(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 8 | View All Season 8 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: March 27, 2022
The Bar's Original Name Was: Ace's Sports Hangar
Ace's A Sporting Bar Address: 6520 Cascades Ct Ste 200 The Colony, TX 75056
Episode Recap
Ace’s Sports Hangar, later renamed to Ace’s A Sporting Bar, was a The Colony, Texas bar that was featured on Season 8 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Ace’s Sports Hangar Bar Rescue episode aired in March 2022, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place before that in November 2021.
It was Season 8 Episode 14 and the episode name was “Ace’s Wild”.
In this episode of Bar Rescue, Jon Taffer visits Ace’s Sports Hangar in The Colony, TX.
The Colony is a suburb of Dallas, TX, so it’s right near a big metropolitan area.
The bar is owned by Will and Candace Kuhn, who are seasoned bar owners.
They own four bars at the time of the Ace’s Sports Hangar Bar Rescue episode, but they’ve owned as many as seven bars.
Generally, Candace handles the design of the bars and then Will handles the actual day-to-day operations and management.
This bar is mainly owned by Candace, though, and it’s named after her son Ace.
Candance wanted a bar of her own, so she’s the one managing and running this one.
Side note – there is another location of Ace’s Sports Hangar at CityLine in Richardson, Texas, but the Ace’s Bar Rescue episode is about the one located in The Colony.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic put a lot of stress on Will and Candace.
While they were successful for a long time, things are difficult now.
While Will focuses on the other three bars, Candace focus on Ace’s Sports Hangar.
She doesn’t have as much management and operation experience, so the bar is hitting major problems.
After just one year in business, the bar is losing a lot of money and putting stress on the Kuhn’s finances.
At the time of the Ace’s Bar Rescue episode, the bar is losing $15,000 per month, which is forcing them to pull money from the other bars to support it.
Will doesn’t blame Candace for the bar’s problems, but it’s still causing difficulties with their marriage, as well.
As part of renovating the bar, Jon Taffer made a slight tweak to the bar’s name, changing it from Ace’s Sports Hangar to Ace’s: A Sporting Bar.
To be honest, I actually like the original name better.
A “sports hangar” sounds pretty cool.
What do you think?
So was the Ace’s Bar Rescue episode a success?
Let’s talk about what happened next and whether this Texas bar is still open in 2024.
Ace's A Sporting Bar Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Twisted Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened after Jon Taffer and his crew left The Colony, TX.
First off, I want to highlight some background information on behind the scenes of the Bar Rescue episode.
There are some funny posts on Facebook, though.
For example, Candace Kuhn left a comment on the Bar Rescue preview video in response to her friend.
Her friend said “Awe, Candace looked so upsetttttttttt” and Candance responded with “🤢 Yea, don’t worry they had me cry a lot🤦🏻‍♀️ #botoxfacecry”.
Haha – it is true that Jon Taffer and the Bar Rescue producers love filming a good cry.
In fact, the Kuhns seem to have specifically not wanted to be filmed looking like the typical idiot Bar Rescue owners.
Because they have three other successful bars, it’s hard to portray them like that.
In a February post on his page, Will Kuhn actually said that he had previously turned down Bar Rescue because he didn’t want to be portrayed as an idiot.
However, because Bar Rescue Season 8 and Season 9 are more about saving bars from Covid-19 restrictions instead of just bad ownership, he felt comfortable being on the show.
It does seem like Will was a fan of the show, though, as one of his friends said he was always trying new ideas for the bar based on what he saw on Bar Rescue.
Unfortunately, though, Ace’s: A Sporting Bar is not a Bar Rescue success story. Let’s talk about it…
Is Ace’s Sports Hangar from Bar Rescue still open?
Ace’s: A Sporting Bar / Ace’s Sports Hangar was already closed at the time that the Ace’s Bar Rescue episode aired on TV.
The bar closed because it was sold to new owners.
The new owners changed the name to Twisted Bar and Grill, though they did take over the old Ace’s Sports Hangar Facebook page.
Ace’s: A Sporting Bar was sold on February 1, 2022, which is about two months after the visit from Jon Taffer and two months before the Ace’s Bar Rescue episode aired on TV.
In announcing the sale, Will Kuhn posted the following message on his Facebook page:
I wanted to take a minute to brag on Candace Goggans Kuhn for a minute.
As most of you know we’ve had what feels like a dozen bar and restaurants over the past years.
Always with candace designing them and me running them.
Well today marks the day that Candace sold her first location.
The colony was her baby from design to operations.
Everyone remembers their first business deal or sale.
Congratulations babe.
You have this one in the books with more to come.
Very proud of the business woman and partner you have become.
Here’s a screenshot of the Facebook post in case it gets deleted:
Ace’s Sports Hangar certainly wouldn’t be the first bar to close before its episode aired on TV.
