Tao Nightclub and Restaurant and the Fine Art of Profit-Taking
Down to the finite, nothing was overlooked, with adult novelty items and espresso machines in each sky box and seven red, blown glass chandeliers throughout the club, imported from Murano, Italy

       At five months old, Tao Nightclub and Restaurant in Las Vegas has no need for sibling rivalry. Its packed predecessor in the Big Apple may, however, have some numbers to contend with fairly soon.
    Tao Asian Bistro in New York was begun by Richard Wolf and Marc Packer, and could well be said to have blown away the competition in the appeal of Asian dining and design on current American culture. With that same concept, a larger design scheme, a higher traffic location and a nightclub that defies and defines Las Vegas at the same time, the second go-round for the Tao concept has been second to none.
    “Every now and then one of us gets a vision,” Wolf says of his duet with Packer. “We simply had a vision that this (the Tao concept) was something special.”
    Barely three months after opening the first location, deals began pouring out of the woodwork for the obvious transition into a nightclub/restaurant hybrid. Wolf and Packer,  with the help of Managing Partner Louis Abin, began seeking out the preeminent in the nuances of nightlife. The men united with (New York City) Marquee’s legendary owners Noah Tepperberg and Jason Strauss and looked toward Nevada with a glimmer in their eyes. Finally, in an ironic twist, it seems Asia would make its second home amongst the architecture of Italy.
    “We entertained just about every (casino) group in Las Vegas,” Wolf says of the search for the perfect place. Upon first seeing the space presented by The Venetian Resort and Casino, however, he says he knew this time it would “not only live up to the grandeur of New York, but exceed it.”
    With the interior safely in the hands of Studio GAYA and Thomas Schoos Design, some of America’s most creative nightlife operators, serious celebrity attention and the Las Vegas strip surrounding, Tao Las Vegas opened in September 2005 –– bringing continent-sized seduction to Sin City.

A Look Within
    Arriving in two golden elevators, patrons embark into the exotic. The first room is called  the Monk Bar, where 200 hand-carved statues of Buddhist faithfuls light the way with flickering candles.
    “It is a pretty dramatic sight,” says Tao Nightclub Managing Partner Jason Strauss. “(It is) definitely one of our many wow factors, because as soon as you walk in you are just looking at this living breathing candelabra surrounding a beautiful bar.”
    This quieter enclave, filled with the aroma of scented burning wax and soft alluring music, becomes a romantic haven later in the evenings for those looking to take a break from the explosive action of the main nightclub, and as patrons veer left, the Voyeur Lounge unfurls, offering a livelier feel and a more sexual vibe. Four banquet seating arrangements give sightlines to views of two authentic vignettes. Live performers fill these nightly, from dancers to Asian acrobats, as guests are treated to some of what makes the Asian culture such a temptress.
    Moving right into the Opium Room, guests are enveloped in a completely different vibe and the latest in house music. “If you are there (the Opium Room) at 7 p.m., you might be seeing a corporate event going on for 250 people,” Strauss says. “But, if you are there on a Saturday night at one in the morning, you see it as an energetic lounge.” All of the furniture in this room is modular, allowing accommodation of the room’s dual purpose.

Exotic and Erotic
    As persuasive as that first sip of a Martini is on the tongue, it is nothing compared to the overall, full body effect of the last slow swallow. The Voyeur Lounge, Monk Bar and Opium Room are sheer silk scarves, falling away slowly one by one to reveal the venue’s tour de force.
    The entrance hallway to the main nightclub is flanked by two Asian models, adding a living, breathing artistic flair, yet, sitting in silent meditative pose before a scene of unleashed intensity.
    Inside, blended Asian architecture meets design elements such as a 30-foot catwalk between the VIP Moat Area and the dance floor. “It is probably one of the most suited structural designs for a fashion show that I have seen in a nightclub,” Strauss says.
    At the apex of this catwalk are two bathtubs filled with giggling women and exotic flowers, all of which gives over to the dance floor, described by Strauss as “the most energetic focal point of the entire space.”
    Seven bartenders, as beautiful to behold as the décor, service an island-styled main bar, in the shadow of a 500 square-foot balcony overlooking the entire Strip and the Venetian’s canals. Eight Sky Boxes to the left hold a five-bottle reserve minimum. Capable of entertaining 20 guests each, these have seen a $30,000 bottle of Cristal Methuselah uncorked more than once inside. With the DJ booth positioned 14 feet above it all, Tao’s main room is almost wicked in its lavishness.

