Inventing the Marketplace
Impresario Michael Ault’s Profit Party Continues
By Taylor Rau
It's not easy being one of the world’s top club creators —
just ask nightlife entrepreneur Michael Ault. Finely honed foresight,
intense ingenuity and tireless dedication to hosting the best damn
party possible are just part of what it takes to do it.
Having dreamed up and brought to life more than 25 nightclub concepts
to date — and having worked with more than 60 others — Ault perseveres
as one of the most accomplished club afficianados on the planet. His
name is behind venues in New York City, The Hamptons, Los Angeles,
Miami Beach, Bermuda, Aspen, Marbella, Spain, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and
now — Hollywood.
This latest chapter has quite a twist, though. We’re not talking about Tinseltown. We’re talking Hollywood, Fla.
In the heart of Broward County, an unlikely place for a seasoned
nightclub guru to land, Ault’s neighboring 12,000 square-foot Pangaea
and Gryphon guest-magnets have been revolutionizing the beyond-sunset
scene for months. Truly, though, it is because of Ault’s extensive
track record that he is there now, and because of he and his team’s
hyperopic visions, the A-list elite have taken as much notice as the
wide-eyed local populous.
It Takes Charisma
“Home run hitters strike out more than most,” Ault says, and this
mantra has kept him swinging for the fence since he graduated school
and embarked on his career of entertaining people the world over.
Raised in Palm Beach, Fla., by parents who frequently threw elaborate
parties for guests and for charities, Ault says he learned early how
uplifting — albeit challenging — it was to be a gracious host. College
studies in military strategy, politics and international relations then
set the tone for Ault’s nightlife success. Combine that with his
in-the-trenches Wall Street training and experiences, and he had a
winning combination fueled with the desire to seek his own fortune and
identity.
“These skills enabled me to raise money and to build businesses, and
over the years with these nightclubs I’ve had all over the world,
invariably I had to raise the money,” Ault says.
Credit and banking training have proven vital to Ault’s success, but,
“It all goes together. Running a great business does not make it a
successful nightclub. And there are almost no cases that I can think of
where a great nightclub is highly successful because of a great
business model — it’s almost never the case.” Famed Studio 54, Area or
Xenon were famous because they were wildly successful concepts, not
because they were great business models, Ault says. It also was about
the charismatic people who run them. Studio was successful because of
Steve Rubell — and Michael Ault is that to Pangaea and Gryphon.
Making working capital work for him showcased Ault’s intuition for
spotting the next great trends, and with those abilities in tandem, his
clubs began to reign in their respective markets. Examples include The
Surf Club, MercBar, Pangaea NYC, London, and Pangaea Marbella,
Chaos Soho, South Beach, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, and SpyBar — all of
which achieved legendary status.
Today, Hollywood’s Pangaea and Gryphon, located at the Seminole Hard
Rock Casino and Hotel, are poised to uphold the track record Ault has
accrued in the 23 years since he came into his own.
“If your sole source of motivation is to create a fabulous party every
night — if that’s your sole motivation — forget the money, forget the
girls, forget the celebrities. Well, you know what? You will make
money, you’ll have all the girls there, and all the celebrities will be
there. It’ll be amazing. But that fabulous party is the key, and that’s
what prompted me to get into the business,” Ault says.
Inventing the Marketplace
Teaming with business partner and attorney John Surgent and investment
banker Tommy Murray, Ault says he knew the time was right last year to
set his sights outside of Miami’s often-oppressive velvet rope
environment. One of the primary problems with the plan to join the Hard
Rock in Hollywood, though, was that the level of prestige and promotion
Ault was attempting to bring to Broward County was unprecedented — it
was foreign territory.
“Normally I’ll go into a market where I can promote it myself ... where
I had a serious head start. But in Broward, I didn’t know anybody, and
nobody really knew me,” Ault says. Of course, they sure as hell do now.
