Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
All right, guys. Go live. Show me what you got.
NARRATOR: Tonight...
In this room, at least four cameras.
...on "Restaurant Stakeout"...
[ Cheers and applause ]
This is not good.
I'm walking right out.
...Willie is called in by a distressed owner...
MAN: Do some more shots.
This shouldn't be happening.
NARRATOR: ...to save her New Orleans style restaurant...
...where the staff is partying too much...
You're getting robbed blind.
...and abandoning customers.
[ Laughs ]
Look at this. She's drunk out of her mind.
This is embarrassing.
This place is a joke.
Willie must save this neighborhood institution...
You don't deserve this job. Take a walk.
...before it's too late.
In all my years doing this, this was one of the worst.
[ Gasps ]
Oh, my God.
If we can't fix them, we fire them.
Whoo!
Meet Willie Degel...
So we had a good lunch?
...owner of a string
of successful steakhouse restaurants in New York City.
Let me get that door for you.
Our service is number one in the world.
NARRATOR: And how has he managed to have such great service?
These --
his staff is under surveillance 24/7.
If you can't see the problem, you can't solve the problem.
NARRATOR: Now owners across the country are reaching out to Willie...
Let's get ready to roll.
...for his help in saving their troubled establishments.
Beam me up, Robbie.
NARRATOR: Willie combines his expertise in both service...
You girls got to really test her on the menu.
...and surveillance...
WOMAN: Oh, my God.
...to give owners hard evidence
of what happens in their restaurant...
when no one is watching.
WILLIE: I'm gonna go in there and tell them exactly
how this restaurant should be run --
no excuses, no crybabies, period.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
My name's Lisa, and I'm the owner of The Bayou restaurant
in North Bellmore, New York.
How's it going?
The Bayou's been here for 26 years,
and I've been an owner for 22 years.
We'll get that started.
LISA: The atmosphere of The Bayou is very Bourbon Street.
When you walk through the door,
if you don't have fun, there's something wrong.
[ Laughs ]
[ Bell dinging ]
We serve Cajun and Creole food.
One of the popular dishes here is pan-fried catfish.
What can I get for you?
The Bayou has an extensive drink list.
I mean, people love our signature cocktails.
It's always a new adventure every day.
Cheers.
NARRATOR: But over the last year,
the business at The Bayou has begun to disappear.
LISA: We are definitely not as busy.
It's slow, right?
And I'm not sure what's going on with business.
I don't know. I think I'm missing something.
I know that it could be busier here.
NARRATOR: Online reviews point to inconsistent service
and an unpredictable experience in the dining room.
Adding to the problem, in the Fall of 2012,
Hurricane Sandy decimated the local community...
LISA: Business is down a lot since Hurricane Sandy.
NARRATOR: ...turning an already-difficult situation
into something much more dire.
A lot of our customers are still recovering,
and the last thing on their mind is coming out and having dinner.
Restaurants can very quickly snowball out of business,
and I'm very concerned about that
with the way everything has been.
If The Bayou were to fail, it's pretty much my entire life.
If things don't pick up soon, I'm gonna go out of business.
NARRATOR: Desperate for answers as to why her restaurant is failing...
WILLIE: Yeah, Lisa, it's Willie.
I need you to meet me in five minutes by the old reservoir.
NARRATOR: ...Lisa reaches out to Willie.
Good.
So, what do you need my help with The Bayou about?
Okay.
Things have changed a little bit since the hurricane,
but I feel like there's something going on
in the restaurant.
Willie is the last hope Lisa has to find the problem.
I need in this room alone at least four cameras.
With no time to lose, Willie and his team wire up The Bayou
and hide out in an abandoned store nearby.
All right, guys. Go live, man.
All right, you're locked on the whole place.
You got the dining room. You got the bar.
Great.
Now that The Bayou's wired,
it's time to perform our stakeout.
Oh, wow.
Boy.
Let's go in here. Have a seat.
First I want to meet all of Lisa's employees
and observe them working on the floor.
Then I'm gonna run tests to pinpoint the problems.
Then finally, I'm gonna confront everybody
and set them all straight.
All right, so what we do here with Willie-vision,
I want to know about your staff.
You're gonna introduce me to different people
who work here, tell me who they are, what they do,
Okay.
All right, so who's that on camera "F"?
All right, guys,
we're doing a chef's choice price fix special for $24.95.
LISA: That's Julia.
WILLIE: How long she's here?
I don't know. A couple years.
She's good at what she does?
She's an excellent waiter.
I'll give you guys a little bit of time to think.
Perfect. I'll come back.
You're welcome.
LISA: People recognize her,
and they really look forward to seeing her.
When they come in, they ask for her.
So, camera "G," who's that now behind the bar?
Do you know what you want?
Is the Voodoo Juice popular?
Yeah.
That's Emily.
She's been with me about six months.
Okay. How is she?
She's, you know, kind of a little bit of a party girl.
She's younger. She's a looker. Okay.
KATIE: Yeah.
Come here. Ready?
No, I'm gonna try to get it on your head.
