How to Make a Members Club Work in New York

NEW YORK — In New York, where snagging a table at a buzzy new restaurant is a badge of honour, a new wave of members clubs with roots in London and Los Angeles are betting they can turn belonging into the next hot social signifier. But in a city where trends fade as quickly as they appear, can these clubs sustain Manhattanites’ interest?

A number of new members clubs have opened in Manhattan this year, many the offspring of London-based hospitality groups, where members’ clubs are deeply embedded in the local culture. British hospitality guru Robin Birley, of 5 Hertford and Annabel’s fame, opened Maxime’s on the Upper East Side in March. Another London hotspot, The Twenty Two, landed in New York last month too. Clubs with roots in LA and Miami are also flocking to the city. West Hollywood entertainment mogul meeting ground San Vicente Bungalows took root in the West Village in March, and Miami’s Casa Tua opened in The Surrey Hotel last October. These new entrants follow on the heels of the likes of Casa Cipriani, Casa Cruz and Zero Bond.

Private clubs are not new to New York. But old-school clubs, like the Metropolitan, Union and University clubs, don’t carry much cachet with Millennials and Gen-Z who are schooled in signalling status by sharing experiences on social media, and want clubs with an atmosphere more suited to their generation.

But New York City may prove hard for this new wave of members clubs to crack because “in New York, paying for something isn’t cool,” said Annabel Schwartz, founder of hospitality agency House of Talana, who previously managed member relations for San Vicente Bungalows and Soho House. New Yorkers are “too savvy, and we demand way more than just a good dinner and a beautiful space with a celebrity in the corner. Unlike Los Angeles, throw a celebrity in the corner, you’re pretty much on your way to success.”

Instead, she said, locals are more nostalgic for a time when you had to earn the respect of the maître d’ to get a table at one of the city’s hot restaurants. In New York, where artists, influencers and celebrities have easy access to free drinks and meals, access carries more social clout than money.

Behind the Rush

While some members clubs, like Soho House, experimented with bringing the London model overseas in the early 2000s, the recent opportunity is more dynamic.

Post-Covid, the need for spaces beyond home and office sent the members club trend skyrocketing in New York. And as hospitality professionals picked up on the membership model’s ability to keep charging throughout the pandemic while hotels and restaurants suffered, more started looking to it as a reliable revenue stream.

Hotels like Aman NYC and Fasano Fifth Avenue opened members-only sections, as did hospitality groups including Tao Group, which opened Crane Club, Major Food Group with ZZ’s and Jean-Georges Restaurants with Chez Margaux.

Unlike their predecessors, the new clubs are entering the city in such rapid succession that they’re attracting more attention, which is helping to cement membership as a new status symbol. Social media has added further momentum; having the ability to post and geotag their location online is just another way for members to signal clout.

There appears to be appetite for the rush of new openings — Scott Sartiano, founder of five-year-old Zero Bond said that over 14,000 people have applied for membership and not gotten in. But the market is competitive, and it’s not just any space that can successfully bring the model to life, nor combat New Yorkers’ attraction to all things shiny and new.

“Yes … it’s a saturated market,” said Schwartz. “But if we have incredible places that come onto the market that really deliver the experience that a membership club should be, I think that there’s a huge longevity still available for them.”

Cautionary Tales

Still, many clubs have fallen victim to New Yorkers’ high standards, short attention spans and distaste for the hoi polloi.

When Soho House went public in 2021, it lost cachet as it sought to satisfy shareholders with a growing number of global franchises and by offering memberships to those outside creative fields, while its original purpose was to serve those who had historically been left out of members’ clubs. It became “for the masses,” according to Ariela Kiradjian, co-founder and chief operating officer at the Boutique & Luxury Lodging Association. Even worse, getting a table at the clubs became just as challenging as any other popular restaurant, eliminating the convenience members expected.

Charging exorbitant fees can be just as harmful as scaling too fast. Casa Cruz, which has its roots in London, charged up to half a million dollars to join as an investor-member, but a large part of the townhouse soon opened to the public, with certain sections staying members-only. When luxury content creator Julia Hackman Chafé visited the club at the peak of its popularity in 2022, she found the experience to be a letdown.

“At the time it was the newest, hottest place and [we] worked very hard to get that reservation … and it was filled with old white guys,” she said. “There wasn’t a young, happening crowd by any means.”

Curating the Right Crowd

In curating their member roster, clubs need to be thoughtful about targeting and cultivating a specific tribe with shared interests — not just those with the most money.

“The proliferation of clubs kind of creates a ‘choose your sports team’ mentality,” said Nadine Choe, founder of hospitality newsletter and podcast The Stanza. “If I’m a member at Chez Margaux, it probably means I’m younger, and I like to party. If I’m a member at Casa Cipriani, I probably divide my time between New York and Milan and have to do business with Italian people.”

But in a city that’s heavily career-driven, members’ rapport should go above and beyond their professions, according to Schwartz, and be rooted in their ability to engage and have fun together — providing a respite from work and capturing the essence of a memorable night out in New York.

When selecting members, Schwartz elaborated that teams need to ask themselves whether groups sitting at neighbouring tables will be interested in talking to one another, and consider their role in facilitating connections. She highlighted one LA club that asked potential members to tell them a funny story in the interview process to get a sense of their personality.

At Zero Bond, Sartiano personally reviews every application the club receives and is thoughtful about how people from different walks of life will come together. He thinks of it like “having a dinner party at your house and you’re trying to bring old friends with new friends and put them together and form new relationships for people,” he said.

Getting the crowd right can even prompt convenience-minded New Yorkers to go out of their way for a visit. Hackman Chafé pointed to Casa Cipriani’s crowd as one of the reasons it manages to get members to consistently make the journey there, even if its lower Manhattan location can be out of the way for many.

Above all, community is particularly important in a city that can feel “lonely,” said Kiradjian. “Running into people you know” in the city is a clear value proposition because “from a psychological standpoint, you feel important… So people will 100 percent pay a premium to find that belonging in that community,” she said.

A Seamless Second Home

Having a go-to restaurant in New York where you are known is a rare feat in a city of eight million, and comes with spending considerable time in the city. So in addition to understanding their broader community, investing time in getting to know their individual guests and their preferences can help clubs make their members feel seen.

“The ownership of the club needs to have this local maître d’ mentality,” said Choe. “Think about your favourite corner restaurant that you go to all the time. Why do you like going there? Because you feel seen. They know your name. They know how you like to drink your martini.”

This type of attention to detail that makes members feel at home gives them a reason to pick a specific club over the other options available to them in an expensive city where they’re likely to be choosy. Consistency in staff is one way for clubs to build relationships with their members — Zero Bond, for instance, has had the same staff since opening, and Sartiano spends 10 to 12 hours there every day.

Convenience is another non-negotiable in a city notorious for difficult reservations. Being greeted by a host who knows your name is important, but the ability to drop by for spontaneous dinners and drinks can eliminate a lot of stress from an otherwise high-octane city.

Rather than being faced with an hour-long wait for a restaurant that’s at capacity, “the biggest positive thing about members clubs is knowing that when they come here on a Friday night, say it’s 11pm or 1am, we’re going to welcome them through the doors,” said Eric Freitas Orford, general manager of The Twenty Two.

But to ensure a membership opportunity’s longevity, teams need to ensure they can deliver the unique creative crossover and spontaneity that New Yorkers love about their city.

“You have to really understand the landscape, the permitting, the licensing, the staff, how to get them, and most importantly, the people of New York City, because they have access to anything they want at any time they want it,” said Sartiano. “So how do you build something unique and special enough that they want to pay to be a part of it long term?”