Insider’s Guide To NYC Nightlife with Will Makris

0:00The city that never sleeps was sleeping for a little bit. Who obviously, with Michael, built one of the most legendary parties of all time in the White Party. Year one was more like, let's invite our friends at this new house you got. But year two, everybody was calling. Everybody wanted to show up. People care more about doing their skincare routine at night and getting up in the morning looking fresh than being out at night. The supermodels 20 years ago would be smoking cigarettes and drinking champagne until four in the morning, getting up at six and didn't care. Taylor Swift can change a room.

0:25Drake can change a room. Jay's anywhere. It's a movie. Everybody started drinking tequila. I would say 1942 kind of changed that. all these different membership clubs. I'm not gonna lie, to ask somebody to pay something to get into a place, it's kind of unheard of. Are there hidden gems in New York? Give me the iconic five. What's up everybody? And welcome to another Boardroom episode. Today, we are live in Zero Bond in New York City. And I have the privilege and honor to talk to a dear friend of mine, and also one of the hospitality mavens, hospitality moguls of today, my friend, Will Macris.

1:02How you doing? I'm good, bro. It's funny to be sitting in Zero Bond interviewing you, man. It feels crazy, actually. It is crazy. Well, I'm happy to do this. As I told you, I am excited about making hospitality and nightlife a part of Boardroom, and you were the very first person we're speaking to today. So before we start, set the stage a bit. I feel like I do this every time we speak in general, But give me a little bit of the portfolio that is Macra's hospitality today and what it is that you do on a day-to-day basis. So it's broken up into two pieces, mostly the main frame of it. One side is with Zero Bond being my partner and I, Scott Sartiano.

1:45We have Zero Bond. He also has the Mercer Hotel now. He has Sartiano's, which I also help with slash am involved with him. But those are his projects. And then with my other partner, Kobe Levy, I have Kuchina Alba. We have Lola Taverna, Little Prince. We just opened Alba in LA. And we're working on a few other things as well. So that's the general gist of it. There's a few other little things here and there, but that's most of the hospitality stuff. You know, it's funny. It's like there's this phase of my career that feels like everything that brought me to the point of when I ultimately then began starting my business, right?

2:22Like I think of everything before. At the time, I felt like I was hustling. I felt like I was working. But in reality, it was all this buildup to what then starts to form your business. The journey I know a little bit about, but your nightlife journey in New York, I remember you obviously from back in the day being at Provocateur, which was a premier nightlife establishment in New York. But you quickly went from that, it felt like, from afar to where you are now, but it wasn't quick, right? The journey's never quick. Tell me how you first kind of got into this business and then what those steps were getting you into that position where you could then start owning your own places.

3:06Yeah, basically, I was always infatuated with nightlife in New York. I mean, I saw things like, you know, whether you were watching a movie or something, you saw some cool scene where they go to the club and you're like, I need to be part of that at some point. So I got introduced to coming out a little bit and getting into places really I probably had no business getting into some friends I knew that had the relationships and kind of fell in love with just being out. So I got a chance at a certain point. Funny enough, the guys who own Provocator used to own this other place called Stereo. And I got to like sub promote with this other promoter at the time that was, you know, a fairly big name.

3:42And he kind of took me under his wing and I got to go out with them a lot. So that kind of started the trigger of me being out and mixing in with everyone. But like you were saying, Provocator was kind of the place that really put me on the map where I was around some of the best people in the world. It became the spot for two, three years where everything kind of elevated. And I was more wanted by other hospitality groups by what I was doing there. So that's kind of like where it really started getting more interesting. Cucina Alba is a restaurant. Lola, a restaurant. Little Prince, a restaurant.

4:15Zero Bond, a membership club. And it felt like while there was Soho House and there was a few others in the city, Zero Bond felt like it kind of kicked off this new wave a bit. When Zero Bond launched, it was like starting to come in to form pre-COVID and then COVID hit. What was getting Zero Bond ready? Like when you start to launch a membership club for you guys, especially at that time when it wasn't so common for everyone in New York, what was the strategy for you guys in building this? I give all the credit of the idea to Scott he kind of brought me into it so I want to give him the shot for that we basically sat down there's a little office downstairs on the ground floor him and I would sat in there and to start all out we just said who who would we want to be part of a group of people and a community that we respected that we grew up with that could all really come from different aspects of life different businesses different parts of entertainment, bring them all under one roof and who would want to be part of that and join it with us.