All right. Stand here?
Yeah.
Just try to put your head through them.
[ Laughs ]
Wow. Who's this having playtime with Emily on camera "H"?
LISA: That's Katie.
Katie? She's a waitress?
How long she been here?
She's been with me -- I don't know -- for 10 years.
Wow. On and off for 10 years.
So, I could quit here,
and I know I can come back no matter what
because you're taking me.
I'm very motherly that way.
It's like I always want to give someone a second try.
Don't worry. I have another one.
All right.
Ready?
[ Laughs ]
WILLIE: So, that policy's really working well for you.
I'll tell you what.
Every time I've taken people back
for different reasons, they've screwed me over somehow.
So, I have one rule -- I never take anybody back.
And people don't quit no more.
Bring up camera "G."
Who's that bartending, making the drinks?
That's Laura bartending.
She's been with us about a year.
Do you like her?
I like her a lot.
Okay. Look at camera "G."
That's a pretty big pour.
I see.
Are you watching this?
She's still pouring in there.
She's just made four drinks.
No, way more than that.
That's 1/3 of the bottle of tequila.
I don't think you get more than 10 drinks out of a bottle.
I don't. I lose a lot of money on liquor.
Now, that's a 16-ounce margarita,
but she poured at least 8 ounces of tequila in.
It's not supposed to be in a 16-ounce glass.
We have a margarita glass that's a 10-ounce glass.
Yeah. How much do you charge for that margarita?
Do you know?
She's supposed to charge $9.
$9?
That's like an $18 margarita.
That's more like a $25 margarita.
So, right there, you're losing thousands of dollars
every night in oversized drinks, right?
We have a lot of issues at the bar.
Look at camera "E."
MAN: I was negotiating shoes.
Okay, go ahead!
[ Laughs ]
All right, so you got these guys at the bar
that are extremely, already too drunk,
they've been over-served, right?
They're getting ridiculous.
Oh, yeah!
[ Laughs ]
I'm totally fine.
WILLIE: So, Lisa, is this normal?
Where's your staff?
Why aren't they doing anything?
Because the people in the dining room can see and hear
what's going on at the bar.
Like, this shouldn't be happening.
The lawyer says it went really well.
I'm here 20 minutes, and look at this place.
It's already out of hand.
No wonder you're losing business.
[ Grunts ]
See, this is what happens
when you over-pour drinks all night.
You end up with a bunch of drunk knuckleheads.
What are you running -- a restaurant or a dive bar?
So not good.
Yeah, no kidding.
Look at this place. It's insane.
Oh, yeah!
You got to be kidding me.
[ Laughs ]
Oh, my God.
I walk in here, I see customers over-served at the bar,
everybody getting loud, obnoxious,
I'm never coming in here.
I'm going home, I'm going next door,
I'm going Spanish, I'm going Chinese.
I ain't going Cajun/Creole to The Bayou.
I'm walking right out.
Can you say "excuse me" when you bump into me?
You're blocking the whole walkway, okay?
Look at this on camera "H."
I don't know what to say.
Excuse you.
This is ridiculous.
[ Man laughs ]
WILLIE: So, Lisa, we've been here an hour.
Already, your bar's a mess, right?
Everybody's loud, obnoxious.
Let's see how your tables are.
So, how many seats you have in the dining room?
48.
48 seats, and how many seats you have at the bar?
12.
12 seats at the bar.
All right, so what I want to do now
is run a service test on your dining room.
So, what we're gonna do is
we're gonna send a few plants in to the dining room now,
and I want to see how attentive and detail-oriented
your staff is with customers.
Okay, Heidi, go ahead in.
Go in with your friend. Go in. Sit down.
Hi. How are you?
Two for dinner?
Would you like a booth or a table?
All right, get comfortable, sit down.
You're gonna test Julia.
Ask some questions about the drinks.
JULIA: All right, ladies. How are we doing tonight?
Hey. Good.
That's good.
Can I start you off with some drinks this evening?
Order a Typhoon.
Is the Typhoon good?
It's delicious.
I like the Typhoon --
anything with ***, but I like that one.
Okay. I'll go for that one, then.
Sure. Typhoon.
What do you want them to order?
Chicken Etoufee's a popular dish.
How's it taste?
It's made with a brown roux.
It's a flavorful brown gravy -- vegetable gravy.
Okay.
Order a Chicken Etoufee, but sauce on the side.
Mm-hmm.
It sounds good, but can I get the gravy on the side,
'cause I don't really know if I'm gonna like it?
Yeah, sure. Not a problem.
Okay.
And I think I'm gonna get the wedge salad.
Okay.
WILLIE: All right, so far, so good.
Julia's service was on point.
She's on top of things.
She's getting that drink order in right away.
She's all right.
It's a Typhoon.
Oh, I can make this one.
Go for it.
So, Emily grabs the drink order.
She's gonna make the Typhoon for Julia's table.
Oh, wait.
Has she ever bartended before, this one?
Yeah.
How long she been there?
About six months.
[ Humming ]
She's not even holding the bottle right.
