The series stars renown nightlife consultant Jon Taffer who offers his professional expertise plus renovations and equipment to desperately put failing bars in order to save them from closing.

Taffer is highly critical of the bar's lack of identity, focusing especially on their signature drink, using the same gimmicky glass design and color as Tropical Isle's "Hand Grenade", and also their use of microwaved food.

Note: Instead of doing the recon, Jon and his experts accompany Nicole instead of having her go in alone after reviewing the customer's point of view in addition to a disturbing concert that took place that night.

Jon has a lot of work to do when he helps an owner and his frat brother friends who recently purchased a hangout notorious for bartenders who drink on the job and serve people with fake I.D.s.

Jon has more than just a bar to fix when he helps a couple, the husband of which is belligerent, insulting to customers, and doesn't know how to make proper drinks, which threatens to derail everything they worked hard for.

Jon gets more than he bargains for when he has a face off with a very prideful and stubborn owner who is desperate to keep his bar alive after a car crash a few years back ruined its success when his old staff failed to control it while he was recovering.

Jon works with a passive owner whose poor decisions, including putting in a controversial lobster crane game and her ignorant manager, has caused her bar to hit the rocks.

Jon heads to the Arizona desert to help a family-owned bar whose members drink on the job and allow running motorcycles and horses inside, creating health hazards for the customers.

Jon learns that a North Carolina nightclub has an immature and partying manager who is refilling premium liquor bottles with cheap alcohol, and must get the owner to hold him and his employees accountable to save his bar.

Mixologist: Russell Davis, Chef: Brian Duffy Jon must put an end to a feud between two owners, whose bitter resentment towards each other is allowing their staff to get away with theft, drinking on the job, and constant fighting at their failing sports bar.

Later, they started a food truck business and the owner, Guy, use his vehicle to do a road trip across the US to visit Spirits on Bourbon and George & Dragon before heading to Jon's place for another Back to the Bar special.

Jon must humble an arrogant and condescending U.S. Marine/bar owner who bulldogs his employees and fails to capture the local military personnel due to poor design choices.

Jon encounters poor food service, tacky decor, and deep distrust between employees and management as he tries to save a Halloween/horror-themed bar run by two former rockers.

Jon faces the triple challenge of rebuilding a successful bar that was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, getting the five brothers who own it to set aside their disagreements, and retraining staff members who are long out of practice.

Prior to the grand re-opening, the owners of Turtle Bay (re-branded as Spirits on Bourbon, episode 1 of season 3) visited to present the staff with a new set of souvenir cups and T-shirts and a $5,000 donation.

As Jon prepared to leave, the owners presented him with an autographed picture of an American flag raised amid Hurricane Sandy's floodwaters, framed with wood taken from the portions of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk that were destroyed in the storm.

A motorsports bar's female-unfriendly theme and its employees' vulgar behavior - including display of a sex doll - prompt Jon to push the owner to reassert control over the business.

A Tennessee bar without a liquor license has severe sanitation problems in the kitchen and basement, female bartenders who routinely flash their boobs at customers, and an owner who has a reputation for ingenuity yet leaves all the hands-on work to his wife.

[31] Jon must help a sports bar's owner and staff overcome long-held infighting, poor training, and a lack of publicity and promotion in order to succeed against the local competition.

Jon must make a members-only club into an asset, but has trouble with a carefree owner and his aloof son, bartenders who over-pour, a manager who is set to take over but has little power, and a raccoon infestation that poses a major health hazard.

Jon can't even start the recon, let alone train the staff, due to their drunken self-centered antics, including a bar brawl between employees which ends with the defending party fired despite Taffer's orders.

After a long string of total failures, Jon does a full business background check, uncovering numerous reports of violent behavior, and ultimately walks out as a result.

Jon is joined by celebrity guests Maria Menounos and Adam Carolla as he takes over a failing sports bar, wrangles with an incompetent owner, whose father owns the building as a whole, and undertrained staff.

Jon must give a bar a major overhaul, from the staff to the name, when a tax-accountant-turned-owner bought it and the bad reputation and that it gained a few years back, whilst dealing with bartenders who spend more time drinking and creating drama, and one of the worst locations he's dealt with.

[44][45] During the taping for the episode "Music City Mess", Taffer visited BoondoxXx BBQ & Juke Joint in Nashville, Tennessee and worked with owner Chris Ferrell who was noted for having a hot temper.