5:18And I'm not going to lie, it was not easy because besides Soul House, there was nobody in in the business. So to ask somebody to pay something to get into a place at that point, New York was kind of unheard of, except for one thing. So everyone kind of looked at us like, why am I paying for this? Why don't you just open it and we'll come? And I'm like, no, it doesn't work like that. So that was kind of a hard thing to get over on top of the fact that we opened literally in the heart of COVID. So we had a lot of hurdles to start, but that's kind of just how we started. We put a bunch of names together and Scott and I kind of come from a little bit, he's a little bit of the older generation than I am.

5:53And I kind of was more relevant in the younger spot. So our networks didn't always go exactly like this, but they were like this. So it really worked well because we kind of covered every aspect and got so many different people of different ages and different groups together in that form. But when you were hosting Provocateur, you obviously knew you had that knack, right? There's people that work at clubs and restaurants that you don't remember. Then there's people that form those relationships, understand who the important people are in the room. And I would imagine you had built up this network with the idea that there was going to be something that you could turn on.

6:31Prior to Zero Bond, had you opened Little Prince and Lola yet? So those were actually, I opened Lola with Kobe when it first opened. He had Little Prince already. And I came in after that part. And I really didn't know the restaurant business at all. And truthfully, how it got me to zero was more working for other hospitality groups, working for Noah, working, I actually worked for Scott and his partner Richie at the time. So I had those, I built all the relationships with them as well and got to know all their VIPs and all their celebrity friends and kind of took care of all of them as well, including you, by the way.

7:03Yes. Thank you, man. That's right. I think that part really helped because once I got to Zero Bond, my book was so big. And I just had so many different groups of people because even even though everyone knows each other, you kind of have that core group of the 10, 20 guys you call for everything. So I got to know everybody's core group and they all got along with me. So bringing those everyone together was a big part of Zero Bond being created the way it was. And when you launch it like this strategy and launching a members club, do you have to kind of tear the way you let members in? Do you start to think about like the diversity of the group and not just in terms of the makeup, but the types of people and the types of people that will be there all the time, the types of people that, you know, you know, may not live in New York, but we'll use it when they come in.

7:51And I would imagine part of that is like building the demand as well. Right. So as you start letting people in, the idea of knowing that there's people that can't get in and then ultimately do get in. Is that one of those things where like you slowly turn the knob and start letting people in as you go? Yeah, I think that's you see it now every month. There's a new members club opening at this point. So you kind of see everyone go after the same thousand twelve hundred people at every place. It's like they want you to be a founding member at every place that opens. And then what ends up happening is those people stay for a year and they come, you know, two, three times a week.

8:23They'll be there really frequently, especially the first six months. Then things tend to trickle they go to the new places, the new restaurant that opens, the new members club that opens. And then you kind of have to expand it, right? Because you can't just rely on that group of people. So I think in the beginning, you start with the core group of people who you really think that are going to build a brand for you and help you build it as far as you can. And then you expand from there. And not everybody comes forever. And people move away and people get older. Things just happen. Life happens.

8:52So you just have to kind of adapt and adjust with the times and what you're given. And just so I'm clear, the membership model, like the revenue that comes in for membership fees is one thing. The real revenue that's generated is from food and beverage, right? Yes. Food and beverage is a big part of it. But when you get that membership fees, that pushes you over the top. Yeah. That becomes like the annuity. The margins in food and beverage are so small now. Opening restaurants is more of a passion project as opposed to a moneymaker unless you're going to sell the whole thing. So it's become very, very tight.

9:23So I would say having a membership place that succeeds and being able to have those fees come in will make it so that you can continue to stay open because it is the margins are small. It's small. Yeah. So how did this boom happen? Obviously, like in London, membership clubs were always the way and was how people socialized. But how did this happen so quickly? Right. There's Zero Bond, there's Casa Cipriani, there's the 22, Crane Club, Chez Margot, San Vicente. I mean, we could keep going on and on and on. What do you think happened? Like, how did this shift start to happen over the last four or five years where that became the change in how hospitality existed in New York?