The Process of Precision
    Standing back and admiring the finished product, there is awe for the skill and patience involved. In a city where everything is in a rush to get somewhere, from the taxis to the roulette ball, the group at Tao took calculated steps, so precise, that the resulting building process can be reviewed as more of a ballet than a mad dash to throw up the next hot spot. And it is in part the sheer magnitude of the dance that makes this Asian accolade so noteworthy and so likely to remain a fixture within the Venetian for years to come.
    “I would say it was over two years of construction,” Strauss says. With the construction amounting to only the beginning , more than 200 employees were hired initially to make up the service staff that would tend to what the team correctly anticipated would be crowds topping 3,000 a night. Strauss, along with a small team of managers from the New York City Tao, arrived in Las Vegas about two months before the opening to evaluate the staff and personally oversee the details.
    “A lot of my management came from other venues,” Strauss says. “Having four or five managers, coming from different bars and clubs all over town, we just put together what we felt was very competitive for what we felt the value of our product was. They brought their knowledge, and collaboratively, in sort of a focus group setting, we put it together.
    “My personal approach to service is to, in the beginning, over-staff,” he says. “Make sure that all the service points are being reiterated every single day in a pre-service meeting so that it just gets pounded in.”
Added to the staff list, growing at such a rate that it seemed to be taking on a life of its own, were nine VIP hosts and 40 security hosts. Following that came extensive training with the insurance company, consulting companies and the local Las Vegas Sheriff’s Department to ensure that there would be safety in the numbers.

Sound Enlightenment 
    The best design backlit by six million candles will not make a nightclub, however. The truth of the triumph lies in the sound. People were coming to dance, so the team contacted one of the best. John Lyons, CEO of Moonlighting/Avalon Sound and co-owner of all three Avalon locations, has earned his reputation in the industry, not only in  nightclub ownership, but also in sound and light. The man behind the music, he is responsible for the systems in the first seven House of Blues locations, the Avalon clubs, Mirage in Long Island, N.Y., LAX in Los Angeles and Light at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
    “The first thing that was challenging about Tao was the sheer size,” he says. “There were so many spaces to deal with. It was about 17 zones in all. “I wanted to have a lounge that had the ability to get loud and be a danceable space,” Lyons says. “I wanted to be able to clear the tables and have the restaurant be a dance club, too.”
    Three permanent DJ booths became the siblings of one portable one, enabling each area to have its own independent sound when necessary. All the speakers chosen for Tao were Eastern Acoustic Works, backed by Crown I-tech Series amplifiers and five of Harman’s DBX product called the Zone Pro. Combined, these allowed for 30 separate channels of sound. The entire process took seven weeks of installation, and even four weeks after opening, Lyons’ crew remained to adjust for perfection.
“It is hard to know, when you lay out something on paper, how the public is going to populate it,” he says. “You need to make adjustments to accommodate for how the water fills the vessel.”

Unmistakably Tao
    With so many creative forces at work on one project, the outcome includes tiny details to astonish patrons, pleasing and teasing them every step (and sip) of the way .
    General Manager Hing Yim, previously involved in opening rumjungle at Mandalay Bay, Mix at the Hotel at Mandalay and Lure at Wynn, has seen a lot in his seven year tenure in Las Vegas, but he still says the development of Tao was the largest concerning one unit in the city.
    “Yet it was the easiest opening,” he says. “Because we have been so organized from top to bottom.”
    Down to the finite, nothing was overlooked, with adult novelty items and espresso machines in each sky box and seven red, blown glass chandeliers throughout the club, imported from Murano, Italy. 
    Even the bathrooms are placed uniquely  on the mezzanine of the nightclub, creating an interesting sight line where everyone from the nightclub can see the girls in line. “It is a very visual design thing that we did,” says Strauss. Each stall inside also has a clear glass that fogs over when a patron locks the door. “You can totally see out but they can’t see in,” he says. “It is another voyeuristic design element.”
    This attention to fun and necessary details keeps extensive guest service a top priority. Yim equates the VIP hosts to casino hosts, only in a club environment. “We are not dealing with money, but bottles,” he says. “We do whatever we can for table guests. We help them facilitate the limo to the airport or help them get show tickets.”

Nirvana in Numbers
                         “The whole scene is a party. A theater in many ways,” Richard Wolf says. Las Vegas invented the phrase ‘never been seen before.’ It was a town that allowed us to do something really big, really splashy. With 44 million people a year visiting Vegas, and headed towards 50, that is almost 900,000 people a week,” he says. “It has never been a better time to be in Vegas, and we have been extremely well received. What happened in Las Vegas has exceeded our expectations, and we haven’t even experienced the busy season yet. Am I happy? I am more than happy.” NCB

Resonating Respect
Tao is anything but an understated first impression. Before stepping onto the elevators, patrons are met by a 9,000-pound, 12-foot high cast iron statue of the 24-armed Buddhist religious figure Quan Yin, and it continues throughout the venue, as religious aspects of Asian culture are mixed alongside stiff drink orders and scantily clad wait staff. So, it was not just in monetary ways that Richard Wolf and Marc Packer took a chance on the concept of Tao. “I was worried about it in New York City five years ago,” Wolf says. “But we have not had complaints of any kind.” From top to bottom and Eastern location to Western, Tao’s theme has won over the populace with the elegance and beauty of design.