[ Chuckling ] Whoopsy-daisy.
You got it.
What is that?
[ Singsong voice ] Typhoon.
No, that's not a Typhoon.
[ Chuckles ]
[ Chuckling ] Oh, my God.
Lemonade? No cranberry, pineapple?
You don't know how to make a Typhoon?
I guess I'll have to make it.
[ Scoffs ]
WILLIE: So, look. She's got to check the menu.
Unbelievable.
What are we supposed to have?
So, Emily don't know how to make any drinks,
and Laura, your head bartender, is just taking over.
She's not teaching her anything.
I like it when Emily makes mistakes.
Of course you would.
What did she say? Katie's drinking that drink now?
Tastes good to me.
[ Chuckles ] Beat you this time.
Emily's drinking, too? Look at this place.
It's just like a big playground here.
I mean, look what you're running.
I'm seeing it on the screen, and I'm still --
I-I don't know what to say.
This is embarrassing.
WOMAN: Oh, yeah.
All right.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Good?
WILLIE: Come on. This is ridiculous.
No one can make a drink right in this place.
I see them over-pouring.
I call, and I'm like, "Don't over-pour,"
and they just over-pour.
Well, you need to do full inventory control
on the bar every day, right?
They're pouring out profits.
You really got to mark your bottles.
You got to see what's going on.
Look at Emily.
All she cares about is finishing that drink.
This is why you can't even make a drink right.
You guys are sitting here drinking.
Like you know so much.
You're so perfect.
I'm not perfect. I'm just not slacking off.
[ Scoffs ]
There's your money. There's your business.
Julia's probably your best one there,
and now they're sucking her into this.
This lazy behavior's contagious.
I know. I do. I really know.
There's no one here. What do you want me to do?
Well, certainly doesn't mean it's time to drink.
All right, you want to act like you know everything
and you're the best at everything,
so just do everything, then.
Lisa hired me. She must not have a problem with me.
Oh, my God.
WILLIE: Come on. This is embarrassing.
We send in some people to have a dining experience,
and they're overhearing this.
This is not good.
This is ridiculous.
So, look. Katie's bumping into her.
She's half in the bag. Come on.
Say "excuse me."
This is unbelievable. Look at this.
All right, the wedge salad.
Thank you. Looks great.
And the Etoufee chicken.
Um...I really wanted the gravy on the side.
Oh, my gosh. I'm so sorry.
Would you like me to have them remake that for you?
Would that be okay?
Yeah. If you could do that, that would be great.
Okay, I'm so sorry about that.
So, look. The food comes out with the sauce on it.
Julia got sucked into that nonsense at the bar,
and now she can't do her job right.
One issue compounds to another issue...
Should've been right the first time.
...one to another issue.
It's not like you're busy.
You just got a couple of rotten apples
that care more about drinking
than taking care of your customers,
and those bad seeds
are making your best employee fail at her job, too.
Look at this.
There's absolutely no professionalism.
LISA: It's like they're at home.
I have created -- It's a home away from home.
You're going out of business.
You're running on empty here.
So, the first issue I see here is
the staff is just way too laid back.
They're partying behind the bar,
and the food's just not getting served right.
From bus girls to bartenders,
every position reflects on your business.
And at my restaurants, there's never a weak link.
I need the chicken separate from the gravy and the sauce.
Like, they want the sauce --
Do we have milk?
Can you say "excuse me" when you bump into me?
I didn't do it on purpose.
You're blocking the whole walkway, okay?
WILLIE: Look at this on camera "H."
Come on.
I don't know what to say.
JULIA: I'm carrying food. I'm working.
KATIE: You're in everyone's business,
you're doing everything, you're perfect.
You got to be kidding me.
I have to be honest. I had no idea it was this bad.
I was getting milk for my table, okay?
I need this with the gravy on the side.
If there's a little on the chicken, it's fine.
Yes.
They did, and it was my mistake.
And Perfect made a mistake, I see.
Excuse you.
WILLIE: This girl's the worst, right?
Unbelievable.
We got to take charge of the front of the house right away.
Service got to be on point, got to have them accountable.
If we can't fix them, we fire them.
Look at this. She's drunk out of her mind.
Whoo!
You can't get much worse.
This is embarrassing.
This place is a joke.
Is there anything else I can get for you guys?
All right, enjoy.
WILLIE: So, look at your barmaid on camera "G" right now.
She's texting people.
Got a couple of guests at the bar.
Look at the guy in the kitchen -- camera "M."
He's on his cellphone.
So, what happens when you're not here?
Who runs the store?
They're left to their own devices.
How do you think that works for you?
It's not working out.
So, let me ask you.
Every time I talk to you about these things,
what I'm seeing, what you tell me about,
you're very, like, laid back.
It's like it's very normal.
I'm not getting much passion.
Like, you sure you want to do this?
Am I wasting my time?
Do you want to still be in this business?
When are we having a closing party
and putting a sign up -- "Drink us out of house and home.
Put us out of our misery. Going out of business."
I don't want to have a closing party.
I'm telling you that right now.
