For the first time ever, The Show recognized true masters of the industry with the Five Star Award ceremony on March 5 at Caesars Palace. The winners were selected by the editors of Nightclub & Bar; Beer, Wine & Spirits Beverage Retailer and ¡Salud! y Buen Provecho magazines.

Operator of the Year
    As anyone in the industry will attest, it’s difficult to get an edgy nightclub concept off the ground. Add a tough metropolitan market into the equation, and the stakes are raised even higher. This year’s Operators of the Year — Jason Strauss and Noah Tepperberg, partners in both the renowned Marquee New York City nightclub and scene-setting TAO Nightclub & Asian Bistro in Las Vegas — have done it with flair. In the face of numerous nightlife challenges, these two gentlemen have proven themselves top operators with innovation, promotion, profit and more.

Best New Concept On-Premise
    There are few facets of the nightclub and bar industry more impressive today than the creativity going into America’s top club concepts. The sheer ingenuity and innovation with architecture, design, décor and more is staggering. Bearing this in mind, the staff of Nightclub & Bar magazine is proud to bestow its Best New Concept award to e4, an ultra-innovative club/lounge in sunny Scottsdale, Ariz.
    Founder and CEO Aron Mezo took years to perfect his plans for e4, which boasts four themed rooms with distinctive offerings for guests. The result of his perseverance has paid off handsomely in the form of rave reviews and impressed guests.

Best Promotion On-Premise
    Dark Horse Tavern and its basement counterpart Ten High Club have revitalized revenues with the Metalsome Mondays promotion each week. Located in the Virginia Highlands area of Atlanta, the club suffered the same slow Monday nights as its competition until bringing in live Heavy Metal karaoke. While other bars have done the concept of having a live band backing karaoke singers, the success of this particular group is astounding. Miller High Life was called in to sponsor, and CEO of Neighboring Concepts, Chris Eissman, says Dark Horse has enjoyed an increase of almost $3,000 on average in sales per Monday –– a night that the bar originally wasn’t even open.

Mixologist of the Year
    Winner Dale DeGroff developed his extraordinary techniques and talent tending bar at great establishments most notably, New York’s famous Rainbow Room, where he pioneered a gourmet approach to recreating the great classic cocktails and invented more than 400 of his own using fresh squeezed juices and exotic ingredients.
    Often referred to as the “King of Cocktails,” DeGroff has created award-winning cocktail menus and has established himself as a leading authority and popular personality in the beverage world. He is a founder of The Museum of the American Cocktail a non-profit organization dedicated to providing education in mixology and preserving the rich history of the american cocktail. For information, visit museumoftheamericancocktail.org.

Beverage Retailer of the Year
    Dennis Overstreet, founder and proprietor of The Wine Merchant in Beverly Hills, Calif., took the honor of Beverage Retailer of the Year. Overstreet, also a keynote speaker at “The Show,” opened The Wine Merchant in 1972 with the philosophy of showing the consumer what luxury wine and its lifestyle are all about. Thirty-four years later, Overstreet’s annual sales range from $4 million to $6 million annually.

Best Retail Promotion
    Owners Jim and Christine Bohnhoff have collected about a dozen antique Harley-Davidson motorcycles over the years and could not resist displaying them — one or two at a time — inside their store, Frontier Liquor, in Zimmerman, Minn. When they realized what attention-getters the bikes were, the Bohnhoffs built an entire marketing theme around them, with the store slogan becoming “Home of Beer, Booze and Babes.”

Operator of the Year (Latin/Hispanic Concept)
    At his Mi Cocina properties, Michael “Mico” Rodriguez tallies $15 million a year in alcohol beverage revenue, a goodly portion of it from the sale of approxomiately 20,000 cases of Sauza tequila a year. Rodriguez and his wife Carolina, with business partners Ray and Dick Washburne and Bob McNutt, opened the first Mi Cocina restaurant in the Preston Forest neighborhood of Dallas in 1991, they had nine employees and 12 tables. Fourteen years later, their company, M-Crowd Restaurant Crowd employs 1,200 across 24 venues, including Mi Cocina’s high-end Mexican restaurants and the company’s other concepts, Mainstream Fish House, Fort Worth Chophouse, Paris and Taco Diner. Within Mi Cocina at certain locations, the Barumba lounge and Apartment nightclub — created with a completely “different DNA” from the restaurants and from each other, Mico says — bring a smart nightlife dimension to the dynamic.

Best New Packaging for a Spirit Product
    The sleek and simple bottle design of Skyy 90 has made it a stand-out on backbars nationwide.

Lifetime Achievement Award
    Nightclub & Bar awarded this posthumously to industry great Sidney Frank. Perhaps known best for his successful endeavors in the 1970s with a fledgling liqueur brand called Jägermesiter, Frank, founder of Sidney Frank Importing Co., also was the vision behind the world-renowned Grey Goose label, which he sold to Bacardi in 2004. He also was famous for his charitable contributions both in and outside of the beverage industry.

Best Casual Dining Beverage Program
    Two casual dining chains tied for this award: Chili’s and Bonefish Grill. Chili’s recent beverage revamp decidedly ensured that the drinks could be prepared easily. Research and input from vendors — along with new beverage menus setting the tone for different categories of cocktails — has resulted in increased sales of traditional bar-menu items and helped grow revenues from new menu offerings. The chain’s extensive and flavorful non-alcoholic offerings are a must for casual dining with a family demographic.
    Bonefish Grill’s implementation of a dozen, very varied Martinis has established its beverage program as innovative in the casual dining segment. Sophisticated but accessible, the Bonefish Martini program has raised the bar of what casual dining can be.