10:07And really around the country. I think a form of kind of feeling like a little more secure. I think as COVID happened and people wanted to have a little bit more privacy in their lives or got used to privacy because you were kind of by yourself a lot more. Things became a little more secluded. I think having a membership club where we really control who's coming in, that played a big part of it. I also think that when we opened, and definitely Casa Trippriani as well, there was kind of a boom for members clubs in the sense of it was just us and them, and everybody was kind of going back and forth.

10:38You could see it. It was fun. We had a thing going. And I think people saw the success of those places and said, well, I know those people. I can do that. I can do a hospitality thing. I could raise some money to do it. I think you're going to see a lot of them come. I know about at least 10 or 15 more that are being worked on currently. And it's going to be a tough battle to see who survives. It's going to be really, really hard. There's only so many people that can afford so many memberships. So it'll be interesting to see how everything plays out. But if you can get it to work and do the right thing with it, it's an amazing thing.

11:18So what's been the behavior, let's say, of New Yorkers to start in terms of managing all these different membership clubs? And how do these people, because like you said, there is so much overlap with everybody. I mean, there's so many people that it's obviously, it's possible. But how are people, how are like membership club customers managing this process right now? Are some of them going in waves and you see them cool down, another one pops up? Are you talking about someone as an actual member? Well, just like if you're in New York, as you see all of these membership clubs opening, or even as an owner of these membership clubs, how are you managing the idea that so many of them are out there and adjusting business and dealing with like the changing of that landscape every month?

12:01It's a battle. I mean, this year especially, like there's a lot of new places opening. And you're going to get that moment where a lot of your clientele and your membership is going to go see the other places, see what they're about. You also have a lot of people, you know, if someone who's single has been in your place for three, four years and nothing's come about and they're still single, you might want to go check out another members club to see what's out there. And it's understandable. You know, I'm a little more social than my partner when it comes to being out and about. So I think I see things a lot differently than maybe he does.

12:34I like to be out and about. I like to go see what's new. And I try to be friendly as I can be with everyone. so it's it's it's kind of fun to watch to and be part of and see what places are you know where everybody flocks to what people like about it and as time changes to as you know this in your business you got to keep up with the times right the new places that are opening might do something better than I do it or might do something worse but you get to learn from everybody else and I get to see where people fail or where they succeed and what they're doing with their new projects or where they open or how they opened or how they do the menu and we are fortunate enough that we can also adjust our platform here and make it so that we can make it the best to be and continue to you know be good in the future and and i would imagine you have to be careful right because there's this long waiting list and in some ways you could just probably let new members in and generate that revenue but you have to make sure you don't compromise the brand at all 100 i don't think anybody likes going to a place where they can't find a seat or not feel special i think that's something we really focus on whoever is part of this community really feels like they're part of it.

13:40You know, when you walk in, the waiters generally know who you are. The staff knows what you like to drink. They like, they know where you'd like to sit. I think that's a big part of, of having a membership place. Whereas if it's more like cattle and everybody's just coming in and out and you don't feel like anything. Um, so I think that's a major part of it and how you're going to keep people staying. And private events and that revenue from booking the space out becomes like a real source of revenue for a space as well. For sure. For sure. Private events are the core of if you can get a good private event business, it changes your entire, you know, your numbers for the year.

14:15So now you guys are opening Zero Bond in Vegas. How do you approach Vegas is a totally different animal. And obviously, you know, one thing you guys did so well is the brand Zero Bond is so strong, right? Like can live outside of these walls and not just in a new club, just what the brand represents. So what becomes a strategy a bit different when you go to Vegas? It's a learning curve. I mean, I'll be honest. You know, I've never lived in Vegas. Scott hasn't lived there. But thankfully enough, to me, we're partnering with the best brand out there in the wind. And they know what they're doing.

