What Happened to Swanky Bubbles After Bar Rescue? (Philadelphia, PA)

Swanky Bubbles had opened in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood after co-owner John Frankowski was inspired by a champagne bar he visited in New York; at its peak the restaurant and bar took in roughly $100,000 a month. By the time Bar Rescue arrived, the concept's popularity had faded and the business was losing close to $4,000 a month. John had largely stepped back from daily operations, leaving co-owner Ryan Dorsey to run the floor; on-camera recon found a jammed bar gate that forced staff to duck underneath it, understocked liquor that bartenders had to purchase themselves, and a manager who made customers uncomfortable with unwanted comments during an undercover visit.

The rescue's changes targeted both the front and back of house: an outside chef reworked an overly large menu and addressed kitchen cleanliness, including a dishwasher station that needed nightly sanitizing, and a mixologist retrained bartenders on basic drink-making and gave the crowded bar area more room to work. Jon Taffer's team also renamed the business Sheer and updated its decor to a cleaner, more upscale look. A stress-test service after the relaunch was rocky -- ticket times stretched toward an hour at points -- but staff reported the team pulled together well enough to send a bachelorette party home satisfied.

The new identity did not last. According to Philadelphia Inquirer reporting on the bar's finances, the business's liquor license was effectively frozen after a landlord dispute, and a Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas order in October 2011 blocked the sale of that license; separate tax liens were also outstanding against the business. The owners had reverted the name back to Swanky Bubbles almost as soon as the show wrapped, and, according to that same Philadelphia Inquirer reporting on the license dispute, the bar closed for good around November 2011, only a few months after the episode aired. The Old City space has since changed hands more than once, most recently operating as a different, unrelated restaurant called Lilly's Ferry as of 2023.