Jon Taffer is an entrepreneur, consultant, television personality, and founder and owner of his own media company. He’s a man of many wonders, but we all know him as the beloved host of Spike’s Bar Rescue, where he and his team of experts take a failing bar and save them from closing. With nearly 40 years of experience in the bar and nightlife industry, Taffer provides helpless bars from across the country with anything from tips to managing employees and new recipe ideas to full-scale renovations.
Although he is known quite well for his restaurant expertise, Jon is most known for gracing our television screens with loud and memorable one-liners like, “SHUT IT DOWN” and “APOLOGIZE”. Sure, most episodes of Bar Rescue are filled with shouting matches, temper tantrums, and the occasionally popped blood vessel, but more often than not, Taffer is able to rally the troops and turn things around for the bar. Everybody wins!
Taffer and Bar Rescue debuted in 2011 and just completed their fifth season this past fall. So with nearly four decades in the nightlife industry and five seasons as host of a popular Spike show, how much is Jon Taffer worth?
Jon Taffer’s Net Worth 2018: $10 Million
Let’s take a look below.
1970’s
At 19 years old, in 1973, Jon Taffer worked his first job as a bartender for Barney’s Beanery in West Hollywood. Five years later, he got his first management job at The Troubadour nightclub in West Hollywood. Staff theft was a major issue at The Troubadour, but not when Taffer stepped up to the helm. He helped rid the bar of employee misdeeds and after just three years of working there, he was given complete control of operations.
1980’s
Taffer claims he’s learned the business, not through a formal education, but rather through trial-and-error. He says that his greatest lessons have come from his greatest mistakes and fortunately for him, his greatest mistake came early on in his career. In Chicago in the late 1980s, Taffer lost $600,000 – all of his money – in his first partnership to a man that cheated him. He doesn’t like to go into details about the flawed deal but says that through it all he learned an invaluable lesson. From that day on, Taffer holds the belief that the character of a partner is just as important as their business acumen. This lesson seems to have served Taffer well, as he has had plenty of successes since then to balance out his rough start.
1990’s-Present
Shortly after his failed partnership, Taffer opened his first bar and hasn’t looked back since. His constant grind in the bar and nightlife industry has provided him with plenty of accolades in the industry. In addition to hosting a hit show, he is one of the first six inductees in the Nightclub Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was appointed as president of the Nightclub and Bar Media Group, which is responsible for Nightclub & Bar Magazine as well as the annual Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show. He published his first book, Raise the Bar, in October 2013, and holds the title of “Pub Master” in the United Kingdom.
Jon Taffer attributes his success to learning from his failures, which is pretty indicative of the theme he preaches on Bar Rescue. Here’s to more success stories for Taffer and whatever bar he visits next!