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if these bars are in an area that draws visitors from all over the world, then why did they contact bar rescue to come rescue their failing, POS bar?
Sounds like these austinites need to let some of the air out of their big heads. The show is 80%+ successful. Not to mention his 35 year career of doing this.
First off, I don't think they contacted them. It sounds like they decided to come to Austin and bars could basically compete to get on it.
I don't know much about Headhunters but I can tell you before it even airs, that The Brixton is not failing. The Brixton is on the new "East 6th" not to be confused with Dirty 6th. This is a very new area being developed east of 35.
The Brixton is one of the more well known bars in this area. It's a cool bar, with a nice vibe that fits the much more laid back east 6th. All you have to do is read the article to figure out exactly what the bar owner was trying to do:
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“The rumor I heard was that everything they did with all the work they did here was something close to $90,000 in improvements,” said Tim Lupa, who has co-owned The Brixton with his wife Sara for a year and a half. “Plus, I’m essentially getting a one-hour commercial for my bar running on cable right before South By Southwest. How valuable is that?”
And he's exactly right. He got almost $100k in free improvements, and exposure right before the biggest 3 weeks of the year. I haven't seen the other shows, and I'm sure the host is good at what he does, but changing The Brixton, to Rocket Room 6 was a mistake.
http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/BarRescue/And as far as The Headhunters episode, while that bar looked horrible, their idea of trying to cater to 25-39 year old tech professionals and serve Manhattans and other drinks like that, is ridiculous for the Red River district. Those types of people don't go over there, and nobody is ordering anything other than a beer, or whiskey.
Headhunters owner did seem like an absolute moron, but I'm guessing the deal is basically "Hey we're gonna give you an incredibly valuable improvement package and makeover, but you have to let us berate you and make it seem like your bar sucks no matter what."
[This message has been edited by Tim McCarver (edited 2/26/2013 12:08a).]