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Today's guests are David Rodolitz and Gary Vaynerchuk, co-founders of VCR Group, a hospitality company operating concepts such as Flyfish Club, Ito, and Little Maven in New York and Las Vegas. Flyfish Club, which opened in September 2024, is the world's first blockchain-based members club focused on fine dining. In this conversation, we dove into the details of what it's like to build a hospitality group in one of the most competitive markets in the world (NYC). What I enjoyed most about this conversation is their forward-thinking perspectives when it comes to hospitality, especially in the fine dining space. We also talked in depth about the private members club landscape in New York and entering the space as a young hospitality group.
Gary Vaynerchuk, AKA Gary Vee, is a serial entrepreneur and leads VaynerMedia, VaynerX, and VCR Group. In 2014, Gary co-founded Resy and sold it to American Express in 2019 and is also an early investor in notable companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Uber, Coinbase, Slack, and more.
David Rodolitz is a NYC hospitality veteran and a co-founder of VCR Group. Prior to founding VCR Group, David was a founding partner of Empellon, a group of restaurants in NYC.
To learn more about VCR Group's restaurants, click here
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Interview Highlights:
- The business of a fine dining members club in NYC
- Restaurants as part of placemaking
- Contrarian thinking in hospitality
- The reality of running restaurants
- Competing in the NYC restaurant & private club market as a young company
- The future of private clubs in NYC & taking cues from London club culture
- Longevity in the restaurant business
- How to handle negative reviews
- How would you invest in hospitality?
- Advice for aspiring hospitality entrepreneurs
