Each episode of "Bar Rescue" has a budget that includes the costs of the bar renovation, and all expenses are paid by the production company, regardless of what happens after the show. Based on Anthony Curtis’ experience when he appeared on the show that featured Bar 702 (formerly the Sand Dollar), the amount of work done isn’t trivial, but it’s mostly cosmetic so it appears that more is being done than really is. The magic of editing is also at work, so you see only the major changes in the light that the show wants you to see them.
At Bar 702, for example, a lot of the work was done on interior walls that were spruced up to create the new look. However, a part of the bar that was much in need of attention, the bathrooms, was left untouched. Viewers didn’t know that, because the bathrooms were never mentioned during the show, but it was obvious to patrons that it wasn’t a complete makeover. That’s not to say that the work that’s done isn’t fairly extensive, as Anthony explains:
"When I was on the show they gave us a schedule for a one-week shoot. In the middle was one day off for the renovation, but it was actually closer to two days of construction, because they worked through the night before and after the off day. During that time the set is pretty much closed, but I got to go in to work with the slot operators changing out the programs on the machines. There was a big crew working away through the night. Knowing the bar as well as I did, I could see how they made it look like they’d done more than they had, but it was still a significant upgrade."
How significant? We’d guess about $20,000 to $25,000 worth of work.
With regard to bars going back to their original themes or closing, it doesn’t seem to have much bearing on anything. The show has no ongoing stake in the bar’s success and the contracts don’t require further involvement from either side. Despite Las Vegas’ Gypsy, which became SBLV, The Underworld, which became The End, and Alibi, which became Garnet Lounge, all closing, there were no news stories locally or otherwise making a point that they were "Bar Rescue" failures. The show got its episodes, the bars got their remakes and hundreds of thousands of dollars in publicity, and the chips fell where they fell. Even Bar 702, which seems to have benefitted from being on the show, discarded many "Bar Rescue" changes, including removing most of the good video poker schedules that Anthony installed after a new slot-route operator took over and set things up its own way (there are still two machines on the north corner of the bar with 10/7 Double Bonus, which returns 100.17%).
For the record, the other two Las Vegas bars that have been featured on the show—The Hammer and Kerry’s Sports Pub—are still operating under their new names of Hammer & Ales and Bacon Bar, respectively. You can stay up on the progress of all the bars that have been on the show at barrescueupdates.com, which seems to be fairly accurate (though it missed the closing of The End).
Meanwhile, host Jon Taffer has been active on the Vegas scene since moving here recently and says he plans to open his own bar in Las Vegas, modestly named the World’s Best Bar.