14:49They have a great core group of people that love going to their hotels, love going to their venues. And we just want to continue that excellence of what they've already have in their house and bring it there. As far as membership, we definitely want to have a core group of people that are local. We definitely want to have the local support. You know, Vegas is a thing where we'll go three, four times a year or something like that for big events, big weekends. But we definitely want to have a core group there. And there's a ton of great people in Vegas. We're learning that now that go there, that live there, that support it.

15:22And we want that to be our core. And then, you know, you have the L.A. crowd. You have the New York crowd that's going to come in everywhere else around the country. But we definitely want to have something stationed in Vegas where we really make it a staple in town with the core community that's there. Well, that's probably the benefit because these people from New York, just like us, these people from New York, LA, Miami, London, they're only in Vegas so many times. So you have to serve that high roller and serve that Vegas resident. 100%. So, and the pricing is different in Vegas? Pricing is around the same.

15:53We don't, even here, we're not trying to charge anything more than what we think is fair. That's another thing I see with some of these fees that places are trying to charge. I think you can outprice yourself very, very fast. our fees are very, very fair. It's more about getting in and becoming the member as opposed to you having to pay a large sum. Is the gig up on this founding member fee, man? It's such a joke. They've gotten us both. You know that, right? Yeah, it's such a joke, man. They really get to you. They get to your ego by saying you can get in as a founding member. There is absolutely zero that you get from being a founding member in my mind.

16:28I think if you have multiple venues, the founding membership sometimes will give you both memberships. So that can be something, or multiple depending on how big their group is. So that's something that's cool and maybe they figure out special pricing once you pay that extra large fee to get in at that price. But I think for us the founding membership was a little different. It was more about, again, it was a community thing. It wasn't about charging people more money. It was like if you were part of the founding group you would automatically get Vegas with it or wherever we'd expand to. At the time we didn't know it was going to be Vegas.

17:01But that's changed a little bit as time has passed. It's become more of a monetary thing. It definitely, but it felt valuable early on with you guys too, because it felt like you were almost carrying the flag for this community that was being built, where now you know exactly what it is. Yeah, and people came in like, oh, I want to be part of the founding membership because their friends were, or people that they looked up to or respected were part of that. So I think as opposed to a money thing for us, it was more about a little bit of a clout thing and a little bit of a cool thing where you're part of it from the beginning and be part of it with us the whole time.

17:32So talked about Vegas, but these clubs are now opening in Miami and LA. What is the difference when you see these clubs opening and what is starting to be like the scene in all of those cities as it relates to membership clubs? Some of them are just restaurants. I mean, they are. They're restaurants with a membership fee and that works. And if you do a good enough product and you have good enough food and good enough vibe, I get it. and others, you know, they're more geared towards sports or more geared towards entertainment stuff. So I think it all depends on, like, their kind of niche of where they want to be.

18:10I think if you're, let's say, you're going for something with entertainment or athletes or things like that, if you want to gear towards that kind of genre, that's great. That's something that you want to focus on. And I do see that kind of happening where people want to focus as hard as they can on their niche and what they're good at. But for us here, and I do think others try to do this as well, we want it to be kind of for everyone. I want to have a little bit of everything. And I think that's an important part of building a brand and building something that globally will be respected because you want the groups from Europe to come see you.

18:46You want everyone. And that's something that we always focused on and we always wanted to have as part of our house here. San Vicente is a very cool brand, right? Like what they did in other, it was incredible. They just opened in New York. What else has opened in LA from a membership standpoint? There's Bird Street, right? Bird Street, there's this place. I actually just went for the first time called Living Room. It's a music-oriented membership club. I thought they did an incredible... It's a really cool build-up. And I mean, you go into this one room where they have like a million... Each speaker's a million dollars.

19:17And they really focused on sound and music and quality of sound and what they're doing in that. And I thought it was awesome, you know? And it's cool to see different, again, they're focusing on what they wanted to do in that space. So that was another one I really, really liked as well. But In Burst Streets is doing incredibly well, and it's another great place in LA. Yeah, they've built a very cool brand. And you obviously just opened Cucina Alba in LA. It feels like, you know, when I look at some of your peers, you have this membership club in Zero Bond, but then you need like a restaurant brand that's like your flag.

