Building a hospitality group in NYC
With Gary Vee & David Rodolitz
Hello everyone,
I’m pleased to share the first interview of the 2025 podcast season. Enjoy!
Huge thank you to Peoplevine for sponsoring this episode (and making the podcast possible this year)! Peoplevine is trusted by the best brands in the members club business. Book a free demo to see why at peoplevine.com.
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
Love hearing from these powerhouses!! But also adore hearing from you, it’s interesting to see how an episode becomes a bit of a rambling session when you bring on two guests and ultimately get less of the pointed Nadine questions. While this was an epic lineup, I love past “in the room” more as they cover far more topics in the same time!