy. I work really hard to leave them in a better place. If they don't have the pride to succeed, I attack that. If it's fear that stops them from succeeding, I attack that. Sometimes if they drink, I put it. You've probably seen this. I put a photograph of their kid at the bottom of the glass. Let me see you drink now. Right. Or I'll put his wife in a sa. But here's what you don't know that means more to me than anything. At the end of the episode when I get my hug, the microphones are on our chest so you don't hear what they say to me. It makes me tear up sometimes. John. My children respect me again. John. My wife slept in my bed last night for the first time in months. Things like that. And I realize, wow, Even if they change the name back, I've done something that leaves good behind.
B
For a lot of these people, having a bar, having a bar, restaurant is a dream. It's an extension of their personality.
A
Really.
B
Yes. And their life inside. And that is the American dream, because there's so much risk involved in that and, you know, and it's so social. Yes.
A
Your friends come, your family comes. You know, you're the king of your public domain.
B
Yeah.
A
And it's very gratifying.
B
1,000 episodes later, and I'm still here trying to save the world. Please join me for my 1k soiree. It's happening March 5th at the beautiful Langen's right here in midtown Manhattan. See you then. This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast series the Life of Jesus.
A
A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now@foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts.
B
What do you think about this trend? Because I see this in a lot of the bars in my neighborhood now. They're doing like, trivia night and karaoke night and a lot of shtick. Do you think that's a good idea or does it take away from the organic offerings?
A
It depends upon the bar.
B
Okay.
A
You know, these days we're fighting for traffic, we're fighting for relevancy. You know, it's crazy. If you posted a picture tomorrow of yourself looking the worst you've ever looked, people are going to say, looking good, Kennedy, Great photo. You know it. We get this BS relevancy that's given to us all day long, and most of the time, it isn't justified at all. So we got to prove. Yes, they do. But we want to provide relevancy as a bar because you're only going to go where you feel relevant these days, and you want to drink something that's relevant and eat something that's relevant, because these are the things in the social media world that provide a gratification to us that we didn't have years ago. So providing promotions, providing karaoke, these are things that provide at least momentary relevance for the people who like those kind of activities. We don't do those kinds of things in Taffer's Tavern. We tend to be who we are and provide consistency and environment and such. But I'll tell you a funny story. We used to do. And it was. We used to call it back in the 70s, midget tossing. Now, of course, I would never do something like that in today's world. Of course.
B
And you wouldn't say that.
A
No. And this was Hollywood.
B
Yes.
A
And this is Hollywood. So agents, we booked them, and this was talent fees and all that kind of stuff. And we would throw and they would toss them into air mattresses. We used to do Velcro walls.
B
Oh, yeah, I remember that. The first time on Letterman. Yeah.
A
And we would do all those kinds of things, create excitement and money. But, you know, those days come and gone. Go. And those promotions come and go. But I think providing karaoke and relevancy for that kind of audience is good. I'm not a karaoke guy myself. I'm guessing you're not either.
B
Oh, no. I love karaoke.
A
Oh, do you?
B
Yeah, I. My dream is an empty karaoke bar where I get to sing, like, six songs. The other patrons aren't as wild about it, but.
A
Okay, here we go. A little prying. What is your number one karaoke song missing?
B
I have a few friends in low places, Careless Whisper, Papa Don't Preach, or Like a Prayer. If I'm in a Madonna mood, it's one or the other. Yeah. And then that. Sometimes when we touch that song, Downhill
A
growing means too much. Well, I think you revealed a lot of your musical tastes in that.
B
The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is Not a good karaoke song, unless you're trying to punish people, because it's a beautiful song, but it's very monotonous. People can't sing along, and it's six and a half minutes.
A
It'll empty the room.
B
Yeah. That'll throw the brakes. Yeah. If I sign up for that, they'll be like, out. So what is the future of bars if so many places? I was talking to a guy today who's a Bravo Liberty, and he was talking about how he has, like, no alcohol bars. You know, soft bar. And a lot of people, especially millennials and gen zers, the older gen zers are turning 21, and they are foregoing alcohol. So what does that do for establishments like that? How do they evolve?
A
You know, I think there's a reason for that. You know, I always felt that Starbucks,
B
I think liver disease might be that reason.
A
But also, I think Starbucks is the training ground for bars.
B
Yeah.
A
When they're 18, 19, 20, they go to coffee shops, they have a beverage, they socialize, they sit around a little table. So during the pandemic, none of that happened. That social interaction in that type of an environment didn't happen. They got more used to staying at home than socializing.
B
Yes.
A
So I think, you know, you and I grew up in an environment where we did those things, and when we turned 21, we were probably pretty excited to go to that bar. I know I was. I'm guessing you were too, knowing you. So they didn't have that. So it's interesting. So it isn't really a fiber of their life like it is ours. So I think that sociological change is significant because you can drink at home. Look at the cocktail you made here. I can listen to anything I want at home. I can watch anything I want at home.
B
What you bring about the pandemic is so interesting because people got so comfortable staying at home, and it, like, flipped a switch that for a lot of people, hasn't gone back.
A
No, it hasn't.
B
And I don't think six years in, yes, you can get anything delivered.
A
Doordash would have failed before the pandemic. Look at it today.
B
Yeah, great point.
A
All these delivery services and such. So you're right. So there's a real social change in our behavior patterns. So that's why some of these bars are doing things to try to get you out of your house. We used to compete with other bars. Now I'm competing with your couch.
B
Yes.
