‘Bar Rescue’s Jon Taffer On ‘Butt Funnels’ And Dealing With Drunk Patrons

Jon Taffer is an in-demand bar consultant, who brings drinking establishments up to working, successful order on Spike TV’s Bar Rescue.

Jon Taffer On ‘Bar Rescue’

As the host of Bar Rescue, Taffer sees his fair share of bars beyond repair. Many of those – like one that was rife with cockroaches and run by an unethical owner who neglected to pay his employees – make for great TV as Taffer whips the business into shape. But even Taffer, who has worked with upwards of 600 bars in his career, has run into bars that even he won’t try to fix – like one run by a guy who was physically abusive to his employees. “I pretty much walked out and said I will not remodel your bar,” said Taffer.

When Taffer does take on a bar to rescue, his goal is to make it a great bar. What makes a great bar, according to Taffer?

“Great bars connect with people. A great bar plays the music that you like, you relate to it, you relate to the products,” he told uInterview in an exclusive interview. “Bars have to have two things, and I call them the two R’s: they have to be relevant and they have to be really revealing. Revealing of you and your personality. Bars have to connect, and when they do they’re successful.”

Taffer is also the inventor of the “butt funnel,” which he defines as “a small opening in a dance floor, and people walk through it and it’s only 30 inches wide.”

“As [patrons] walk through it, they rub butts or rub up against each other. And in a nightclub environment, the closer you make people the more they interact, the more fun they have and the better experience they have,” says Taffer, adding, “I’m guessing there’s a few marriages out there that started at a butt funnel.”

If addition to advising about the best layout for bars, Taffer also offers suggestions about how bar owners should treat their patrons. For instance, if a patron were to become too drunk at a bar – or nightclub with a carefully designed “butt funnel” – Taffer believes it’s in the bar’s best interest to treat that patron like a house guest.

“Take care of them, make sure they’re safe, get them home safely, make sure they don’t get sick, treat them just like you would a friend in your home,” advises Taffer. “That’s what a bar professional should do no matter what the case is. Treat them like guests in your home.”

Bar Rescue airs Sundays on Spike TV at 8/9c.