(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 6 | View All Season 6 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: August 25, 2019
The Bar's Original Name Was: Stix and Stones Bar and Grill
The Pit Stop Bar and BBQ Address: 11404 E US Hwy 24 Sugar Creek, MO 64054
Episode Recap
Stix and Stones Bar and Grill , later renamed to The Pit Stop Bar and BBQ, was a Sugar Creek, Missouri bar that was featured on Season 6 of Bar Rescue.
Though the Stix and Stones Bar Rescue episode aired in August 2019, the actual filming and visit from Jon Taffer took place a few months earlier.
It was Season 6 Episode 43 and the episode name was “Stix and Stones May Break Your Bar”.
Stix and Stones Bar and Grill is in Sugar Creek, MO.
Sugar Creek is a small town of 3,000 people that’s part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
It’s located just to the northeast of the downtown and less than a 15 minute drive.
In 2008, Billy Banks opened the bar to combine his love of cars with his dream of owning a bar.
That means he’s had the bar for over a decade at the time of the Stix and Stones Bar Rescue visit.
For the first years Stix and Stones was open, the bar was successful.
Billy was thrilled to live his dream until he was unfortunately diagnosed with cancer.
Billy went into remission, but he realized he needed to spend more time with his family and stepped back from Stix and Stones.
He went from being in the bar every day to barely visiting.
In his absence, the bar has lost 75% of its profits.
Managers have been hired to run the bar, but no one has worked out.
The staff is unruly without leadership.
With the bar in severe debt, Billy has asked his bartender Johnathon to take the role of manager.
Razo is a bartender at Stix and Stones who has been an issue. Her full name is Stephanie Razo.
She has gotten sick in front of the customers and has even wet her pants while behind the bar.
Billy doesn’t allow Jonathan to have full reign of the bar and overrules his choices.
Jon Taffer and his experts, mixologist Charity Johnston and Kevin Bludso, start taking a look at the bar to figure out what they need to do to save it.
Kevin Bludso is one of my favorite Bar Rescue experts, so I’m hoping he can get the job done for Stix and Stones.
The experts and Jon notice an abundance of pool tables but not enough dining ones.
The letter Billy wrote to Jon Taffer is read by Jon to the experts, while the footage inside shows him taking shots.
Razo is smoking while pouring drinks, and the ash tip touches the glasses.
Two linemen from Kansas City go into Stix and Stones to spy on the bar.
One of the spies asks for a sweet drink since he is given no menu. The bartender recommends a Long Beach.
Charity is confused by how Razo made the Long Beach and thinks it looked watered down.
When the spies order the food, they are told the wait is a half-hour.
They are also told they need to go to the window to order their food as the bartender doesn’t do that.
That just seems like bad service…
In the kitchen, the cook, Rob, is handling raw chicken and not washing his hands after.
Grease and grime cover the kitchen appliances and it’s just generally pretty gross.
The spies notice Razo’s eyes glazing and her stumbling.
She is very drunk. Jon is angry that Razo keeps drinking and enters the bar.
Billy and Jon talk while Razo continues to take shots.
Jon asks Billy if it is legal to smoke behind the bar and takes Razo’s cigarette from her when Billy says it is not.
Jon shows Billy the charred flat top and the grease in the kitchen.
The following day the bar is cleaned.
Jonathan tells Jon Taffer that Billy is like his family, but Jon reminds him that Billy is letting the bar fall into disrepair.
The staff is shown a report that tells them they are losing money daily by drinking at the bar.
Razo claims she paid for all the shots she took the day before, but Jon tells her the footage doesn’t show that.
Charity trains the staff, and they do a cocktail race.
Kevin teaches Jimmy how to make dishes fast and delicious.
Customers will be let in for the stress test, and the staff has under two minutes to serve each one.
Jimmy does great in the kitchen, but the bar can’t keep up.
Ten minutes have passed, and only two customers have been served.
When twenty minutes ended, and only eight drinks had been made, Jon Taffer shut down the test.
Charity continues to train the staff on whiskey-based cocktails.
Kevin shows the team how to make a brisket sandwich with the Billy B onion rings.
