(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 4 | View All Season 4 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: December 6, 2015
The Bar's Original Name Was: Jazz Katz
Back Beat Piano Bar Address: 29555 Northwestern Hwy #312, Southfield, MI 48034
Episode Recap
Back Beat Piano Bar, originally Jazz Katz, was a Southfield, Michigan bar featured on Season 4 of Bar Rescue.
The Jazz Katz Bar Rescue episode aired in December 2015, but the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place earlier.
It was Season 4 Episode 40 and the episode name was “Boss Lady Blues”.
In this episode, Jon Taffer and his crew head to Jazz Katz, which is owned by Dr. Tamika Scott.
The Jazz Katz bar itself is located in Southfield, Michigan.
If you’re not familiar with Michigan geography, Southfield is a northern suburb of Detroit, so it’s in quite a large metropolitan area.
Dr. Tamika always had a dream of owning a jazz joint.
In 2014, she was able to make her dream came true.
This means that it’s only been open for around a year at the time of Taffer’s visit.
She believes jazz is like a form of therapy for some people.
While that’s an admirable belief, you also need strong business skills to run a successful bar.
To help with that, Tamika asked her parents to help her manage and run the Jazz Katz bar.
Unfortunately, Dr. Tamika began hiring friends instead of qualified staff.
The quality at Jazz Katz dropped, and customers stopped returning.
To make matters worse, Tamika and her mother do not get along.
It’s always sad when business causes family problems, but I feel like this is pretty common when you mix the two.
All in all, Jazz Katz is only one month away from closing when Taffer visits, which means Jon definitely has his work cut out for him.
To help save the Jazz Katz bar, Jon brings in experts Phil Wills and Chef Anthony Lamas to assist.
When they recon the bar, they find the exterior at Jazz Katz to be quite boring.
Jon thinks a Jazz club is a risky concept as it is an unpopular type of music. Sad but true, I guess.
Tamika’s mom Karen and her father, Ray, are co-managers of Jazz Katz.
Dre is the bartender, and he refuses to make certain cocktails because he doesn’t know-how.
To recon things, Jazz bassist Robert Hurst goes undercover in the bar.
From Robert’s seat, he can’t see the stage or the musician.
The drinks he orders are too strong.
Karen, the co-manager, begins arguing with Dre over drinks, which sets the bar back even further.
Dre begins fighting with a guest and starts to get violent.
Jon Taffer then also gets into a massive argument with Dre, and words are exchange.
Unsurprisingly, Dre is fired that night.
The next day Jon meets with the staff and highlights how the standards have dropped.
Both inexperienced workers and lack of leadership are the causes.
Janelle, the sous chef, has been caught stealing.
Jon reminds Tamika not to be guided by her emotions. She has to be a strong leader.
The bar is messy, and the kitchen is dirty.
There’s even mold on the plates! Which, in a wild moment, causes Jon Taffer to throw plates on the ground and break them.
It’s definitely one of Taffer’s bigger freakouts – he’s calmed down a lot in more recent seasons lol.
The food in the kitchen is also not appropriately handled by the staff, which you know Jon Taffer hates.
Jon shuts the kitchen down and has the staff clean it.
Phil trains the new bartenders. He has them make drinks, and he assesses them along the way.
The kitchen is closed during the stress test, and the bar is understaffed.
Jon allows 25 patrons in for 30 minutes.
There is no live music during the test.
Tamika is put in charge, and the night is a disaster.
Slow bartenders lost the tickets, and Karen was not being a team player. Jon shut down the test.
Jon wants to solve Karen and Tamika’s problems.
He tells Karen she is putting down her daughter, affecting their bar.
Jon tries to motivate Tamika and suggests changing the theme to something more modern.
Phil trains the staff on bitter drinks because those might make customers buy more drinks.
Meanwhile, the kitchen staff is trained on how to make shrimp and grits.
Jon has Tamika tear down the first wall as a therapy.
The staff gather to see the changes and love the new theme.
The name is changed to Back Beat Piano Bar and Cocktails.