A
It's a very different competitive environment. And then in today's world, you Know, I'm trying to get to you through social media. Very noisy place. Right. There's a lot of, lot of things going by when you scroll. So it's very, very challenging today. So you look at the non alcoholic bars. I don't believe in that. I believe that a great bar should have both. Should have great drinks and alcohol.
B
Because there are times like midweek where I don't want to have a drink. But a mocktail sounds amazing, like something celebratory that I can sip with my friends. That is fantastic. And that is a great pivot for a lot of places. And pretty much everywhere has, like mocktails on their menu.
A
Yep. And they should be great signature drinks, you know, that are really made with great ingredients. But if the person next to you wants an alcoholic drink, they should be able to have that too. Amen. I think that we're going to create environments that have more balance in alcohol to non alcohol. We're going to see robotic bartenders coming out, which is really pretty exciting.
B
Hello, Jetsons, here we come.
A
And some of them have personalities that we'll actually interact with and such. So you can go into a bar, put your own Kennedy cocktail into the
B
system, which would be a gold fashioned with the brown butter bourbon, and your
A
friends can come in and say, give me a Kennedy and the system will give them your cocktail. There's a lot of fun things coming out.
B
My signature cocktail is the Canadalia, and it's if a Paloma and a mojito had a baby.
A
Ooh.
B
Yes. It's very good. It's lime, mint, grapefruit, but coconut tequila.
A
Ooh, that's fascinating.
B
Yeah, it's really yummy.
A
So you really enjoy being a mixologist?
B
I do.
A
Do you have a full bar at home?
B
No, I have some things I do my best. Peter Suderman. He is an amateur cocktail expert and he has a newsletter that is fantastic. And so every once in a while, I'll get some of the ingredients on his newsletter and try and make some stuff. But to me, mixology is like baking. It is, you know, it's ratios, it's experimentation, and it's thinking to yourself, like, what two flavors do? I love that. Haven't been married yet, but need to start dating. And that's how I come up with.
A
And sometimes the most illogical things are delicious. Like Taffer's brown butter bourbon and pineapple juice is out of this world. You wouldn't think that, but it just works really well. And that's the fun when those surprises
B
come out of that well next time you're here, I will make that. Want to make the banana daiquiri with the brulee banana slices? Because I do have a brulee torch, and I think that would be really fun to try and make that for you. Like something beautiful and sweet. Ooh, yes.
A
I look forward to that.
B
All right, Very good. Well, here's to you, your continued success, and to you. And more importantly, saving the American dream.
A
I hope so.
B
Hear, hear. Damn, that's good.
A
Very good.
B
This has been Kennedy Saves the World along with John Taffer's browned butter burger, Bourbon and Jon Taffer. I'm Kennedy. Listen ad free with the Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple podcasts and Amazon Prime. Members can listen to this show ad free on the Amazon music app. Oh, go ahead and leave me a review while you're there. I'd love to hear what you have to say. You've been listening to Kennedy Saves the World on the Fox News podcast Network.
Date: February 20, 2026
Host: Kennedy
Guest: Jon Taffer (Host of "Bar Rescue")
This lively episode of Kennedy Saves the World features famed hospitality expert and TV host Jon Taffer. The conversation mixes Taffer’s signature candor with Kennedy’s irrepressible wit as they dive into the grit, drama, and rapid-fire problem-solving behind "Bar Rescue," the evolution of American bar culture, and how bars are adapting to a changing world. Listeners are treated to behind-the-scenes secrets, commentary on trends like non-alcoholic bars and karaoke, and a heartfelt discussion about the stakes of rescuing not just failing establishments but also the dreams—and dignity—of their owners.
[01:04] The episode begins with Kennedy and Jon tasting (and toasting) Jon’s own “brown butter bourbon,” sparking a discussion on mixology basics.
[02:00] Jon humorously recalls inventing brown butter bourbon in his Georgia restaurant after a moment of culinary inspiration.
[03:19] Jon reveals he arrives blind to each rescue, getting only a 60–90 second briefing on the dire scenario he’s walking into.
[04:24] The design, planning, and construction happen with blistering speed—often a 60-day project crammed into four days. Jon shares the logistical madness and little-known secrets of the show’s output:
[06:28] The pressure-cooker environment leaves no time for hesitation.
[07:09] Kennedy and Jon discuss the deeper reasons behind failing bars—not dirt or decline, but owner psychology and emotional paralysis.
[07:39] About 70–80% of rescued bars stay successful, with others regressing—often inexplicably.
[09:17] The episode’s most heartfelt moment: Jon describes how personal the stakes can be for owners and the moving off-mic confessions he receives.
[09:39] Kennedy and Jon reflect on how running a bar represents the American dream for many—risk, personality, and social connection.
[13:06] The hosts explore how some younger adults are drinking less, leading to the rise of non-alcoholic bars and shifting social dynamics post-pandemic.
[14:44] The pandemic has permanently shifted consumer behavior; bars now compete with the comfort of home and the ease of delivery apps.
[15:17] Taffer advocates for bars with balanced offerings—excellent cocktails and mocktails—not separate sober spaces.
[15:50] The technological cocktail future: robotic bartenders that remember and recreate custom drinks, bringing a Jetsons-like novelty to the bar scene.
The conversation is spirited, funny, candid, and full of mutual appreciation—Kennedy’s quick wit balancing Taffer’s blunt insight. The episode is equal parts hospitality industry know-how, behind-the-scenes drama, and warm reflection on American dreams, risk, and the enduring power of a good bar.
For anyone who’s fantasized about owning a bar, pondered the secrets behind a TV rescue show, or wondered where post-pandemic nightlife is headed, this episode serves up a bracing, heartfelt shot of reality—with plenty of cocktail tips and laugh-out-loud asides on the side.