I do not want to have a closing party.
Well, you're really going down that road.
Your customers and your staff feed off you.
And I'm getting right now --
The energy I'm feeling from you is
like somebody who's done and you've been beaten already.
So, what are we gonna do today?
Get inspired, right?
Absolutely.
Say it.
I need to get inspired.
I really do.
I need to be inspired.
So, let's get back to basics
and take it to the next level.
Yes.
All right. Camera "G."
How you doing?
I didn't know you guys were coming in today.
[ Grunts ]
Good.
Good to see you.
Good.
You haven't come in in a while.
Totally.
So, you have two customers, right?
Looks like they're regulars and they're friends with Emily.
Do you guys want a chaser?
Limes?
She's already doing shots with them.
Whoop. Whoop.
Cheers.
WILLIE: Your staff's got a one-track mind.
How are they still standing?
Mmm.
That was good.
She said, "We're gonna do more later."
You're getting robbed blind by everybody.
Come on. This is ridiculous.
Who's that on camera "D"?
LISA: That's Katie.
What is she doing?
Let's play our game, Emy.
The bead game.
Oh, great. Their favorite game.
You got to be kidding me.
Ready?
LISA: What is she doing?
Oh.
Sorry. That was my fault. My fault, my fault.
Do it again. Ready? [ Laughs ]
Oh, I got it on!
[ Cheers and applause ]
WILLIE: Look how annoyed all your guests are in the dining room.
You think you can run your business this way
and actually succeed?
I'm horrified.
Ready? Ready?
[ Groans ]
Okay, sorry. That was my fault.
Do it again. Do it again.
You got two new customers. They walk in.
Basically don't know what's going on here, right?
Oh!
WOMAN: Damn.
How is their first impression?
The first impression they're getting is of drunk guys
at the bar with my staff playing games.
Oh, no. So close.
I just don't want to be by the bar,
'cause it's too loud and obnoxious.
It is a little loud over there, yeah.
Yeah.
WILLIE: Look at this place.
This whole Cajun/Creole, like you're having a Mardi Gras --
the staff is having a party of their life,
and what are your guests getting?
What benefit do they have?
Are they getting a true experience?
They're not. I don't see it.
Right?
...anywhere?
Who's supposed to be looking after this table?
Katie should've been right there to greet them.
Ready?
BOTH: Go.
This is -- It's just so embarrassing.
No one in charge, staff does whatever they want.
Katie's hanging out with Emily at the bar,
having a good ol' time, not concerned about her guests.
Who's in charge? Nobody. Right?
I feel like we've been here for like 40 minutes.
WOMAN: I know.
Hey, can you get our...
Oh.
Okay.
What can I get for you?
So, look. These customers are waiting forever.
Now finally, Katie's coming over to the table.
This is embarrassing. This place is a joke.
I don't know what to say.
Emily!
EMILY: What?
Shots.
Laura, are you gonna do one this time,
or are we still holding out?
Come on, Laura. Have a shot, baby.
Do some more shots.
Yeah, so these guys are whacked. Emily's whacked.
They're pounding down your tequila.
I look at your staff. Where's their sense of pride?
Where's their professionalism?
Happy tequila day. Yippee skippy.
You know what? Stuff doesn't happen like this overnight.
They are trained to be this awful.
I know.
I've seen this happen before.
I'm in this business since I'm a little kid.
And everything feeds off you, the leader.
Every restaurant, every store I do is about the owner.
You're beat down, you're burnt out, you're not here.
When you point it out that way, yes, I see it.
So, every day, first person you're gonna wake up
and hold accountable every day, on a new mission,
with a new plan, is who?
You.
So, the next issue I see here is no leadership.
There's absolutely nobody running this restaurant.
I don't care if you're burned out.
If you're in charge
and you don't show up for your employees,
don't expect them to show up for you.
Whoo.
KATIE: Thanks, love.
Emily, I think your drinks are spectacular.
All right.
Oh, my gosh.
My apologies.
Well, enjoy, ladies.
I'll check back on you in a couple minutes, okay?
You're welcome.
WILLIE: So, Julia just brought the food out to Katie's table.
Where's Katie?
You know, Katie, I just had to run your food.
KATIE: Are they okay? They're fine.
They're fine, but they were like --
They asked for their food.
I went back there. It was up.
Like, you know --
Okay. So, they got it?
It's one table. Just get it together. Yeah.
So, what's the big deal?
"What's the big deal?"
Why am I running your food?
She's arguing with Julia.
Julia's telling her like it is, right?
But who's backing up Julia? Nobody.
Just pay more attention to your tables.
I'm paying attention.
Why don't you have any beads on?
I don't know. That's a good question.
You should put some on.
I think that'll lighten your mood.
WILLIE: I mean, so look at this.
Your staff's drunk. There's no teamwork here.
Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready?
Is this whiskey?
Just drink it.
WILLIE: Look at this mess.
For the money you're losing at the bar alone,
they should be paying your rent.
[ Cheering ]
Shot. Shot. Shot. Shot. Shot.
Nobody respects, nobody cares about you.