19:53that you're defined by, and I know you have a few other places, but Cucina seems to be what you're starting to be defined by as well from a restaurant standpoint. How's the opening in LA been, and what has that been like, opening in LA? I know LA's been notoriously tough for restaurants, so how's this process? This was notoriously tough. Yeah. We were over a year delayed. And then when we were going to open, the fires happened in California. So we kind of had our backs to the wall over and over and over again. The city is not exactly the easiest city to get permits and get things done. So that was another thing that we had problems.

20:30But I will say, since we've been open and since we got things rolling, it's been pretty awesome to see L.A. come out for us. I mean, we are extremely, extremely busy, extremely fortunate to be doing what we're doing. We love the community. I got to tell you, I've never seen other hospitality people support our group, like out there, whether it's, you know, the guys from Bird Streets, John O 'Brien have been incredible. Craig from Craig's has been incredible. Like these guys have really, I mean, they're checking on me, seeing how I'm doing, sending business. I'm trying to do the same thing back.

21:03I've never really been part of that. In New York, it's kind of every man for himself a little bit more. Obviously, we have our friends that always support, but generally speaking, it's a little more cutthroat. Whereas LA, it's been kind of a really cool thing to see because people are excited to see something new come from a different place and do well. So it's been pleasantly surprising and we're extremely fortunate and we're trying to put out something that's a little different out there in LA. And you have to spend a lot more time out there, I would imagine, right? Yeah, I'm trying to spend my time as much as I can.

21:31I'm going like every couple of weeks, I'm there for a week and come back and forth. And do you see, like, obviously, like, you know, we've watched Mark and Eugene with Catch build this, like, incredible brand. It's really amazing to see how big that brand has gotten. Do you see Cucina as the one that you can be a bit more aggressive with in growing and scaling once LA is continuing to operate and succeed? Yeah, I think your two cities that really, Mark and Eugene, we used to talk about this all the time, especially Mark, because he's the one that moved to LA. He told me, you know, we built a brand for 10 years in New York that was an incredible brand, and we didn't get another deal.

22:10We opened LA for six months. I got Vegas like two months later. So I think those things play in part. If you do go to New York and you can succeed in LA as well, you're kind of really proving that you're in the two major cities and then the doors kind of open a little more. So that's kind of our goal here. I think Alba, from a food standpoint, from a service standpoint, from what we're trying to do with our staff and the uniqueness of what we're doing with the food out there, it's really starting to carry weight out there. So I think it'll show that we can do this anywhere and really build the brand to other places.

22:45And do you look at these other places that you and Kobe have as almost like the things that keep you defined as like a New Yorker? Those are your New York establishments? For sure. I think us taking a space that was never a restaurant before, we kind of took this parking lot and turned it into like this Italian garden was an important key. But we're really bringing like New York service there, kind of a New York flair to it. The food's a little different. It's not the same Italian, I don't think, as some of the other places, even though there is great Italian in L.A. So we tried to definitely bring the New York flair and we're going to try to carry that wherever else we go as well.

23:19Yeah, you have to. So we mentioned Mark and Eugene. Obviously, there's Noah and Jason and so many of your peers. It feels like, you know, all of these guys, like, and obviously I'm biased because I grew up with all of you. But it feels like that model was new to this generation. There were people before you, clearly, that have built restaurant empires and club empires. But it felt like this wave has all been very complimentary of each other. You're all friends with each other. Is there a lot of game sharing game and game recognized game amongst, obviously Noah and Jason have been doing this for 35 years, that you take from each one of these people and that that you guys share to one another as you kind of build yours?

24:03Yeah, I got to work with a lot of them. So before Scott was my partner, I worked for him. Noah and Jason are incredible at what they do. I'm closer to Noah just because he was the New York guy. And Noah, I talk to Noah a couple times a week. If I have anything to bounce off him, you know, it's amazing what he's done. Mark in LA is like my brother. So I have these guys really to bounce all these ideas off of. and if I have any questions or I need help with something, if there's something I can't do and they can do it or vice versa, we kind of always have an open dialogue to always help each other out.