A biography for Jon Tafferhasn’t been written yet.
“The greatest gift of leadership is a boss who wants you to be successful.”
“I think life takes circles sometimes.”
“If you can't build a relationship with your customers, you're in big trouble. If you can remember the numbers from the reports and spreadsheets you spent hours poring over in your office, but you can't picture the faces of your customers - you're in big trouble.”
“Don't open a bar if you think all you need to be is social and greet the customers. You have to run a business.”
“Honestly, if I could be anything, I'd love to be a small-business authority type of person.”
“I can't believe the sense of community here, the amount of pride the people who run this city have in Las Vegas. They are wonderful.”
“Sometimes people go into my business because they like to drink, which - that's insane.”
“Keeping a bar clean is basic in this business. Having a staff that speaks adequate English is basic.”
“Human interaction is something that I believe, as humans, we crave for. And that is where bars and social environments come into play.”
“Any time a bar or chef cares more about their own ego than the tastes and comforts of their customers, they should just open a monument to themselves and not a business.”
“Pushing for excellence is a fight. You have to fight to hire the right employees, fight to get the supplies you need, to move line items around. Being a great manager means pushing to get those few extra inches every day. It's almost like a football game - the team that wins sometimes wins by just inches.”
“Society is causing us to talk less and interact more digitally. So, I'd be remiss if I didn't believe that businesses will have to follow that same path.”
“Most people who get into the business are social animals by nature, but do they have the financial abilities to manage a business? A great bar owner has both.”
“Leadership is a trait; it's not a skill.”
“Bar owners tend to be social rather than operators. Most bar owners do not manage their numbers. They do not have spreadsheets or reports to manage their budget, cost, or inventory. I would say 90% of independent bar owners do not even have a budget.”
“The word 'mixology' adds $3 to the price of any drink.”
“When a sizable group of customers speak, I always listen! The 'customers' view' is key to my confidence in decisions.”
“I believe that a cook in a kitchen isn't producing an entree: he's producing a reaction. The product is the reaction; the entree is just the vehicle.”
“I was 12 years old and in summer camp. I started a company called Aardvark Industries, which provided basic services to camp counselors.”
“Too many bar owners built a bar for themselves... when they should have built what their market and demographic demands!”