The man who tells the world how to best run a bar is looking to bring his very own to Texas. Jon Taffer, the hospitality expert and host of the Paramount Network reality show Bar Rescue, is targeting the Lone Star State for new locations of his Taffer’s Tavern bar concept, according to an announcement made Thursday by Craveworthy Brands, the company tapped to push the brand nationwide.

Taffer will probably talk more about this Texas dream this weekend. He’s slated to be the keynote speaker Sunday at the Texas Restaurant Show, which is taking place at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio. But make no mistake, Taffer’s and Craveworthy are hoping to drop a couple franchise locations of the tavern into the Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio markets.

“Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio—big metros, growing populations, operators who appreciate the bar business,” said Craveworthy CEO and Founder Gregg Majewski in a statement. “We don’t need to be the biggest name in Texas. We need to be the best business in the category, and that’s what Taffer’s Tavern delivers.”

Craveworthy’s brands include Big Chicken, Shaquille O’Neal’s chicken restaurant that swooped into Houston starting in 2023 only to leave entirely earlier this year, and Wing It On!, which has one Texas location in Fort Worth.

Taffer’s Tavern, which launched in 2020, has locations in Alpharetta and Atlanta, Ga., plus Orlando, Fla., and per the announcement is “designed with the charm of traditional ‘old-world’ pubs and built for today’s dining experiences.” The Alpharetta location looks probably more like a combination Applebee’s and Washington Avenue bar-restaurant, with a wraparound bar area, booth seating, walls of televisions, a chandelier made of bourbon bottles, and an actual painting of Taffer greeting you by the host’s stand.

There were other Taffer’s Tavern locations, including in Watertown, Mass., and Washington D.C., but those closed in 2024. The franchise partner cited security issues as the reason for the closure, with Taffer himself saying they had to hire armed guards for the bar. Washington, D.C., neighborhood news website PoPville alerted the public to the tavern’s closure at the time, with one commenter wryly noting, “sounds like they need a Bar Rescue.”