You're like an absentee owner.
Shots. Shots. Shots. Shots. Shots.
This is the norm here.
You can't get much worse.
[ Man shouts indistinctly ]
EMILY: Whoo-hoo-hoo! Whoo!
You know what? I'm over it.
Fine.
It is crazy.
Don't be wasting my time.
Really?
Is everything okay, guys?
Oh, okay. Not a problem. Not a problem.
We'll be right back.
Yeah.
WILLIE: So, it's getting close to closing time.
There's only a few customers left,
and Julia's table just went out for a smoke break.
What's Katie doing on camera "F"?
The plates are full.
Look at this one.
She comes over here, takes customers' food --
they're outside having a smoke break -- and throws it out.
Are you kidding me?
I'm surprised she's not eating it, 'cause she's so drunk.
So, look at Julia.
She's at the host stand, doing anything.
Now all of a sudden, Katie wants to work half in the bag.
Right?
She just wants to get these people out of here
so she can finish up for the night and keep drinking.
No more.
So let's have a drink.
All right, fine.
WILLIE: You got to be kidding me.
Like, I'm really -- I'm just so disappointed.
Just think about it.
Do they really care?
They don't really care.
They don't care about your customers.
Right?
Okay.
[ Chuckles ]
I don't know.
Maybe they figured
they'd keep it warm for us or something.
I don't know.
Now these two come back.
They're wondering where their food is.
They went to take a cigarette break.
Oh, my God.
Where's your staff?
Look at Katie behind the bar with Emily.
Here comes Julia.
What's the story with our food here?
WOMAN: Our food's gone.
Oh, my goodness. You know what?
I honestly -- I have no idea where it could've gone.
Let me go find it.
Give me two minutes. I'll be right back.
Let me find out what happened to your food.
Katie, did you clear their food at the table?
Yeah.
They were smoking. They came back.
Now I have to have them remake the whole thing?
No one told me that.
WILLIE: Look at this staff. Here we go again.
Bickering in front of customers.
This is getting old. Enough already.
I had to take care of your table,
you're over here doing shots, you're playing bead games,
and now, when you decide to clear a table,
it's when they're not even gone?
Well, how am I supposed to know that?
You don't tell me anything, as usual.
Look at this. They're going on and on and on.
Every customer's got to come in this restaurant,
sit here, and listen to this?
It is crazy.
You just decide to start working now?
Well, I saw food there left there.
What are you even doing behind the bar?
So, since you've been jumping down my throat all night
that I'm not doing anything, I decided to do something.
Look at the guests at the bar.
They're like, "What are they even doing there?"
They're laughing.
LISA: They're laughing at the drama.
Okay, well, now I have to remake their food.
Okay, well, then why don't you communicate?
Do you want to go apologize to them?
Why don't you go,
since you're not the one that delivered the information?
Good, please do.
Maybe -- Okay, fine.
You know what? I'm over it.
Fine.
So, issue number three -- fighting amongst the staff.
Julia and Katie are at each other's throats constantly.
When you have employees arguing constantly on the floor,
you're gonna have your customers heading for the door.
Look, Julia's walking out now. She's had enough.
You're losing your best employee.
LISA: Oh, my God.
Let her call.
Look at how the negative energy is taking
the best girl you had so far, Julia,
just beating her down,
and she walked out on you, right?
She's the best girl.
We can build around her, right?
You should put her in charge.
Let's just get out of here.
Let's get the [bleep] out of here.
Look, this guy's leaving. Your customers are done.
They're not paying. They're not happy.
They're never coming back again, right?
Wrap this up. Get in there.
Go get Julia back.
Get a meeting. Get in there now.
I'm coming in.
So, the key issues I see at The Bayou
are partying employees with no sense of professionalism,
a burnt-out owner who's forgotten how to lead,
and a staff that's continually fighting on the floor
and driving customers out the door.
NARRATOR: After grabbing Julia
and bringing her back to the restaurant,
Lisa gathers the staff for an emergency meeting.
LISA: Hey, guys.
I called you all here tonight
because we need to have a staff meeting.
NARRATOR: They have no idea what's about to hit them.
We used to have them more regularly, and now it's time.
So, there's some issues that we definitely need to address.
All right, Lisa, I got it from here, right?
Hi. I'm William Jack Degel of Uncle Jack's Steakhouse.
Lisa reached out to me
so we could do a stakeout on you guys,
so we set up hidden cameras and microphones in the restaurant
and surveilled you, so we saw everything that goes on.
So, we saw a lot of things
that were some good things for building blocks,
but not many of them.
I got to tell you, in all my years doing this,
this was one of the worst weeks I've had watching anything
because the staff stinks.
This restaurant and this woman's life savings are on the line.
Right now, you should all be embarrassed.
Katie, the service was awful. Only Julia cared a little bit.
And then you beat her up for it,
and you made comments about her.
And you took the other person's food, and you threw it out.
When you decide to clear a table,
it's when they're not even gone?
Well, how am I supposed to know that?
You don't tell me anything.
