Failure is an extremely personal thing, and so is success. The problem with people is they don't own their failure, and if you don't own your failures, you're never going to own your successes.

If you have to signal a bartender to get a drink, then they're not looking at you, which is their problem. They're not doing their job. So don't feel rude when you signal a bartender. They're the ones who caused you to signal them. Go for it.

I'm the type of employer who will hire based on personality, based on potential. If you put the resume before the personality, you're going to fail.

You give me someone with the right personality, and I'll give you a bar manager in three weeks. You give me someone who has been a lousy bar manager for 30 years, and in three weeks, you'll still have a lousy bar manager.

It's easy to be good when things are great; it's tough to be good when they're not.

Don't eat the bar nuts.

I have a playroom with my drum set, a guitar, and amplifier at home.

Sometimes people go into my business because they like to drink, which - that's insane.

If I were to pick the life of someone whom I professionally mimic in many ways, it would be Howard Hughes, surprisingly.

Government employees make a good amount of money - income levels are very high in Washington, D.C. compared to other markets, so they are living in a bubble.

I was 12 years old and in summer camp. I started a company called Aardvark Industries, which provided basic services to camp counselors.

What I love about Vegas is that we have the mountains and the Strip. There is always something to do.

Never eat anything out of a bowl in a bar... If it isn't in a package, don't eat it.

I opened my first bar that I owned in 1989. The first one I ever owned was in downtown St. Louis.

When I went to college, I really became interested in cultural anthropology. Our behavior isn't that different from other primate species'.

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.

Rarely does a congressman stand up and defend a liquor company. Rarely does a congressman stand up and defend a bar.

The wrong personality with the greatest resume in a business will not grow that business.

I don't want to hire people who have less of a commitment than I do.

I could take a cemetery and make all the tombstones beer companies. There's a lot of craft beers that came and went. A lot of them.

Excuses destroy success every time.

Leadership cannot be taught. Either you're a leader by the time you're 12 years old, or you never will be.

When I'm angry on TV, I'm actually not. I'm manipulating you as an owner.

I've made stupid investments. I've made stupid decisions as an employee. I've made foolish decisions as a manager. I've gotten fired. I've lost businesses. I went through all of those things.

When I meet with people who are ineffective managers with failing businesses, I can't change what they do - I have to change the way they think.

I'm a really happy guy. I have a great career, a wonderful wife and family.

I have no personal or professional regrets. I really don't.

I believe that every person's failure is their fault, every single time.

When a sizable group of customers speak, I always listen! The 'customers' view' is key to my confidence in decisions.

I can change businesses, but I can't change people.

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.

Eating something with someone is the second most sensual and intimate thing you can do in life. The experience can't just be about consumption.

Cocktails and food are social.

I think everybody thinks they can have the next $100 million venue. I think there is a bit of arrogance in that.

Each 'Bar Rescue' is shot in real time. So the complete rescue is 5 days from my arrival to my departure. I do not see or meet anyone in advance.

If a candidate puts together a small business platform, I'll go out on the road for him. You know, I'll support him.

The whole point of a bar is, I look in your eyes, you look in my eyes, we've never met each other before, we talk, we get to know each other, have a drink together, and the great end of that story is we get married someday.

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.

I think life takes circles sometimes.

When you're finished, bars are not inherently profitable. You got to work at them to make them profitable.

Great negotiations happen when people are relaxed, so a relaxing environment is important. A high-energy environment tenses people up. It closes them up. You're not as likely to get that concession.

I do a lot of corporate consulting work. I've been doing it a long time.

I went to college for political science and got a bartending job.

The 'hottest bar in town,' to me, means high energy.

If your main reason for opening a bar is to have somewhere for you and your friends to hang out, then build a bar in your basement, and stay out of the industry.

People don't go to bars they think are uncool.

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.

Nine out of ten people who are failing blame their failure on somebody else. And that is the common denominator of failure.

I guess I've just always had an entrepreneurial spirit.

Any business, no matter what it is, lives or dies by the customer reaction it creates.