On the Bar Rescue episode ‘Antisocial Media,’ Jon Taffer visits Celebrities Sports Grill in Yucaipa, California. Brothers Ryke and Max Zahir are the co-owners of the bar. Both were U.S. soldiers who were deployed overseas. Ryke was seriously hurt in Afghanistan in 2013. When they got back, the brothers invested $485,000 into Celebrities Sports Grill. In the beginning they were making about $200,000 a month. Doing well, Max wanted to give back. So he started raising money online ($20,000) for a veteran in need — but it turned out that the man was not a veteran. (See video below.) Max got hammered on social media. People who donated wanted their money back.
There were more problems with Celebrities than Max’s tough online reputation — workers complained they often run out of food and liquor. The bar is now losing about $10,000 to $20,000 a month. The Zahir brothers are facing a grand total of $750,000 in debt. They tried to sell the business, but didn’t get any bites. Taffer renames the place Victory Bar and Restaurant. A grand opening event was held in May 2016 but since then, according to many sources including Yelp, the bar has closed. A long time resident of Yucaipa Clint E wrote on Yelp in July: “As a long time resident of Yucaipa, I really hate seeing local businesses fail…Never was it spectacular, but always consistently decent. Not sure what happened there (sold out,broke?) but Celebrities or Victory have not matched it…Thought Bar Rescue would of really turned this place around and as a fan of the show I have to say this one was a fail.” Bar Rescue airs Sundays at 10pm on Spike.
