With Taffer’s help, however, they underwent a significant transformation – for the better. When Artful Dodger first appeared on Bar Rescue in 2016, it was struggling with a lack of steady clientele and financial instability. Artful Dodger Now in 2023 – The After Bar Rescue Update The employees showcased their improved mixing and serving skills with utmost confidence, and the bar no longer had uncontrollably-rowdy patrons. Hundreds of customers slammed the bar during its grand reopening night and they loved the new concept as if they stepped into the past. The interior was decorated with Prohibition Era adornments and furniture. The front garage door only led to a small ‘lobby’ and the true entrance into the bar was behind a secret passage. The new exterior hid the establishment’s true nature as it was a speakeasy but the name gave a subtle hint that the place was a bar. The new outsideĪfter the renovation the Artful Dodger was renamed to P’s and Q’s Auto Body. Wills introduced some of these cocktails like The Bootician and the P’s and Q’s Ginger, and Barnes taught the bartenders hospitality do’s and don’ts. Gin, rum, and whiskey cocktails were prominent during those years coupled by sophisticated table service. Speakeasies were illegal establishments during the Prohibition Era that relied on heavy secrecy to avoid detection and closure. As the bar needed something unique Taffer came up with the concept of turning Artful Dodger into a speakeasy. The customers Taffer sent in for the night were mostly over 18 and some of them were becoming rowdy, and a few “underage” clientele were able to slip through the bouncers and order drinks.Īfter the test Taffer and the experts drafted the bar’s new incarnation. During the stress test the bartenders seemingly forgot everything Wills taught them and resorted to their own cumbersome ways of mixing and serving. Bartender Phil Wills demonstrated a few tricks to enhance the employees’ serving speed while service expert Jessie Barnes subjected them to several possible bar scenarios to analyze their multitasking capabilities. With the bar now clean and free from insects the experts began their work in training the staff. In the following staff meeting Conforti and Gordon once again blamed each other as to who was responsible for the bar’s sorry state. The Bar Rescue team then spent the entire night cleaning and sanitizing every nook and cranny of Artful Dodger which revealed that mosquitoes were also part of the bar’s infestation woes. The customers showered Conforti and Gordon with expletives upon seeing that their drinks were not in a very sanitary condition, and the owner drank the shot Taffer served out of the same disgusting bottle. ![]() Taffer personally witnessed the infestation when he entered Artful Dodger and saw drowned flies floating inside one of the booze bottles. The scouts reported Artful Dodger’s disgustingly unkempt conditions with rat droppings on the couches and flies buzzing around and kamikaze diving into the drink cups. Taffer visited successful haunts in the area which teemed with customers and he pulled a hundred of them to serve as spies for his recon. Things were also equally flaccid inside the bar as the place was decked with outdated décor and damaged furniture. Artful Dodger on Bar RescueĪrtful Dodger’s dull exterior made it look like an auto repair shop from the outside and it lacked anything that could entice the locals in this affluent town. ![]() With a hundred thousand dollars in debt plus an immature customer base threatening to destroy the bar, Conforti had no other choice but to call Jon Taffer. Tensions escalated between Conforti and Gordon as they pointed fingers at each other for Artful Dodger’s decline. The rebranding came with a couple of new promotions that attracted a younger and rowdier clientele, and later on the bar’s fresh concept proved to be ineffective with nary a bit of improvement in profits. In 2011 Conforti sought the services of nightclub promoter Brian Gordon who changed a lot of things in the bar and gave it the new name Radio. For the first five years Conforti was able to rake in $50,000 monthly until similar establishments popped around the place and patrons chose those better haunts as Artful Dodger eventually became neglected and outdated. ![]()
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