Episode 19: Dave Grutman On Building Groot Hospitality, Learning From Failure, & Finding The Right Partners
Restaurateur and nightlife mogul Dave Grutman joins Rich Kleiman to talk about how he built Miami-based Groot Hospitality from the ground up, including the legendary LIV nightclub, and restaurants including Papi Steak, Komodo, & Planta. He talks about his approach to finding partners, how he identifies workers who have the "X factor," why he evaluates employees' potential by how professionally they do the "little things," and how he chooses celebrity collaborators, including his newest partnership with Pharrell. The hospitality guru also gets candid about his early career, including his days as a bartender and what he learned about failure from his ill-fated first nightclub. Plus, his thoughts on New York as a nightlife market, future aspirations in the sports business, and more.