For example, The Bradley in Las Vegas was also sold before the episode even aired.
Reviews for the new bar are ok but not great. Twisted Bar and Grill currently has a 3.5 star rating on its Yelp page.
So it seems like the old Ace’s Sports Hangar The Colony location is in a good spot at least.
People seem to compliment both the food and the service at the new Twisted Bar and Grill.
Here’s a picture of the new bar in the old Ace’s Sports Hangar The Colony TX location, courtesy of the most recent Google Maps street view update:
A few people seem to have also visited when it was Ace’s Sports Hangar and noted that the bar has improved under the new Twisted Bar and Grill ownership.
Will and Candace own other bars
Will and Candace Kuhn also still have their other bars, so they certainly haven’t exited the hospitality space.
There actually is also another location of Ace’s Sports Hangar in Richardson at CityLine, Texas that is still open at this time.
They also seem to have opened a new Ace’s Sports Hangar location in Sulphur Springs shortly after the Bar Rescue episode aired.
However, the Ace’s Sports Hangar Sulphur Springs location seems to have already closed, so it didn’t survive very long.
So while the location in The Colony that was featured on Bar Rescue has been sold/closed, the Ace’s Sports Hangar name does still live at the Richardson location.
You can check out the Facebook page for the Richardson location here.
Here’s the old Facebook page for the new Ace’s Sports Hangar Sulphur Springs location.
The Sulphur Springs location now shows as being for “Muddy Jakes Sports Grille and Pub”, so it seems like they might have sold that location rather than just closing it.
Beyond the other Ace’s Sports Hangar locations, Will and Candace also seem to owner a restaurant named Princeton Pizza Tavern.
So yeah – even if Ace’s Sports Hangar The Colony closed, the couple have plenty of other hospitality businesses.
That wraps up my Ace’s update!
Jon Taffer visited a couple other Texas bars in this swing of Bar Rescue Season 8.
If you want to see those bars, you can check out my updates for The Brick Tavern / Char BBQ in Sachse and G. Willickers Pub in Arlington.
Or, you can check out my full list of all 15+ Bar Rescue episodes in Texas as of 2024.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the Ace’s Sports Hangar episode, you can use the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/aces-sports-hangar-the-colony-the-colonyhttps://www.facebook.com/twistedbandg/
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Last updated: 2023-06-25 09:43
I wondered while watching this and now reading these updates on this story.. Could this have been the plan the whole time to get Mr John to come and spend his money for someone’s to remodel their business just for the advertising and to help recover some or all of their loses?
I do think a lot of bars have started doing this because of the success of Bar Rescue. They aren’t actually in that much trouble – they just want the free renovation and publicity. For example, the owner of the bar from the last episode (Stadium Club / Gilly’s Sports Bar) admitted that he told his staff to make up drama to convince Bar Rescue to choose them.
It’s sad because it makes the show feel less authentic.
But, has the show learned its lesson from Gilly’s? Probably not, because “wokeness” and “inclusion” is more important than authenticity, merit, the truth, and who is deserving of what. Seems like the show hasn’t learned its lesson from being at the twerk bar, or learned its lesson from the bar that was owned by an NFL star, so shouldn’t have been “rescued” in the first place.
Authentic ha, wow. Mark ass mark.
Yup- I was thinking the exact same thing. John Taffer fixes it up only to be sold.
That’s my take as well…. the Kuhns are slick…. already owning 3 other successful bars …. but suddenly they couldn’t handle a high profile location knowing all along that his wife couldn’t control it… so it’s Taffer to the rescue to make their loser a winner for some other owner ….while recouping their loses…. Now that’s slick..
If that guy is supposedly such a successful bar owner, he would have known what a mistake it was to put his clueless wife in charge of a bar, simply because “she wanted one of her own”. Completely stupid. Especially since they both tout her as the “designer” of the other bars, yet none of those “designs” is outstanding or noteworthy; and they both readily admit she had no idea what it takes to run a bar. She just goes and sits in them with her husband night after night. It was a complete set-up. Can’t figure out why Taffer and the show fall for this time after time.
I have to agree. But they are not financial whizzes, nor good business managers. The Sulphur Springs location was more or less foreclosed on. The previous owner financed the business for them. They did not make payments. They also did not get city permits nor an alcohol license, just trying to run on the previous owners license. The city shut them down several times before the previous owner took the business back.
Nah running multiple bars into be ground and selling for loss.
Every episode is the same. All season, every season. How much longer can this go on? I used to enjoy it and it’s soooo boring now. Bit mostly, I don’t really like it because it simply doesn’t work. Are there any bars that ha e been rescued still open? Every one I look at has closed almost immediately.