WILLIE: You didn't communicate.
There's no reason you touch her table
when she's handling it
and she knew they went out for a smoke.
All of a sudden, you want to work.
You shouldn't involve yourself in her table.
She had it covered.
Well, I felt like all she had been doing all night
was complaining that I wasn't doing anything,
and I saw the food there --
I wasn't complaining. I was stating the obvious.
I was trying to do something.
LISA: Where did you think they were, though?
I thought they left.
There was like half plate of food.
WILLIE: All you had to do was say to her --
She was right at the hostess stand.
All you had to do was say to her,
out of the blue, just say to her --
She's not easy to communicate with.
She ignores me.
Well, why do you think she does ignore you?
When you're partying and drinking and you're not working
and you're not putting the best effort forward,
meanwhile, she's working.
Her priorities are right.
You're here to do a job.
If it was up to me, I would've fired you already.
WILLIE: You, Katie.
When you're partying and drinking and you're not working
and you're not putting the best effort forward,
meanwhile, she's working.
Her priorities are right.
You're here to do a job.
If it was up to me, I would've fired you already.
How many times you come back to work here?
A bunch.
A bunch?
Where can you keep coming back to a job?
This isn't a pension plan, right?
This poor woman's working.
She's trying to do everything possible
to run this business, right?
And what are you doing? You're drinking.
You don't care about the guests.
Ready?
BOTH: Go.
I said I would rather just fire you.
She wants to work with you
because she's got a really kind heart,
but you are taking advantage of her.
And, you, Emily, I don't know
how you can even call yourself a bartender.
You can't make a drink on the menu.
What is that?
[ Singsong voice ] Typhoon.
No, that's not a Typhoon.
Emily, you drank more than you actually served.
I don't see you making any money.
Who trained you?
Laura, you've got to take charge.
You've been here the longest. You're bartending for years.
Why aren't you taking this young girl
and cracking a whip and showing her the right way?
I've been trying,
but she doesn't even want to listen to me.
What kind of trying?
You know, I ask you, "Oh, what is this drink?"
And maybe I've been here a while,
but I don't see you ever trying to show me
or help me or tell me what I'm doing wrong.
You just let me out there, and then I screw it up.
She just doesn't care.
But there's no teamwork here.
Everybody's out for themselves, and nobody's out for Lisa.
You have bad habits, and a lot of customers are benefiting
from extra free drinks and free shots, 'cause we saw it.
And over-pouring.
Way over-pouring.
Laura, you were making margaritas that were 50/50.
You're giving way too much alcohol away.
You've been bartending how long?
LAURA: On and off.
WILLIE: Well, I'm gonna teach you how to bartend again.
You're the senior bartender. You've been here the longest.
You're supposed to be a pro.
Then you had the guys --
they were basically intoxicated, getting really loud.
They were giving themselves --
What were they giving? Wedgies?
Wedgies.
Oh, yeah!
[ Laughs ]
Oh, my God.
But you were still giving them drinks.
They were loud. They were obnoxious.
So now if I come to eat here
and I want to sit in the dining room,
I have to walk past that and go, "Oh, my God.
"This is where I'm going to eat?
Do I really want that?"
So, you got to make a choice what you want to be.
Do you want to be a bar with a big party
and everybody get drunk and out of their mind,
or do you want to be a restaurant first?
Which do you want to be?
I want to be a restaurant.
I don't want people to have to go through a gauntlet of men
giving each other wedgies and drunken people.
It makes people uncomfortable as soon as they come in.
We need to get back to the food.
I know your chef does a great job.
Your food's on point.
So, that's one thing that's for sure.
The food's on point.
Absolutely. The food is perfect.
Right? And the service stinks, right?
So, we can fix that, right?
It doesn't stink.
It does stink. The service was awful.
The guests don't owe you anything.
They come here for an experience,
which is great service and great food.
What does that mean?
First of all, you can't get drunk and serve people.
This is a job.
You're a professional.
You serve drinks to the guest.
You go out and drink on your own time.
Would you want a drunk person
running your business and your money?
No, but I don't think I get to the point
where I can't do my job.
Everybody says that. Everybody says that.
You look drunk to me.
You were flashing customers, right?
You're flashing customers at the bar.
[ All cheering ]
Does this look like a topless bar or what?
First of all, that's against the law,
and you shouldn't be doing it.
[ Sighs ]
I mean, there was nobody here. They're regulars.
We're told to, like, keep an atmosphere
and have people coming back.
Not like that. Not by exposing yourself.
You have to keep some sort of control behind the bar.
If that's how you got to make money,
why don't you start making drinks right
and performing the task right?
We're losing the professionalism here.
It's like, what's been going on is not okay.
This ain't a pet project for you.
I know. I know.
Huh?
Especially after being with you, I know.
We've got to go back to the very beginning when we were --
In the beginning, everyone's together.
We all worked as a team, we supported each other,
we weren't drinking.
Everyone got professional service,
everyone had a great time, and we can do that again.
We just -- I need to be here.
I need to lead you guys.
What she feels is the place has no energy no more.