There is a Piano centerpiece that is visible from anywhere.
Relaunch ends up going smooth.
Tamika manages well, and her mom listens to her.
So was the Jazz Katz Bar Rescue episode a long-term success?
Keep reading my update to learn what happened next and if this Southfield MI bar is still open in 2024 and beyond.
Back Beat Piano Bar Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Back Beat Bar Rescue visit, let’s talk about what happened to the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Michigan.
Six weeks after the Jazz Katz Bar Rescue episode, we find out that the bar has only grossed a pitiful $7,600, which obviously isn’t enough to pay rent and staff.
What’s more, Tamika is still struggling with communication with her mother, which means the bar is adding extra stress beyond the money troubles.
To make matters worse, reviews for the bar were not very good.
It had just a 2 star rating on Yelp and and a 3.5 star rating on Google Reviews (which is pretty low for Google Reviews).
People seem to especially criticize the food quality at Back Beat Piano Bar, as well as the overly high cover charge.
With those ratings in mind, it’s probably no surprise what happened to Back Beat Piano Bar.
But before talking about that, let’s look at a few example reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
1 star Yelp review from December 2015:
Terrible.
Not enough wait staff.
Waited close to 30 minutes for a drink and longer for food.
Then after the music act finished they asked guests to move in order to set-up for a Caribbean party full of 20 something guys.
We paid a 10.00 cover to be asked to move.
The door man was at the bar drinking more than he was at the door.
Ordered the chocolate mouse flight and it tasted like it had been refrigerated for weeks.
The musical act was decent though and the chicken was good.
I can get good chicken at better establishments.
Bar Rescue can’t save this place.
1 star Yelp review from November 2015:
Just aweful! Food sucka!
Under seasoned overpriced and very small portions!
Service is extremely bad!
I mean the servers are untrained and slow so slow.
It took them 45 minutes to take an order and 45 minutes for the food to come.
The drinks we’re bad, pop qas flat.
I have never had such a bad experience. I will Never, ever go back!
2 star Yelp review from November 2015:
Eat before you arrive, the food was mediocre at best.
We ordered several dishes and nothing tasted good and the worst was the 26.00 seafood Mac and cheese, a huge mound of Mac and cheese with a few bites of shrimp.
Atmosphere was nice, I’ll return BUT dinner will be elsewhere.
4 star Yelp review from January 2016:
The new name for Jazz Katz is Back Beat Piano Bar & Grill.
The band was awesome, very enjoyable.
The bartender Xavion was great and personable.
The $10 cover charge was unexpected especially since I came to eat, buy food, drinks and enjoy band.
The food was great, my compliments to chef.
Is Back Beat Piano Bar from Bar Rescue still open?
Back Beat Piano Bar closed in May 2016, which is less than a year after the Jazz Katz Bar Rescue episode aired on TV.
Because Back Beat Piano Bar wasn’t earning enough money to keep the lights on, they tried to start a GoFundMe campaign to raise the $7,000 needed keep the bar open and pay their owed money (because they were already behind on rent).
However, the GoFundMe campaign didn’t work and Jazz Katz / Back Beat Piano Bar closed soon after.
Unfortunately, the GoFundMe page has been deleted so I can’t share the link.
The old Jazz Katz website is still available on Wix, though, if you want to check it out.
The bar is definitely closed, though – they just haven’t deleted the website.
As of my most recent check in early 2024, the old Jazz Katz Detroit location is occupied by a comedy club called Punchline Comedy Lounge.
You can see a picture of Punch Line Comedy Lounge in the old Back Beat Detroit location in this shot from Google Maps Street View:
Overall, the Back Beat Piano Bar Bar Rescue episode was not a great success because it closed less than a year after the episode aired on TV, which seems to be a trend for the Bar Rescue Michigan episodes.
If you want to see some more Michigan Bar Rescue episodes, you can check out these posts:
All of those bars are also closed as of 2024, so Jon Taffer is 0/4 when it comes to rescuing bars in Michigan.
