What Happened to Island Bar & Grill After Bar Rescue? (Blue Island, IL)

Island Bar & Grill was a family-run sports bar in Blue Island, Illinois, purchased by Adam Shorter in 2012 to help support his sister's family after his niece was severely injured in a car accident. Shorter staffed the bar almost entirely with relatives, including his mother, uncle, cousins, and sisters, and the resulting management structure was the focus of the "There Will Be Family Blood" episode, filmed in late 2016 and broadcast August 26, 2018. Recon visits documented inconsistent drink recipes, oversized pours, and slow food service; a manager was observed playing pool during business hours, and hidden-camera footage from the kitchen showed sanitation lapses that led one dish to be sent back.

When the returned order reached the kitchen, the cook left his station rather than remedy it. During the rescue, the owner dismissed two staff members after being confronted with the recon findings, and the remaining team received training on standardized drink recipes and portioning. The bar's exterior and interior received cosmetic updates, and the business relaunched under a slightly altered name, Island Lounge, timed to coincide with the birthday of the owner's niece. A new cucumber-vodka cocktail and an elevated shrimp-and-grits dish were introduced as menu additions coming out of the relaunch.

Six weeks after the visit, producers reported sales at the bar were up more than 10%, and the business continued to operate under both the Island Lounge and Island Sports Bar and Grill names interchangeably on its social media profiles. In March 2018, before the episode had aired, a shooting took place outside the bar involving one of its bouncers; according to CBS News Chicago (June 2018), city officials in Blue Island revoked the bar's business license following the incident, citing it as a nuisance and unsafe business, with the closure pending an appeal hearing before the city council at the time of that report. Owner Adam Shorter told CBS News Chicago that he believed the closure was driven by the racial makeup of his customer base rather than the incident itself, a characterization city officials did not comment on.

The bar's business license had also been briefly suspended once before, in 2014, following an earlier altercation. There is no indication in available reporting that the license was reinstated, and current directory and review listings show no active business operating under either the Island Lounge or Island Bar and Grill name at the Olde Western Avenue address.