From Mess to Success: Spike TV Readies Bar Rescue Reality Show Bar consultant Jon Taffer offers his top three management tips for business owners in all industries.
By Jason Fell
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Get your remote controls and DVR systems ready. Another entrepreneur-themed reality TV show is set to hit airwaves this weekend.
Spike TV is premiering a new 10-episode series called Bar Rescue Sunday at 10 p.m., EST. The show features restaurant and bar consultant Jon Taffer as he travels from city-to-city with his wife, Nicole, attempting to give bars that are on the rocks one final chance to turn things around.
"The bar business is a very social business, and many owners come into it for the wrong reasons," says Taffer, who started consulting in 1986 and says he has worked with more than 800 establishments all over the world. "Running a bar is not as sexy or easy as most people think. Too often, owners get involved for the wrong reasons -- whether for social gain or easy money -- and do not have the self-discipline or determination to be successful."
With more than 30 years in the bar biz, Taffer relies on "in-your-face" techniques to teach owners business fundamentals such as team building, consumer marketing, promotion, product merchandising and expense management, just to name a few.
Bar Rescue joins the growing roster of business turnaround-type programs, including Fox's Kitchen Nightmares with chef Gordon Ramsay, Food Network's Restaurant Impossible and National Geographic channel's The Turnaround King with sales pro Grant Cardone.
Here, Taffer offers his top three management tips for business owners in all industries:
1. Have sufficient capital. Always have more money on-hand than you think you'll need to get started. "Many businesses have cost overruns or take longer to reach profitability," Taffer says. "Many owners [who have failed] would have made it if they had a bit more capital and time to find success."
2. Know your numbers. The bar business, just like most others, depends immensely on managing controllable expenses. "Too many owners, especially rookies, tend to not get their financial reporting house in order," Taffer explains. "If you do not know every penny of expense and revenue each day or week, you could have a major problem and not even know it."
3. Get serious about marketing. Businesses can spend too much on it, but no business can market too much, according to Taffer. "Work topline revenue every day without spending much money," he says. "Great marketing is big ideas, not big checkbooks."
Have you had to change course for your business to avoid a disaster? What was your big challenge and how did you overcome it? Tell us below in the comments section.