And if you want to share your thoughts on Back Beat Piano Bar or the episode, you can join others in doing so in the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
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Last updated: 2024-03-28 06:06
A piano bar is usually in a hotel, I wouldn’t go if I was looking for entertainment.
I agree. It’s a bit of a weird concept for a bar, which is probably why the Bar Rescue episode wasn’t a success.
Jazz clubs are great but unfortunately are a dying breed. Specifically because they usually only appeal to the older generations. Especially Piano bars. Bar owners can make more money appealing to the younger generations who frequent them much more often. Itās all about the money. Im sure you remember when you were young and stupid and thought nothing of burning through your cash on drinks for you and your friends. ššššš
I was really rooting for her to make it successful bar she had a good heart and I actually like the new look and everything about it but a bar business is tough and you must stay on top of everything good food good drinks on a continuous basis all the same with keeping entertainment
John is a whole p*ssy because without security he isnāt shit because what that bartender said I am a man first so f*ck him and his money because anywhere else John would get his head bassed in
big smoov, you don’t know anything. take your broke a$$ back to school. John would have his way with you and sit on your face til you liked it.
No seriously š¤£š¤£š¤£
It’s more than obvious that the bartender Dre uses his size a lot more than his mind. He is a bully, and Taffer has no problem dealing with them in the same style. If you want to see a real fight, tune in MMA.
Would’ve been better off with an orange door entertainment system. 50000 songs!!!!
Every bar could use an Orange Door entertainment system
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Taffer is too eager to take on establishments that are in no way going to succeed. You see it during the show which are going to fail in the year or who is going to change the name. Seems like he is getting desperate to create shows.
Remember the worse the situation, the higher the ratings. The TV audience for better or worse, is more involved in the show, just like these comments here, when thereās something to debate just like hete in these comments. Taffer is fully aware of the true issues and likelihood of any particular bar succeeding. His production team is at each bar prior to filming. Itās āreality TVā, itās not real.
It also makes a difference even if they do close bc the remodel increases the property value, at the end of the day Taffer always leaves these people better off than they were when he got there.
One of the main things I can see is that no matter amyones opinion of Jon Taffer he obviously truly wants these bars to succeed. Doesnt strike me as any kind of phoney.
I totally agree, seems totally sincere imo.
He is a wholesome guy, and he really does try to heal the toxic relationships he comes across.
You can see it in his eyes that he cares.
Most of these places have zero chance without replacing 90% of staff and mgmt. Itās not rocket science, itās hard work and organization to provide good food and drinks and most are not willing to learn and correct bad practices. No amount of remodeling or 2 days of training can fix a lack of pride in oneās craft.
What they really need is me in assless chaps doing a flute solo across the table tops with my synchro mesh dance grooves.
I like this show. Reminds me of the show that tries to rescue failing restaurants. I’m late in the game regarding bar rescue. Every episode I’ve watched, I’ll come here to see if the bars are still open. It’s no surprise that most of them are closed.
All of these owners ask Taffer for help and when they get it, they can’t get past their egos and change the bar name or go back to their awful habits. They simply can’t handle the consistency of having large crowds. They shouldn’t be in the bar or nightlife business.
Iāve always said that ābar rescueā agenda only helps at that moment and then things go right back to normal. I would feel like crap knowing my place was ārescuedā and got a whole facelift just for us to still fail and someone else take over the building.
I could tell early on that this bar was not going to succeed. The owner was to much of a pushover, you have to be willing to get rid of people who are not helping your business. I also agree with previous comments, that the Jazz club theme isn’t going to draw the younger crowd. I grew up in this area, and to see the changes it’s gone through, it’s much more affluent than it was when I was a kid, you have to do something to attract that upscale crowd. They totally missed the mark.
Adding a cover, and poor leadership put them out of business. $10 cover? Idk why she did that? Had hoped things would change with mother but didn’t. Issac ended up showing potential tho. Cover??
Dude bartender would have got wrecked Jon is a G.. get your raggedy ass out from bak there with that dirty tie on and try dishwashing or dropping fries