In my most favorite episode of Bar Rescue ever, Kyle Davis, the managing partner and face of Wildkat Records Bar and Grill in Jacksonville, Florida, becomes belligerent and defiant against Jon’s criticism, mostly because he wants some acknowledgment for his efforts to improve the bar. But, as fans of Bar Rescue know, Jon has the same philosophy as Yoda regarding “trying,” so he can only see Kyle’s failures, and we are off to the races in a great new showdown.

Kyle started managing Bay Street bar when owner Julian Garbaccio relocated to Texas and couldn’t oversee it anymore. Kyle offered to help, and Julian offered him 20% of the profits to do so. Kyle took the opportunity to put his mark on the establishment, including adding a bizarre collection of décor from his garage and changing the name of the bar to Wildkat Records Bar and Grill, which only served to alienate customers and irritate the staff. Business has been declining ever since, and two years later Julian is $300,000 in debt and needs Jon to get him detached from his friend Kyle’s incompetent management and back onto his old, successful path with the bar.

With several moments worthy of becoming classics, this whole episode is bound to become a classic, too. It is one of those episodes where I could include the entire transcript because Jon and Kyle engage in a beautifully choreographed verbal dance that transforms battling enemies into good friends right before your eyes. It all starts during a typical recon segment, when Jon decides it’s time to enter the bar and confront the situation head on, which in this episode means he attacks Kyle’s incompetence. After a rather hostile review of the hodgepodge décor for everyone to see what he sees, Jon asks with more judgment than curiosity, “What the hell is this place?” Kyle defiantly replies, “It’s the aesthetic of me.” Jon is in total disbelief and clarifies, “It’s the aesthetic of you?” Then he uncharacteristically struggles with what to say next after Kyle proudly confirms it is, indeed, the aesthetic of Kyle. After an awkward couple of seconds while Jon recombobulates, he finally musters a succinct, exquisite, and well thought out retort, “I think you’re a fucking idiot.”

When it gets this raw and crazy, Bar Rescue is at its best.

Jon then calls Kyle a “narcissistic asshole” and threatens to leave in one of the best Bar Rescue moments I’ve ever seen, totally demonstrating why Jon is the G.O.A.T. He looks squarely at Julian and puts it plainly, “Julian, you have to make a decision. It’s $300,000. I’m here with one of the best chefs and best mixologists in the world. I’m here with a checkbook. I’ll remodel this place. I’ll put great food and beverage in. I’ll make sure you’re successful. I’ll make sure you’re profitable, and I’ll leave you with a full bar. So, you have to make a choice. If he’s here, I’m not.” Then he turns on his heels and heads out the door.

The whole recon scene is amazing. Jon and Kyle yell at each other for a continuous 15 minutes of edited time. The show editors even cut away to a scene of one of the bartenders trying to play off all the yelling and screaming, “Well…anyway…did you guys enjoy your vacation?” he mumbles to some nearby customers while we hear Jon yelling in the background.

The next day, when the staff members are talking before their meeting with Jon, one of the bartenders who was not working the previous night gets brought up to speed about what kind of “shit show” it was. Everyone was amazed by Kyle’s yelling back at Jon and how heated he was. Kyle shows up and even admits it was “crazy.” He tells the camera that he felt cornered and let his pride get the best of him because he has put so much blood, sweat, and tears into the Wildkat. When he told Jon that same basic thing, Jon replied, “Oh really? Well, I wouldn’t tell anyone that.” Jon was relentless, and I found myself wondering if the term “bitch slapped” is still a thing?

Julian tells the camera he is in a real bind because the bar needs Jon’s help but Jon won’t stay if Kyle does. However, Kyle is his partner and friend, and he doesn’t want to kick him to the curb. It seems a lot for Julian to weigh, but he knows he needs to come down on the side of the bar being profitable. Nonetheless, Kyle is there when Jon shows up and calls everyone to attention for their candid discussion about what is wrong with the bar.

Jon, “Why are you here, Kyle?”

Kyle, “I want to apologize to you. I’m sorry for my actions. I know you are trying to help. I just want to apologize for reacting the way I did.”