As part of the renovations, Jon Taffer has renamed the bar from Stix and Stones to The Pit Stop Bar and Grill.
The bar has been gifted three POS systems, a smoke machine, and uniforms for the staff.
For the relaunch, customers love the new decor.
Jimmy sends out food fast in the kitchen.
Razo makes delicious drinks, and Jonathan steps up as a supervisor.
So was the Stix and Stones Bar Rescue episode a long-term success?
Keep reading to learn what happened next and if this Kansas City MO bar is still open in 2024.
The Pit Stop Bar and BBQ Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Pit Stop Bar Rescue episode, let’s talk about what happened the bar after Jon Taffer and his crew left Sugar Creek, MO.
First off, it wasn’t named The Pit Stop Bar and BBQ for very long.
They started moving away from the name almost as soon as the visit happened.
Initially, they went with The Pit Stop at Stix, but they soon ditched the Pit Stop naming all together and went back to the original Stix and Stones Bar and Grill name.
At the standard six-week check-in with the Bar Rescue producers, we learn that sales at the bar are up by more than 20%.
However, it kind of seems like that’s not the full story as the bar was already listed for sale at that time.
In fact, it seems like the Stix and Stones owners listed it for sale almost immediately after the visit (and before the Stix and Stones Bar Rescue episode even aired on TV).
You can see the for sale listing on BusinessBroker.net.
Here’s a picture of the Stix and Stones for sale listing in case it gets deleted:
The asking price was ~$510,000 and the bar claimed annual revenue of ~$231,000, which you can see in the sales listing picture above.
Because of this, it kind of seems like they just wanted to use the Pit Stop Bar Rescue renovation to sell the bar.
I don’t want to put bad motivations on them because maybe the life circumstances changed. I’m just saying what it looks like.
With that being said, I can’t find any evidence of the bar being successfully sold, which brings me to the next point.
Is Stix and Stones from Bar Rescue still open?
Stix and Stones closed in 2020, which is around a year after the Stix and Stones Bar Rescue visit.
The bar originally closed in July 2019, which was before the Bar Rescue episode aired on TV (but about three months after the actual visit from Jon Taffer).
However, they reopened a few weeks later, perhaps to see if the Bar Rescue episode airing on TV would attract enough customers to keep the bar afloat.
Unfortunately, it appears like that didn’t work out because the bar closed permanently in 2020.
There was a Loopnet listing advertising the property for sale, which was created in July 2020.
However, the listing was closed in February 2021 and I don’t see any record of it being sold.
Up until 2023, the old Pit Stop Kansas City, MO location seemed to still be empty.
Here’s a Google Maps street view image from October 2021 that shows the vacant property, with the Stix and Stones sign still there:
When I checked again in 2023, the property was still vacant.
Google did update its image in August 2022, but it still shows the Stix and Stones sign on the street and then an empty building behind.
However, as of 2024, there seems to be a new tenant named Arrowhead Liquor & Mart.
As far as I can tell, Arrowhead Liquor & Mart is still occupying the old Stix and Stones location as of March 2024.
Here’s a Google Maps street view embed in case anything changes:
If you know anything about the old Stix and Stones Kansas City property, please let me know in the comments.
Stix and Stones reviews after Bar Rescue
At the time that it closed, Stix and Stones / The Pit Stop Bar and Grill had an overall 2.5 star rating on its Yelp page, though only on 7 reviews.
In terms of Google Reviews, it had a 4.1 star rating on over 370 reviews.
Here’s a sampling of a few reviews that were written after the visit from Jon Taffer…
2 star Yelp review from September 2019:
We decided to stop by after a comedy show to see if this bar was a good place to hang out after watching it on Bar Rescue.
Unfortunately, in the 30- 45 minutes we were there we saw both the bartender and the server doing shots.
They obviously don’t care about the guy who owns this bar or he doesn’t care since it’s happening again.
The guy from the kitchen was super nice but the food was average.
Menu extremely limited…
3 star Yelp review from October 2019:
We’ve eaten there two weeks in a row.
Food has been consistent and well made.
They have some good tacos specials on Tuesday.
They also have a nice burger, patty melt and chicken strips!
All the food comes with oversized portions and well priced.
