Miami's Most Mischievous
Snatch Plays Off of a Controversial Name and Creative Concept

Some of us hold on to it a little longer than others, and some, like Miami’s Mark Lehmkuhl, spread the dream out by giving the experience to others.
    Jumping into the spotlight with a name many won’t soon forget, Miami’s Snatch opened its ostentatious doors to the world last Halloween, and the concept proved to be sorely needed.
    “The idea came to me,” Lehmkuhl says, “at a Mötley Crüe concert at American Airlines Arena. Thousands of people were going absolutely crazy for a band that hadn’t been around in forever. I thought why not open up a Rock ‘n’ Roll bar that would be like going to a Rock concert every night?”

The Trouble Maker’s Trousseau
    With no real signage or suggestion to call it out, Snatch’s front entrance is located next to the established Crobar Miami on Washington Avenue. Paying cover at the door most nights allows patrons full access of Snatch and general admission to the venue’s sister club Suite, located above it.
    “It is kind of like one is your madam, and one is your wife,” Lehmkuhl says of the two venues. “They are two complete opposites.”
    Suite is 9,000 square feet, very European chic and has a heavy emphasis on lounging in a mature setting of bottle service. Snatch, at one-third the size, is the seemingly ribald half of the duo –– geared toward artful immaturity all the way.
    “In Snatch,” Lehmkuhl says, “there is no VIP section. You can have bottle service at the tables, but it is the type of place where you let your hair down and go crazy. Girls take their shirts off and do shots off of each other, and you can climb around on everything. I wanted it to look like an overdone Rock concert. Like some American walked in with really bad, out-of-control taste.”
    The design elements include barstools made out of actual saddles at the main bar, antler chandeliers measuring six feet across, cowhide-covered chairs and an occasional piece of furniture that looks stolen straight from Louis XIII’s own living room.
    “It is a crazy conglomeration of a lot of different things,” Marketing Director Wesley Adams says, “from stripper poles to a mechanical bull to animal heads on the walls. There are pictures of Rock stars from the past 30 years hanging in places. We also have huge etched-glass mirrors that have pictures of people like Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix carved in them.”

Every Girl’s Inner Cowgirl
    From the mezzanine stairs, which lead up to a pool table and additional bar service, one can watch the place erupt with energy so palpable –– it is as akin to a full-out Rock tribute as you can get without being there, and the mechanical bull, Louie, is responsible for a large majority of this viable energy.
    “As soon as you walk in,” Adams says, “it is right on your right, actually in the front window. The windows of the club are totally open except we have some American flag curtains that slide open so that you can see people riding the bull from the street.”
    Flanked by an operator and padding should someone fall off, Louie pulls in attention from the ladies, which in turn, gets the attention of the men.
    “Generally, we go for the slow sexy rides,” Adams says. “It is not really a place that guys get on and try to stay on for eight seconds. We are not an urban cowboy-type bar. I would say, when it comes to the bull, it is almost exclusively the girls. But it absolutely helps the energy of the room, and it never seems to get old.”

Making Personality a Priority
    Beyond the mechanical bull’s appeal, Adams says that the employees dish out in constant abundance the energy that makes an evening in Snatch so phenomenal.
    “I think one of our biggest assets is the staff and the environment they create. You feel like you can let loose in Snatch, and it is not about showing off for one another –– which a lot of South Beach places are.”
    The waitresses’ outfits include a wide range of accessories –– think fishnets, metal, ripped lingerie and cowboy hats. To stay true to Miami sense of style, however, fashion designers such as Ed Hardy and labels such as American Apparel also make the attire list.
    Lehmkuhl knows that it is personality that counts most in bar employees. So, he went to great lengths to find outgoing women to entertain guests, and he found the majority of them in venues many owners would not think to search.
    “I had been on the beach about 10 years,” he says. “I didn’t want to hire anyone from South Beach. They are set in their ways, and waitresses from large-scale clubs around here are not going to be happy unless they are making $1,000 a night. So, I went to the strip clubs.”
    Hiring from gentlemens’ clubs, Lehmkuhl saw an opportunity to find women with the essentials of good customer service skills, attractiveness, out-going personalities and the ability to deal with any type of patron.
“It is a very interactive experience that we are trying to create here,” Adams says. “It is not about being exclusive, even though we do get a fair amount of exclusive clientele.”
    From jumping on top of the bar flinging napkins and spraying the crowd with CO2 canisters to showing up for work with a surprise Mohawk, the staff at Snatch is definitely a welcoming, living, breathing part of the décor.

The Headbanger’s Bar
    Keeping the noise level high is essential, but staying fresh is the mortar that holds the entire concept together. From day one, crowds at Snatch have rocked out to the stylings of Joe Dert, the venue’s beloved resident DJ.
    “He has been with us since the beginning and is a really great guy,” Adams says. “You obviously don’t want to play the same music Friday and Saturday, because people get bored. So, he is good at mixing it up, but knowing that at the same time, you also have to keep the image of the club in general. It is a fine balance, and I think it is something that a lot of clubs struggle with.”
    The music selection is a heavy Rock format with voices from decades past bouncing off their long-dead likenesses on posters around the room. Mixed in is a collection of today’s favorites –– which of course still fall in the category of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In addition to the DJ talent, Snatch hosts live music on occasion on a temporary stage set up around the mechanical bull in the front window.

Concrete Concept
    To say Snatch is one of America’s Rock ‘n’ Roll bars is an understatement. Snatch, many would argue, is in a category all its own in the profitability of classic, head-banging, get-down fun. Lehmkuhl has endeavored to create that feeling and sensation he noticed at the Mötley Crüe concert all those years ago, and judging by the numbers, he has done just that. In an average Friday evening, one bartender inside of Snatch may pour and hand out more than 350 cocktails.
    “There are a couple of other ‘Rock’ bars around here,” Adams says. “There is another Rock bar, and there is Automatic Slims. But, I don’t really consider them in the same genre. They really do something else. We, I think, really and truly, are the only Rock ‘n’ Roll bar out there. And if you walk into the place, I think you see that. I mean, you can’t even play House music in here. It just doesn’t work.” NCB