“We really took a tremendous risk on Broward County. It was a market
unlike others that we had done before. You know, I’ve had clubs in
Brazil and Spain, in London, in L.A., in Aspen, of course lots of New
York and The Hamptons and South Beach. And usually I have focused on
markets that I would consider kind of editorial markets, where you have
a modeling industry, you have a celebrity industry, and you have people
who have enough money to buy bottles. Now, we haven’t always moved into
markets where the bottle business existed previously. In fact, when we
opened Chaos in New York City in 1996, there were no bottle clubs in
America ... and so Chaos was really the first one. But, there was
plenty of money in New York, and we thought it was the right time, and
it turned out it was the right time. When we opened in Brazil in ‘98,
there were no bottle clubs in Brazil. In fact, there were no bottle
clubs in Latin America.”
Ault and company — no strangers to marketplace invention — went against
the consensus to dive into this latest project, but they had their
reasons. Since Surgent and Ault met in Miami in 2000, they had
discussed the possibility of working together on a future club project.
In 2003, vision came to fruition when Surgent learned of Hard Rock
Cafe’s coming to town, and he approached both the developer and Ault
with the scope of the deal.
The Hard Rock Casino is a Class II gaming institution, meaning
that only low-stakes poker and slot machines are currently in
operation. However, that may be changing in the near future, Ault and
company feel, and the move up to wide-open Class III gaming would be
instrumental in bringing additional revenue streams both for Hard Rock
and Pangaea and Gryphon.“We feel that Class III gaming is coming up
soon,” says Events Director Jamison LaGuardia. “So, we looked at the
future. But — even more than that — it’s the centralized location we
have.”
Although the clubs are located west of town — in an area many said was
not conducive to guest traffic — the Hard Rock is a destination
location. Above and beyond that, what Pangaea and Gryphon offer to
guests in décor, style, ambiance, amenities and promotional prowess has
attracted patrons from all over the region, and beyond.
“Because it was an unproven market, we had to lay the proper
foundation,” Surgent says. “The next step was properly aggregating
talent.”
Ault’s proven process for nightlife prosperity aligned with this.
“Hollywood and Ft. Lauderdale were not so obvious for us at first,”
Ault says. “They don’t have a celebrity industry or a model industry —
that’s really South Beach’s purview. Hollywood did not have bottle
clubs previously, especially out where we are on the turnpike, which is
very far west of town. The prospect of having clubs built around bottle
business — and I’m not talking about selling a couple of bottles — I’m
talking about clubs built to be complete bottle clubs, which is really
our business, was daunting. So, there were many, many, many who thought
we had stepped too far, and there were many in Broward who said it
could not be done. There were many club people — veteran club people —
who said there was no way we were going to sell bottles that far west
of town . Everybody in Miami said I was insane.”
Proof of Prosperity
Naysayers now have fallen silent, however, as Ault and company turned
risk into revenue and continue welcoming celebrities and jet-setters
from Miami, New York City and beyond. Ault estimates spending $1
million in marketing to perfect the plan.
“It was a big risk, but we’re certainly glad we did it, because it’s
turned out to be a monster,” Ault says. “The numbers are extraordinary.
We have 90 bottle tables between Pangaea and The Gryphon, which on a
Friday and Saturday night we sell out several times over. On a Saturday
night, you know, we’ll do well over 2,000 people, and it’s a great
crowd.
“(Recently), we had a ton of New Yorkers in the room, lots of Miami
people, all the owners of Crobar were up there — it’s something that
never would of happened before. You would have never imagined all those
people going to a club in Hollywood,” Ault says with an amused
laugh.
Two Worlds Combine
Who’s really amused by the conceptual success are Pangaea and
Gryphon’s guests. Before even entering the door, the lack of cover and
noticeable absence of velvet ropes command attention. Once inside, the
edgy yet comfortable décor of both clubs and their and attentive staff
take over.
