Hospitality Design - December 2011 - 72

perspectives interview: king & grove
Right: A peek inside the Electric Eel at Ruschmeyer’s.
out and really curating each of our properties to the neighborhood, so they
will all be slightly different. But one of the special things that we have
going for us is that you’re not going to be able to knock us off because it’s
not going to be so overdesigned that people will want to copy us. It’s going
to be very familiar. People will be very comfortable within each of our
properties, and it’s not going to be such high design that we’re going to be
knocked off by properties trying to get that customer base.
HD: Besides New York, where else do you see this brand?
BP: To begin with, national gateway markets: LA, Miami, Chicago, San
Francisco. Cities we know. I would love to do London at some point. It
could be a brand that works very well in European markets, whereas
I think sometimes the U.S. versions of the boutique hotel don’t really
translate to Europe, because maybe they are too slick. And Europe doesn’t
really embrace that, whereas I think this brand could very easily do that.
HM: Right. It’s more personal.
HD: How did you come up with the name King & Grove?
BP: Rob [McKinley, who designed Surf Lodge and Ruschmeyer’s] grew
up on King Street and I grew up on Grove Road, and it was the kind
of intersections of our experience, and ability and vision, and it sounded
quite regal.
HD: It does sound regal. So why now? Why did you think it was a good
time to launch the brand?
BP: We had been working on it for a year and a half before it happened.
I just could see that the King & Grove model would be more relevant. I
looked at what other people were doing well, and wanted to take a similar
kind of model and do it even better. And also I moved to Williamsburg,
Brooklyn, and my life changed a little bit as well. I’m in my late thirties
now, and I thought there’s more to it than just nightlife and parties.
HD: Is Ruschmeyer’s a good example of what the brand will be?
BP: We’ve managed to explore every facet of our philosophy, from the
kind of immersive service to the honest and aspiring food and beverage,
to the kind of design and nightlife entertainment without any being the
primary focus. One of the things that I think always suffered in boutique or
lifestyle hotels was service. We are doing what we call immersive service,
and whether you’re at Ruschmeyer’s to have a quiet spa-like weekend, or
you want to go and rage and party with hundreds of friends, we want to
be able to cater as much to each group as possible, making it as seamless
as possible. So we made sure we knew where all the local yard sales were,
that we could set you up with the best kite surfi ng instructor, that we
could have you partying till 4:00 in the morning, so there’s this whole kind
of fully immersive experience, and you could choose which one you want
it to be. And we learned a lot, and I think it worked. If we can carry this
philosophy through some bigger properties, it’ll be very personable.
HD: How do you train your staff to create these personable experiences?
BP: It starts before training, in the hiring. We have some very interesting
characters, and I think that was the one thing that Ian Schrager, back in
the day, used to do really well. He used to hire for personality, and then
72 hospitalitydesign
teach the technical side. I think that got lost a bit along the way. And the
leadership has to show that it’s hospitality. A lot of people who bought
into the boutique hotel world over the last few years, if you mention the
word hospitality to them, they go ‘Oh, no, I’m in the hotel world. Not
hospitality.’ But it’s hospitality. It’s service. One of the main focuses of
King & Grove is to give some truly hospitable experiences.
HD: Can you share some of the highlights of the design of Ruschmeyer’s?
BP: The nook, which is a kind of breakfast area that is also like a general
store that became this very cool, all-day hangout that we’re now going to
integrate into as many properties as we can. And there’s Rob’s genius idea
of these long, central tables with a removable divider in the middle that
he said, ‘When I was young, my parents used to take me to Friendly’s in
Montauk, where fourteen tops would just turn up and say, Do you have a
table for fourteen?’ And now we say, ‘Well, actually, we just might.’
HD: Who will be your typical guest?
BP: The person who wants to be just slightly under the radar.
HD: So I take it no velvet rope?
BP: No, not at all. I learned my lesson.
HM: It was successful then. It’s a new time, and it doesn’t really call for
a velvet rope any more. It’s more of an inclusive environment, and if you
know about it, then you’re at the right place.
BP: Democratic exclusivity. At Ruschmeyer’s we have a bar called the
Electric Eel, and it was called the Electric Eel in the seventies. So we
brought it back and we have DJs, and sometimes parties will go on till 4:00
in the morning. But we have our friends DJing. There is no velvet rope,
no table reservations. It is fi rst come, fi rst serve, all in. I was approached
by numerous big name DJs who wanted to come and play for free and I
just didn’t want to do that kind of thing. And so we had this great music
philosophy of no dance music, no new hip-hop, and no Top 40. It was
kind of fi fties, sixties, seventies, reggae, rock, soul, nineties, Brit-hop. I
mean, it was really good fun. And I think people enjoyed it. It was great
seeing all that. Even the local fi sherman guys, they come in at 6:00 or 7:00,
and they’re welcome. Everyone’s welcome. Then all of a sudden they’re
dancing to Like a Prayer. Hilarious.
In the past, the hotel industry’s been poorly, unevenly weighted.
Design has played a massive focus on nightlife. It’s played a massive focus
on destination. The restaurant has played a huge focus. Bring everything
to a balanced sense and you’ve got something that can’t not work.
HM: It shouldn’t be over focused in one direction because then you lose
sight of everything that really makes a hotel successful. That’s what we’re
going to achieve with the brand—just giving everything the appropriate
balance to make it right.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - December 2011