Service could be a lot better, but it’s what I would expect form a bar and grill.
The original Stix and Stones Bar Rescue submission video
While researching this post, I came across an interesting YouTube video that has the original Stix and Stones Bar Rescue submission video.
That is, the video where they ask Jon Taffer and his crew to come rescue the bar.
It’s a rare behind the scenes look at what it’s like for a bar to ask for Jon’s help.
I can’t embed it because the uploaded disabled embedding, but you can watch it here – it’s a little long though (7 minutes).
As for the people that you saw on the Pit Stop Bar Rescue episode, here are a few quick updates.
Sadly, Razo, one of the bartenders, passed away in 2019, just about six months after the Stix and Stones Bar Rescue visit.
She was only 32.
It’s always sad when someone passes early.
You can see her obituary here – her full name was Stephanie Marie Razo-Andrews.
RIP, Razo.
As for the Stix and Stones owner…
Billy seems to still be very into cars and posts about car events a lot on his Facebook page.
Final thoughts on The Pit Stop Bar
Overall, The Pit Stop was not a successful Jon Taffer rescue, though it’s not really his fault.
The bar had already closed before the episode even aired on TV.
And while they did re-open to see if the show’s publicity could help make them a success, they closed again shortly thereafter.
Given all that, you can’t really blame Jon Taffer for The Pit Stop closing since the bar was already on the edge even before he made his changes.
That wraps up my update for Stix and Stones / The Pit Stop.
If you want to see some other Bar Rescue Kansas City episodes, check out my updates for Thunderbird KSC Tavern / Thunderbolt, BARcode / RG’s Lounge, Badlands Country Nightclub / Longshots, and Water’s Edge / Edge of Town.
There were also a few other Bar Rescue Missouri episodes in St. Louis. If you’re interested those, check out my updates for City Bistro / The Beechwood, Crafted / Van Goghz, and Pastimes on 4th / O’Kelleys Irish Pub.
And if you want to share your thoughts on the episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
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Last updated: 2024-03-03 05:47
This episode confused me. A few episodes ago it was you have too many managers in this bar, fire one now. Oh noes we dont have enough people to run drinks now during the stress test. While here youve got a bartender who’s drinking, smoking, throwing up, and pissing in the bar and she keeps her job…k. Waterman the manager was trying to help during the stress test by running drinks, washing glasses, but the bar tenders couldnt make 10 drinks in 30 minutes. Meanwhile the owner from what it looked like was standing in the background doing nothing but maybe running some food once in a while. Yet who gets the blame? Waterman… what was he supposed to do? Taze the bartenders for messing up the drinks each time? The dude took a position he didnt want to help out the owner and gets a taffer tantrum for it. The kitchen was NEVER cleaned the entire episode and the “expert” chef burned the hell out of the example bun the night of the launch. The fryers were still caked with crap and the grill was still literally BLACK with crud on launch night. Also as a former cook Im going to tell you now every cook puts a rag on their shoulder to wipe their hands with. Sorry.
What did Razo die from ?
I read that it was an overdose. Not sure what she overdosed on though. Very sad.
I believe that there should be a contingent agreement when Taffer redoes a bar. People who use his time, effort, and money to scam Taffer are sickening.
They should be made to pay the cost of the redo back or spend time in jail for scamming.
I live close to the bar and pass it at least 1-2 a week, with my girlfriend passing it daily. As of today, 7/12, over the last month or so I noticed them tear up the parking lot and re-pave it. They have also done some re-construction on the front of the building where it’s one huge glass window up front basically. Can’t see for sure from the street, but it looks like there is a bunch of ropes hanging up inside now, horizontally. The sign disappeared again out front for a month or so earlier this spring. It is now back up again. Not sure what’s going on, but seems maybe, there may be a sliver of gasoline left to light this fire?
Sorry to hear about Razo, that’s sad. She obviously had some problems. Not surprising this place didn’t last.
I find it very weird that the owner, employees act so excited over the remodeling of the bar, yet within days they drop ALL of Jon Taffers recommendations names etc..
Along with listing the bar for sale.
Can you just imagine what would of happened iF ALL put 110% effort into it?