Gryphon’s European-style dance floor especially makes jet-setters feel
at home, La Guardia says, not to mention the club’s 21,000-watt
Phazon/Funktion One sound system. Recent additions also include a new
cryogenics system, a $30,000 laser and more Martin
lighting.
For those seeking solace or simply more privacy, Gryphon’s elevated VIP
area is separated from the main level with a Cirque du Soleil-inspired,
24-foot, multi-lighting hedge colonnade. The VIP area strictly is for
table service, and it has a private entranceway, bar, restroom and
separate security. Surgent says the European discotheque feel of
Gryphon makes any discerning international or metropolitan clubber feel
at home, right in Broward County.
The adjoining Pangaea takes guests on a virtual expedition by immersing
them in a primitive environment designed to resemble an authentic East
African safari tent. Adobe structures, animal skulls, spears and
cartographic art seamlessly merge with dim candle lighting, plush
lounge seating and wooden table draped with airy, cotton sheets. The
result is a sexy and sense-heightening tribal experience that — once
combined with the DJ’s touch — send guests on a joyful journey
accompanied by International Lounge or House beats. Aside from the live
rhythms of Congo drums, tambourines and maracas, the air sometimes
changes with the sounds of Rock or Hip-Hop, depending on guests’ moods.
If they’re still in the mood for something different, La Guardia says
Pangaea’s outdoor seating area replete with cool misters and a fire pit
should satisfy even the most atmospherically discerning.
Promotional Panache
One reliable result of these exquisite environments, La Guardia and
Ault say, is promotional opportunities. Jennifer Lopez produced a
TV pilot, “SouthBeach,” at Gryphon — and this was after scouting
several Miami clubs. Both Penthouse and “Fear Factor” have done
castings there, as well. Pangaea truly is home to myriad events, as
well. Beyond model and talent searches, golf tournaments or even
hosting monthly Car Shows with Makes & Models Magazine , La
Guardia has his sights set on an upcoming promotion in which a
Lear jet will be put on display for guests’ optical enjoyment.
LaGuardia grins when he speaks on one of the clubs’ newest VIP perks,
too — an opulent, $320,000 VIP shuttle bus that picks guests in South
up at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., with dropoffs after their night at the club
at 3 and 5 a.m. LaGuardia says its posh interior — replete with
luxurious seating, hi-tech visuals, a booming sound system and even a
stripper pole — has been having patrons excitedly buzzing for special
events. “This may soon be a continuous deal for us, too,” LaGuardia
says. “We welcome everyone from South Beach.”
Many of the venues’ patrons are from much farther than Miami. Dennis
Rodman, Randy Moss, Nick and Jessica Simpson, Matt Dillon, Steve Van
Zandt, Tera Patrick, the Olsen twins, Alicia Keys, A-list socialites,
and numerous other jet-setters — or men and women simply out to dress
up and enjoy a special night — all have come to expect this promotional
panache from Pangaea and Gryphon. “We’re really trying to give back to
the crowds that voted us “No. 1 Club” in Broward County,” LaGuardia
says. NCB
Five to Thrive, 10 to Win
Having spent more than two decades trotting the globe and creating
blockbuster club concepts for eager guests, nightlife entrepreneur
Michael Ault knows the ropes — the velvet ropes — and he shares these
five ironclad tips to club investment.
1. Formulate the business plan
2. Raise the money
3. Manage the money
4. Make it profitable
5. Keep it profitable
It’s as simple as keeping these in mind and at heart, Ault says, but
the real challenge lies with discipline and dedication. As an owner or
manager, know these rules well but also remember that when times are
tough, that is when true excellence shines through action.
John Surgent, a partner and primary supporter of Ault’s in Pangaea and
Gryphon, believes these following five facets of running a club have
been tantamount to success. He says despite the concept, the clientele
or the location, it pays to keep a watchful eye on the following, from
business plan beginning to end, and from each operational night’s open
to close.
1. Branding
2. Vision
3. Layout
4. Service
5. Core leadership to watch over this all
