Is Copper Rocket Pub Still Open? Bar Rescue Update (Maitland, FL)

The Copper Rocket, a live-music bar and pub in Maitland, Florida run by owner Rob Selman, was featured on the Bar Rescue episode "Crazy Little Thing Called Selman," which aired May 6, 2018. The episode centered on a salmonella outbreak traced back to the kitchen, alongside Selman's resistance to letting anyone else run day-to-day operations, which left food-safety practices and staff training badly neglected. Jon Taffer's visit focused on convincing Selman to accept outside oversight of his kitchen and bar program rather than controlling every detail personally, while his experts rebuilt sanitation procedures, retrained the kitchen staff, and refreshed the food and drink menus.

The stress test that followed was built around those sanitation lapses, pushing the kitchen crew to handle a full rush while following the new food-safety routine under pressure. The show did not give the bar a new name, and it continued operating as The Copper Rocket after the relaunch. According to Orlando Weekly, the episode was filmed well before its May 2018 broadcast, and Selman sold the bar in August 2017, only months after Taffer's visit. The incoming owners gutted the space and redid the buildout, retaining the Copper Rocket name while replacing most of the staff and much of what the rescue team had installed, according to Reality TV Updates, which tracks the bar's post-rescue changes in ownership.

The bar continues to operate today at 106 Lake Avenue in Maitland as a sports bar built around live music, trivia, and karaoke nights, according to its own website, which lists current weekly hours running Tuesday through Sunday and maintains active ordering integrations with Uber Eats and DoorDash. Those live delivery links and a maintained hours schedule point to a functioning, staffed business, though no independently dated 2026 post, menu update, or review could be confirmed during this research pass. Taken together, the Copper Rocket survived its televised rescue and a full change of ownership within a year of the visit, and the available evidence indicates it remains open under the same name today, run by different owners and staff than the ones who appeared on the original 2018 episode.