Bloomberg – Last year, Andrew Carney discovered a strange anomaly at three New York locations of his Soho House club. In August, wealthy partners disappeared from Europe, partly when the companies introduced “Work Anywhere August”. This year the migration has been even more. “It’s a new trend, especially on the East Coast,” he says.
Fortunately for Carney, who has been CEO of Soho House & Co. since last November, New Yorkers are also getting closer to the point where The iconic private club is opening a rural location in upstate New York, In addition to planning several other locations throughout the American continent.
“We’re going to grow in New York and Los Angeles, we have many more opportunities there, but we see a great opportunity to grow throughout North America,” Carney said in an interview. “There are many affluent cities in America now, especially after the COVID crisis, when many people moved from New York and Los Angeles, that are a perfect fit for Soho House.”
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Soho House, which originated in London in 1995, opened its first New York club in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District 20 years ago. He now has three in the city, and has opened in others, including Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and Austin. on Wednesday, Carney would announce plans to open six more in the US in the next two years, Bringing the total number to 20 by 2025, including upcoming homes in Portland and Charleston.
He also plans to open a country house in Rhinebeck, upstate New York. Grasmere House, as it will be called, is likely to feature a lake and a Winter Wonderland-inspired Christmas attraction.
Carney spoke to Bloomberg News at London’s Soho House Dean Street ahead of his trip to New York, where he arrived this week for the group’s US anniversary. One of the highlights will be the New York Staff Breakfast, cooked by Carney and Soho House founder Nick Jones. “I always have breakfast with the housekeepers as they have been with us for a long time and it is good to hear gossip”, Carney says, sitting in an armchair with a cup of coffee. The dress code at Soho House is casual, and Carney looks gorgeous in a black T-shirt, pants, and white Nikes.
a house on wall street
Two years after Soho House listed on the New York Stock Exchange, this week in the US is also an opportunity to punctuate its life as a public company. After a difficult period after OPV, The company narrowed its losses and improved its annual forecasts due to growth in its members in the second quarter. Shares, which halved in the first year after the IPO, are up more than 50% since the beginning of the year.
Carney says the company went public at a unique time for the market. “Technology has taken us a bit by surprise, to be honest,” he says. Coming out of Covid, hundreds of millions of dollars were flowing into platform companies, companies like Hopin, a digital conferencing app, and others skyrocketing. Was reaching valuation. Soho House, whose parent company changed its name to Membership Collective Group, aimed to become a “global membership platform for physical and digital venues”.
Earlier this year, the Membership Collective Group Inc. name was dropped in favor of returning to its roots and became Soho House & Company. “I told Nick, ‘We have to keep it simple here. We’re a members’ club,” Carney says, acknowledging that the company’s results weren’t good enough. “We kept missing our numbers.”
Carney, who will earn $3.7 million in total compensation in 2022, also touted Soho House’s digital plans: At one point, he was going to launch a digital subscription that would allow access to his app with streaming content. Could also be done for networking as well. “We stopped doing a lot of things that our partners weren’t interested in or didn’t want to do,” he says.
Soho House originated in premises above the Soho restaurant, Cafe Boheme, now run by 59-year-old Jones. Since then, they’ve opened three locations in trendy London’s Shoreditch, Bombay, and in New York: Ludlow, DUMBO and Soho House. Today it has 41 stores worldwide, 10 of which are in London.
Soho House became popular as a membership club for the creative classes – media, advertising and music. rather than the existing private clubs that historically served those working in finance or politics. Suits, ties and “corporate attire” are discouraged. The only dress code is casual.
elite member
As I grew up, membership tests became ingrained in pop culture. Even the fictional character of Sex and the City, Samantha, didn’t get on the waiting list for Manhattan’s Soho House.
Today, Soho House has 176,000 members. A typical member in London pays £2,750 ($3,455) per year, compared to $4,899 in New York to access the World Wide Home Web. Prospective partners are nominated by existing members, and placed on a waiting list (currently 95,000) until they are approved.
“We are looking for great people, creative souls”, Carney says.
If tabloids and gossip websites are to be believed, those creative souls include Prince Harry and Meghan, Justin Bieber, and Leonardo DiCaprio. But Carney stresses without sarcasm that the group is not exclusive, despite the membership fees. “Actually, we don’t talk so much about exclusivity, but rather about finding great members.” he says.
Carney joined Soho House from fashion label Anthropologie in 2019, taking over the CEO position from Jones last year. Since then, he has been on a mission to improve service and streamline costs. The plan to open eight to 10 new homes per year has been curtailed to between five and seven. Headquarters in Mexico City and São Paulo will open this year, while the headquarters in Manchester (United Kingdom) is scheduled to open in early 2024. After this a club will be opened in Glasgow.
rich partner
Soho House’s empire also includes furniture retailer Soho Home, Italian restaurant Cecconi and hotel chain The Line, which it bought in June 2021. Soho House & Co also run The Ned, a type of Soho house for workers. Locations in London, New York and Doha, along with the city. A fourth store, backed by “junk bond king” Michael Milken, will open in Washington near the White House.
Enlisting the backing of wealthy partners such as Milken has become key to Soho House’s business model. It is majority owned by billionaire Ron Burkle, CEO of Soho House & Company.
The search for partners for new homes begins long before the opening. In Latin America, where Soho House is opening in Mexico City and São Paulo, it already has 15 “cities without homes” where it hosts events and dinners for potential members.
In addition to the United States and Latin America, Soho House has just launched in continental Europe. It has already opened in Rome and Carney is considering matching. He’s also looking to open another location in France, after doing so in Paris two years ago. “We know they’ll want to have an experience,” he says. This may include a French farmhouse in Soho.
Early results are looking promising, and Carney looks back at the past two quarters, where Soho House has outperformed expectations. Restaurant entrepreneur and Soho House & Co shareholder Richard Caring says Carney has the “international breadth and experience” to understand the whole business. Caring said, “It is in the United States where we have to improve.” “And Andrew is doing it. He’s spending time there.”
Carney suggests clues to where Soho House is opening up next in the US Search “anywhere there’s a creative community”.
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