Lay of The Land #173: Mitchell Vargo (Forward Hospitality Group) — The Business of Hospitality & Entertainment in Cleveland
Mitchell Vargo, Partner at Forward Hospitality Group.
Since its founding in 2015, the Cleveland-based Hospitality Group has built out unique entertainment, bar, and restaurant experiences locally and all across the country — from here in Cleveland to Chicago, Miami, and beyond!
The breadth of concepts spans FWD — the large-scale day and nightclub built on a shipyard in the East Flats with a quintessential Cleveland industrial backdrop, coined the Ibiza of the midwest and pulling some of the largest names from EDM and beyond, like Rick Ross, DeadMau5, Steve Aoki, Afrojack and more … also my personal favorite. Across the spectrum, Forward has built out Goodnight John Boy, the 70’s-themed disco bar, Welcome to the Farm, a Nashville-inspired country music bar, Shake It, a casual burger joint, and lots more.
This conversation was a lot of fun — Mitch and I unpack the intersection of hospitality and entrepreneurship, the perception, branding and evolution of Cleveland as a city, the business of nightlife, Mitch’s path to this line of work and how he manages himself and others through it, and a whole lot more!
-----
LINKS:
Forward Hospitality Group: https://www.forwardhg.com/
FWD Day + Nightclub: https://www.forwardhg.com/fwd-day-nightclub
Goodnight John Boy: https://goodnightjb.com/
Follow on Instagram:
- https://www.instagram.com/mitchvargo/
- https://www.instagram.com/forwardhospitality
- https://www.instagram.com/fwdnightclub/
Connect with Mitch on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchell-vargo/
-----
SPONSORS: John Carroll University Boler College of Business || Impact Architects & Ninety
John Carroll University Boler College of Business: https://business.jcu.edu/
As we’ve heard time and time again from entrepreneurs on Lay of The Land — many of whom are proud alumni of John Carroll University — success in this ever-changing world of business requires a dynamic and innovative mindset, deep understanding of emerging technology and systems, strong ethics, leadership prowess, acute business acumen… all qualities nurtured through the Boler College of Business!
With 4 different MBA programs of study — spanning Professional, Online, Hybrid, and 1-Year-Flexible — The Boler College of Business provides flexible timelines and various class structures for each MBA Track — including online, in-person, hybrid and asynchronous — to offer the most effective options for you, in addition to the ability to participate in an elective International Study Tour, providing unparalleled opportunities to expand your global business knowledge by networking with local companies overseas and experiencing a new culture.
The career impact of a Boler MBA is formative and will help prepare you for this future of business and get more out of your career. To learn more about John Carroll University’s Boler MBA programs, please go to business.jcu.edu
The Boler College of Business is fully accredited by AACSB International, the highest accreditation a College of Business can have.
Impact Architects & Ninety
Lay of The Land is brought to you by Ninety. As a Lay of The Land listener, you can leverage a free trial with Ninety, the platform that helps teams build great companies and the only officially licensed software for EOS® — used by over 7,000 companies and 100,000 users!
This episode is brought to you by Impact Architects. As we share the stories of entrepreneurs building incredible organizations throughout NEO, Impact Architects helps those leaders — many of whom we’ve heard from as guests on Lay of The Land — realize their visions and build great organizations. I believe in Impact Architects and the people behind it so much, that I have actually joined them personally in their mission to help leaders gain focus, align together, and thrive by doing what they love! As a listener, you can sit down for a free consultation with Impact Architects by visiting ia.layoftheland.fm!
-----
Stay up to date by signing up for Lay of The Land's weekly newsletter — sign up here.
Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and many more.
Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreypstern/
Follow Jeffrey Stern on X @sternJefe — https://twitter.com/sternjefe
Follow Lay of The Land on X @podlayoftheland