There are a lot of bars that are still open. If you go to my main Bar Rescue update page you can filter by only bars that are still open. Here’s the direct link:
https://realitytvupdates.com/bar-rescue-status/open/
These bars that get sold after Taffer remodels them and remain open (even when the new owners rebrand the place) should not count as closed. That does not make sense when the doors are still open. I think it would be great if you created a third category (at least) and updated your statistics from there. The other(s) being: building sold/ lease not renewed & the Wuhan Corona flu closures, but I digress.
Yes, there are many successful bar rescues by Taffer and company who needed to show these owners how to properly manage their business better…… maybe you should manage your time better… and stop watching….
I just saw this episode today and was thinking I might go there tomorrow just to try the food and drinks they create. I wanted to see if they are really good. Also a few years ago, I had written to Bar Rescue and I wanted to see what it was like to actually work with them. I’m disappointed this one is gone already. I agree a lot of the episodes are similar, but I like to watch to see what I did right – I already had a lot of people telling me what I did wrong when I had my bar. I loved doing it even though it didn’t end well.
I often wonder if Jon knows when he’s being used. He’s a smart man though, so I believe he knows. His hometown being Vegas I think he likes the gamble, and definitely enjoys the challenge.
The owners were and still are a joke!! Losers.
Look. If you think Jon is their savior. wrong, I check into every single bar rescue and most to be exact, 73% of Jon’s rescue s fail, sell out due to overhead, Jon’s terrible research into demographics, prices and the fact people use him to renovate to sell. Most are due to his pricing and terrible research into demographics. You have to do demographics within a 5 mile radius, local businesses like how many grocery stores, restaurant and bars, bedroom community and cost of living for that area. Median income alone cannot decide price and menu selection. A lot of the successful rescues are undoing some of his changes like, pricing, name entertainment. Jon’s has a TV show. Period. Notice when he is watching hidden cameras the employees are wearing microphone’s. So for the most part it’s mainly scripted to add dramatic effect. Jon acts like a mob boss bully that makes it seem like he’s the God of hospitality. Wrong. He’s lost several businesses and bankrupted a few times. The show is predictable. You can predict how every show goes. Also he comes in and insults the employees and owners, breaks their equipment and dishes. Notice he owns only a small private bar. When you watch repeat episodes. Research this page while watching. Most bars have closed or been sold. Some open statuses are due to old employees or cooks still working there. But, the owners have changed.
Yo N.O.Y.F.B.: Excellent comments. I was going to make the same kind of comments, but you said everything I was going to post. Many of Taffer’s ‘rescues’ close or go bankrupt shortly after Taffer’s rescue. The retail food and beverage industry has a very high failure rate and many bars are doomed to fail despite Tapper’s ‘bar science’ approach. Tapper is running a tv show – not a bar. If Tapper bought one of these bars with a poor location, Tapper would also run the bar into the ground.
I watch every single episode and I read every single update and I seriously doubt it to John’s fault many of the people like you said take the renovation so that they could sell and don’t tell him they’re going to many of them decide they know better and they go back to the old ways and that’s where they lose money and that’s why they close down
You mean wearing personal mics and having a dozen huge rotating cameras AND cameramen on foot means it’s fake? Reading this site admin person and other comments on here make me think America must be the most gullible people on the planet. A dozen diff indicators how utterly fake it is. It is entertaining, I def admit that, I just can’t believe how many think it’s totally real. Haven’t people learned anything about “reality” tv after 20 yrs?
The owners of this restaurant used Jon Taffer to remodel, then the husband bragged on his wife’s decorating abilities & salesmanship. Saying thanks to her they sold the bar. What a piece of crap! First have Taffer sink a bunch of money into it, make it beautiful, then credit his wife. If she was so great at decorating, why was Jon there at all? Lying A$$hole!
LOL so true
I think the owners should have to pay Jon Taffer back all the money he and his supporters put into that bar! I believe they knew all along that they were going to sell. What a load of crap!! I feel bad for the employees, hopefully they work at one of their other bars, if they are still open!
If taken at face value: this episode is a perfect example of a wife being propped up by her husband. Instead of being honest with her about her shortcomings as a General Manager, the man allowed her to run the business into the ground. Problem that I have is, I don’t believe either of them…. all they wanted was a free remodel and were planning to sell that location all along. For whatever reason, that location just didn’t work for them and they wanted out. Business was down because they refused to stock the place. Simple as.
Fact that the brand lives on (in more than one locale) is all I need to see.
Also, Mrs. Hyphenated-Last-Name should skip a Botox treatment or two, maybe buy a few bras instead. Very disrespectful, speaking on camera with nipples protruding. My half-Polish wife was yelling at the TV telling her to cover those things up.
Someone should tell Taffer, “Come on! You can do better Bar Rescues than this.”