Former Perryville woman continues run on reality TV's 'Bar Rescue'

A Perryville, Missouri, native is part of the reality TV show "Bar Rescue," airing on Spike TV.

Lisamarie Joyce, a master bar trainer and bartender for TGI Fridays in Carlsbad, California, and the San Diego area, met host Jon Taffer at a conference, and the rest is history.

Joyce has been on the show since the end of last season and is supposed to be in at least six episodes this season.

She said she was a big fan of the show and said Taffer is "crazy smart in the bar world." On the show, Taffer offers his expertise to failing bars to save them from closing.

"It's crazy. I thought maybe a lot of it was made up," or certain areas emphasized, but "it's really true," she said of reality TV.

Joyce has worked for Fridays for almost nine years. She started off as a busser at Tractor's American Grill in Perryville.

"There was something about the bartenders that just awed me," she said. So she decided to get training.

Part of her job with Fridays includes opening new stores, going to locations where bartenders need rescuing and working on online training videos for new Fridays employees.

Someday, Joyce said she would like to own a bar.

"I think so; where that would be, I have no idea, but I would definitely like to have my name ... on a bar someday. My grandpa owned a bar. Although I never got to meet him, I feel like that's where I got my niche for the bar," Joyce said.

"Bar Rescue" airs at 8 p.m. Sundays on Spike TV.

Joyce's husband is Daniel Joyce, an emergency room nurse.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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