So I said that energy starts from her
'cause that's what I felt the minute I met her.
I felt a woman that's been beaten down.
This store's running on empty.
She's leading this store,
but sometimes the leader needs their army saying,
"Hey, boss, we can do this. We can do a better job."
And we really -- We have to pull it together, you guys,
or we're not gonna be here.
So, these are the things we have to work on.
I'm gonna be here tomorrow.
I'm gonna start bartending.
I'm gonna work with you 'cause she wants me to, right?
So, we're gonna go back to basics.
I want to see how you can make a drink the right way.
We're gonna go over the pouring procedures
so she stops losing money.
And no staff can drink and work here ever again.
It ends now.
So, you either want to work and be a part of this team,
or you're out of here, right?
Thank you very much. I'll see you tomorrow.
Thanks, Willie.
NARRATOR: The next morning, Willie meets with key staff one-on-one.
WILLIE: What happened, Katie?
You took your clown glasses off?
KATIE: I did.
Yeah, huh? Don't be smiling at me.
So, you think everything you did yesterday is, like, proper,
and that's how you should be working and running a business?
No. No. And you know, it just --
You know, business has been slow,
and I did get caught up in the energy of Emily.
I don't always behave that way, but it should never happen.
What's your objective when you come here?
What are you doing this for?
I care about The Bayou,
and I enjoy being here and being a part of Lisa's life.
Mm-hmm.
But your main objective is for you to make a living
and Lisa to make a living, right?
It's a team. This is a team.
It's lost its way through weak leadership,
which Lisa knows it's her fault, right?
Coming into a place like this,
it's like it's on its last leg almost, right?
Yeah.
It's like you can either go out of business,
or it can revive itself, right?
So, I need you back on basics.
I need you set in stone,
like, "Hey, this new mission is what we're gonna do."
Absolutely.
So, you got to come here with a plan
to be great and take care of the customers, right?
Every customer's a building block for the next.
So that's the new direction, okay?
Okay. Thank you.
All right, thank you, Katie.
Okay.
So, I noticed you have these specialty cocktails here.
You had problems making them
throughout the week we filmed, especially you, Emily.
You had a problem with every drink here.
So, now I'm gonna want you both to make them.
Okay.
What's your first step?
All right.
How much ice you put in the glass?
You got to fill it to the top.
Okay.
So, it's a dark rum.
Mm-hmm.
And pineapple.
All right.
And this one is bourbon.
Mm-hmm.
Sloe gin topper.
Right.
So, there's no fruit decorations on these drinks?
Yeah, there are.
Okay. Do them 100%.
Okay.
All right, Emily, you come in, you make the same drinks.
The Monsoon and the Louisiana Slammer, right?
Oh.
All right, Laura, come back.
Okay, so you're using a lot of alcohol, right?
So, if I see this drink, it looks like it has
at least 5 to 6 ounces of alcohol in it.
I see how you poured all the alcohol first
so it's all the way on the bottom,
so their first sip, they're gonna get that drink,
and they're gonna be like, "Wow," right?
Mm-hmm.
So, I would make it a little differently.
Emily, you here?
You doing me a favor by being here or what?
EMILY: When my customers come in, they see me.
They come in, they're my regulars,
and they like my drinks.
How many customers you have here?
You're not doing me no favor
by being here and making this drink.
This place has an establishment.
We make drinks a certain way here, The Bayou.
You want to make a signature drink named after you
and you call it the Flasher, you could go right ahead,
but that's not what's going on here.
The way she teaches you -- She's the head bartender,
she shows you how the drinks are made,
you follow those procedures.
If not, you don't belong here.
You got me?
WILLIE: Emily, you here?
You doing me a favor by being here or what?
EMILY: When my customers come in, they see me.
They come in, they're my regulars,
and they like my drinks.
How many customers you have here?
You're not doing me no favor
by being here and making this drink.
This place has an establishment.
We make drinks a certain way here, The Bayou.
You want to make a signature drink named after you
and you call it the Flasher, you could go right ahead,
but that's not what's going on here.
The way she teaches you -- She's the head bartender,
she shows you how the drinks are made,
you follow those procedures.
If not, you don't belong here. You got me?
All right, you guys come out here.
I'm gonna get behind the bar. I'm gonna make the drink, right?
So, here.
Now, before, you would go right away,
you would pour the alcohol in, right?
So, I look at the spiced rum, I look at the pineapple,
I want to do them both at the same time.
I never want to pour an alcohol in the glass
without a juice with it, right?
Okay.
So, I always go like this, right?
You go right at the same time
so you get a blended drink all the way up, right?
Same thing. Pretty easy, right?
Both at the same time with the juice.
So, you can see the difference in my drink
compared to your drinks, right?
It's the little things.
The napkin -- always, right? Nobody put a napkin down.
Look at the difference.
Look at my drink on a napkin, right?
Hello, are you here again? 'Cause you're not focused.
It don't seem like you're concerned.
You see the difference between my drinks and your drinks?
I mean, not really.
Not really?
I guess -- Well, napkins, yeah, so...
