Top 60 Jon Taffer Quotes

I really was going to run for Congress.

In my extensive experience, I can honestly say that Sculpture Hospitality’s inventory solutions are world class and, by far, the most comprehensive in the industry.

When I went to college, I really became interested in cultural anthropology. Our behavior isn’t that different from other primate species’.

The word ‘mixology’ adds $3 to the price of any drink.

I’ve made stupid investments. I’ve made stupid decisions as an employee. I’ve made foolish decisions as a manager. I’ve gotten fired. I’ve lost businesses. I went through all of those things.

Nine out of ten people who are failing blame their failure on somebody else. And that is the common denominator of failure.

When I was running the Troubadour, there was this transition from the classic singer/songwriter Jackson Browne types to bands like Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys, and Fear. Those are just some that come to mind. Oh, and Adam Ant! The Fear fans wanted to ‘crush’ the Ants. These guys hated each other.

Each ‘Bar Rescue’ is shot in real time. So the complete rescue is 5 days from my arrival to my departure. I do not see or meet anyone in advance.

I’m a really happy guy. I have a great career, a wonderful wife and family.

If I were to pick the life of someone whom I professionally mimic in many ways, it would be Howard Hughes, surprisingly.

If you have to signal a bartender to get a drink, then they’re not looking at you, which is their problem. They’re not doing their job. So don’t feel rude when you signal a bartender. They’re the ones who caused you to signal them. Go for it.

I have a playroom with my drum set, a guitar, and amplifier at home.

You can tell within a second of entering a bar if it’s a place you should spend your time.

The greatest gift of leadership is a boss who wants you to be successful.

Sometimes people go into my business because they like to drink, which – that’s insane.

Human interaction is something that I believe, as humans, we crave for. And that is where bars and social environments come into play.

Rarely does a congressman stand up and defend a liquor company. Rarely does a congressman stand up and defend a bar.

The fact of the matter is that the most important responsibility a bar owner has is public safety and the safety of the people in it.

The Knack were a very, very powerful band, and you got to understand, when they came in, all the punk stuff was still going on. There was an amazing conflict within the scenes.

Any time a bar or chef cares more about their own ego than the tastes and comforts of their customers, they should just open a monument to themselves and not a business.

I’ve always said that my greatest crises are my greatest opportunities to prove my own character to myself.

People don’t go to bars they think are uncool.

I went to college for political science and got a bartending job.

When I’m angry on TV, I’m actually not. I’m manipulating you as an owner.

I guess I’ve just always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

Bars need to be conceived and built for the local audience, not the personal tastes of the owner. Huge mistakes are made with regard to market research and concepts. Research and capital are paramount!

Don’t open a bar if you think all you need to be is social and greet the customers. You have to run a business.

Bar owners tend to be social rather than operators. Most bar owners do not manage their numbers. They do not have spreadsheets or reports to manage their budget, cost, or inventory. I would say 90% of independent bar owners do not even have a budget.

I don’t want to hire people who have less of a commitment than I do.

I think success is a relative term. If you’re a caveman, success is capturing an elephant. Success is achieving better than the norm. Success is being exceptional. It’s exceptional reputation, exceptional income, and exceptional respect.

Most people who get into the business are social animals by nature, but do they have the financial abilities to manage a business? A great bar owner has both.

Bars are about experience and interaction; so often, the people make the bar.

Eating something with someone is the second most sensual and intimate thing you can do in life. The experience can’t just be about consumption.

Revenue cures everything in the business world.

Excuses destroy success every time.

A plate of food hits the table, lands right in front of you. One of two things happens. Either you sit up and look at it and react to it, or nothing happens. If nothing happens then that restaurant is stuck in mediocrity forever.

When you’re on-stage, you’re expected to perform in the bar business. You shake hands. You smile. You’re all positive energy: you add to your environment. When you walk in the door to the back of the house, that’s like a stage door. You’re off-stage now.

On ‘Bar Rescue,’ failure is not an option. I have to try to turn the business around.

It’s easy to be good when things are great; it’s tough to be good when they’re not.

If I’m your boss, and I truly want you to be successful… I’m inherently going to teach you. I’m inherently going to correct your mistakes. I’m inherently going to spend time with you. I’m inherently going to lead you.

Too many bar owners built a bar for themselves… when they should have built what their market and demographic demands!

The simple things can be really powerful.

The ‘hottest bar in town,’ to me, means high energy.

I think everybody thinks they can have the next $100 million venue. I think there is a bit of arrogance in that.

Failure is an awful thing, and when I look at the common denominator of failure, it seems to always be the same thing: excuses.

I do a lot of corporate consulting work. I’ve been doing it a long time.

You give me someone with the right personality, and I’ll give you a bar manager in three weeks. You give me someone who has been a lousy bar manager for 30 years, and in three weeks, you’ll still have a lousy bar manager.

Cocktails and food are social.

When my company does a good job, we make people happy. They laugh, they smile, they have a good time – that’s what we do for a living. Any business doing that is making a noble effort.

Keeping a bar clean is basic in this business. Having a staff that speaks adequate English is basic.

Don’t build a bar for yourself. Build it for your customers. It’s all about them: the walls, the finishes, the textures, the food, the beverages, literally everything has to be for them.

The infusion of technology and social marketing to bar spaces is a big opportunity.

Putting somebody else in crisis mode and causing them to make quicker decisions, urgent decisions, rather than prolonged, more logical decisions can be very advantageous. So, to be successful in business, you have to understand the power of confrontation and how to use it correctly.

I think the greatest mistakes have been my greatest lessons.

When you’re finished, bars are not inherently profitable. You got to work at them to make them profitable.

In the bar and restaurant industry, you’re always one idea away from your next quarter-million.

When I meet with people who are ineffective managers with failing businesses, I can’t change what they do – I have to change the way they think.

Don’t eat the bar nuts.

I was 12 years old and in summer camp. I started a company called Aardvark Industries, which provided basic services to camp counselors.

The right personality with a weak resume can be filled in. That’s the employee who will become great.