'Bar Rescue's' Jon Taffer Isn't Afraid to Call Founders on Their B.S. The hospitality legend is on a one-man crusade to help entrepreneurs own their failures, get over their hang-ups and succeed.
By Mike Sager •
This story appears in the March 2018 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »
If you know anything about Jon Taffer, you know he likes to yell. On his hit Spike TV show, Bar Rescue, where Taffer parachutes into entrepreneurs' struggling bars to turn them around in three days, he is a looming, at times obnoxious presence -- a man whose eyes bug out as he berates incompetent owners and employees. "I watched you pick up raw chicken all night with your hands and then touch cooked food!" he yells, grabbing and throwing a handful of tortilla chips for emphasis as the guilty party trembles before him.
Onstage at conferences, where Taffer, 64, gives keynotes about how to take control of a business, he yells during much of his presentation. Even his new book's title screams from the cover: Don't Bullsh*t Yourself!: Crush the Excuses That Are Holding You Back.
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