No, it's not napkins.
It's the color, it's the flow, it's the taste.
All the little things matter.
So, don't be wasting my time.
I'm putting in a lot of effort.
Feel like you're wasting my time.
What are you saying?
I feel like you're wasting my time.
Yes.
You don't deserve this job.
I don't like your attitude, and you don't belong here.
What'd you just say?
I'm doing a perfectly fine job doing my job.
Go pack your stuff and get out.
Are you kidding?
No, I'm not kidding. You're done.
Goodbye.
You're done. Take a walk.
LAURA: Yeah, take your [bleep] and get out of here.
Yeah, okay. All right.
Bye-bye, negative.
So, we forget her, all right?
We can't waste our time with people.
This kid don't want to learn, she don't want to listen,
she thinks she knows better than all of us.
I know.
Too bad Lisa wasn't here so she could've fired her.
I've been trying to tell her.
Nobody owes her anything, right?
Laura, I like your attitude.
You're making mistakes,
you listen, you're willing to learn.
So, we build new people. We put an ad in the paper.
And then I want you to train them
on the right way to do things.
I want to get consistency, controls,
and set everybody up to win.
Okay. Sounds good.
Okay?
Hi, Lisa. How are you?
Okay.
So, how'd you sleep last night?
Not too good.
I had a lot to think about.
You need to.
I mean, this all basically stems from you.
Your job is to lead, motivate, direct them.
Like, I look at Laura --
She's been with you a long time, she's been bartending.
We can fix her little mechanics.
We can work on that.
But Emily -- We had to let her go.
She wasn't a right fit.
Me, I like to focus on the people
that are really gonna care and do the right thing
and weed out the weak as fast as possible
and keep building from there.
If people aren't led and they're not held accountable
and pushed and motivated,
they just basically get nowhere.
It's like they're in quicksand.
You have to look at it every day.
What's your job now?
My job is to lead them and to set the rules
and set the boundaries and have consequences
when things aren't the way I want them to be.
If I don't work on you
and you don't make these changes every day,
we're gonna come back here in three months,
there'll be a sign -- "Closed for business," right?
I'm hoping that's not the case,
'cause I know what I need to do.
Yeah, I mean, you do.
I've done it before. I've been doing it a long time.
I just fell off track, and I'm back.
Live for this place.
Get back to basics, all right?
All right.
I'm in it. I'm in it.
All right. Okay. I'll see you later.
All right.
WILLIE: So, it's six weeks later, and I'm headed back to The Bayou.
I want to see if they followed my advice
and cleaned up their act.
The key issues I identified was a lackadaisical staff
that were partying and drinking on the job,
an owner who's lost her edge,
and a staff that was fighting and killing the business.
Let's see how far they've come.
Whew. Cold out there.
Hi, Lisa. How are you?
What's going on?
Things are good.
So, I see you got a hostess, right?
[ Chuckling ] We do.
I see Laura's behind the bar.
She looks good, right?
Everything is going really well.
Who's the new bartender?
The new bartender is Michelle.
Ready?
BOTH: Go.
WILLIE: Emily the bartender's bad behavior
affected the rest of the staff.
Now...
Ah, thank you very much.
...without that negative influence,
Laura and new bartender Michelle are professional and courteous.
Enjoy, guys.
Their consistency's so much better with the drinks.
Everyone's happy.
Good.
Katie's, like, really stepped up to the plate.
A Hurricane?
She's pulling her weight.
Yeah, I see. The dining room's packed. It looks good.
Pay more attention to your tables.
I'm paying attention.
WILLIE: The lax attitude at work caused tension between Julia and Katie.
Fine.
Now, with the rules and consequences in place,
Katie and Julia are friends again.
Katie, would you grab them two waters for the table?
Sure. Absolutely.
You're welcome.
So, you're putting at least 40, 50 hours now?
I am. I am, and I feel good.
No one foot in the ground, know what I mean?
No more.
Your tank is full? You got more energy, right?
I absolutely do. You gave me a good kick. I'm here.
[ Groans ]
WILLIE: Lisa was so burnt out and beaten down,
she didn't notice that her staff was out of control.
Oh.
Now...
Hey, guys. How's it going?
...with her renewed passion,
she's overseeing all aspects of The Bayou again
and taking it to the next level.
Well, enjoy, you guys.
All right, so anything else?
You look good. I mean, your energy's back, huh?
It definitely is.
I think we've got it covered. You went over everything.
I've been following it to a "T."
Good.
So, you know, you got to believe in yourself, right?
The staff wants to be led. They want to do the right thing.
Everybody loves you. You got a lot of good people here.
I know. It's going great, Willie.
LISA: I just want to thank Willie.
You showed me what needed to be done.
It's like, I knew these things, but I wasn't doing them.
And you gave me the motivation to get back in here,
do what I need to do, and get it all done,
and everything's going great.
WILLIE: The Bayou's really turned itself around.
Lisa's gained control of her restaurant,
and sales are going through the roof.
I love reinvigorating a neighborhood institution.
Onto the next one, America.