Big pause while Jon thinks about how to respond to this situation and possibly does some mental work to alter his internal emotional world. I know that look because my spouse tells me I have the same one when I’m thinking about how to reply during an argument instead of just going berserko. Jon talks about this kind of internal struggle in “Chapter Two: The Fight in My Head” in his latest book, The Power of Conflict. It is obvious that Jon practices what he preaches, and as I watch him do it, I wonder how he’s going to respond to Kyle’s apology. From my limited knowledge of Jon, I think he will take the high road. I saw it before in “S1E7: Bad to the Bone” when owner Bill apologized after a terribly heated argument with Jon. Still, there’s a bit of anticipation to see if I am right because Jon looks like he is really doing some heavy lifting in that brilliant mind of his.

Sure enough, Jon takes the high road and extends a hand to Kyle. They put it all aside, and then Jon goes back to being Jon and spends the next 10 minutes pointing out everything that is terrible about the bar and asking who is responsible for it. The answer, of course, is Kyle, only this time Jon sees it’s out of ignorance and not lack of will, which is enough to keep him from yelling but doesn’t impact his bottom line: Kyle is not executing his duties properly and it’s bankrupting Julian.

Jon softens his attack by telling Kyle, “You might be the greatest guy in the world, but, man, you run one shitty bar.” Then he asks Kyle, “Why is this bar failing, Kyle?” and Kyle mumbles after a terribly hard swallow, “It’s failing because of me.” Jon’s deep desire to hear Kyle be accountable and take responsibility for the situation isn’t satisfied. He tells Kyle to say it a second time, nice and loud so we can all hear it, and then makes Julian tell him how disappointed he is in Kyle’s efforts. Yes, that’s Jon treading softly on an incompetent employee, I swear.

Kyle gets a chance to prove himself during the stress test where, by his own election, he is going to greet guests and run food. He tells the camera he wants to do the best he can to prove to Jon he can turn the bar around because he’s a man of his word.

The stress test is a disaster, though. Kyle parks himself in front of the POS machine taking orders for food and blocking employees from easily accessing the bar. Jasmine the GM steps up and tries to manage everything but the systems are so terrible she cannot. She and Kyle get into a screaming match, and the cook asks them if they remember they still have customers. Jon throws in the towel. It’s a typical shit show, but not quite as good as the one the night before during recon.

The next day Jon tells us he’s incredibly concerned about Kyle’s ability to move the bar forward. Jon meets with Julian and shares some insights he’s gained over his decades of experience in business. “I always think you can give people new skills, but you can’t give them new traits,” a sentiment he discusses in both his books, Raise the Bar and Don’t Bullsh*t Yourself!

He tells Julian that he never sees Kyle engage customers or smile at anyone, and that belies a personality not fit for the hospitality industry. Following the illustrious manner in which he handles difficult and nuanced problems in contexts where salvaging the relationship is important, like it is with Julian and Kyle, Jon owns the situation and doesn’t put it on Kyle. He says, “It makes me wonder if, in fact, we’re being grossly unfair to you by forcing you into a situation that isn’t naturally fitting for you?” Then he and Julian offer Kyle a more suitable position as asset manager instead of operations manager, which plays to Kyle’s strengths.

Jon suggests promoting and training Jasmine to run the bar because she shows the “perceptive sensitivity” for a hospitality environment. Julian asks Kyle what he thinks, and Kyle says he’s in, then tells the camera that he’s acting like an adult and doing what is best for Julian and the bar, not his ego. Later, during the relaunch, Jon points out that Kyle is smiling for the first time all week and everyone seems happy to have found a way to care for everyone and the bar moving forward.

The rest of the episode is as expected. They have a specialized cocktail menu, a signature “smashburger,” and Jon remodels the bar perfectly. He renames it Bay Street Sports Grill, which is both a touching gesture and a strategic marketing move, since the bar was successful under its previous Bay Street name and still has a lot of credibility in the community, a valuable asset Jon wants to exploit. Everyone is happy, and Jon gets a big group hug at the end from Jasmine, Julian, and, of course, Kyle.

---

I invite you to consider and share your answers in the Comments: What do you think about Jon’s ability to accept Kyle’s apology and then find a good way for him to stay involved with the bar? Was that the right move or should he have just left the premises when Julian didn’t fire Kyle?