Episode 23: Jason Strauss on building Tao Group, expanding internationally, and partnering with the Madison Square Garden Company

Boardroom Talks

Boardroom Podcast Network

Business, Entrepreneurship, Sports

4.4 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2021

⏱️ 70 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jason Strauss is a co-founder and co-owner of the Tao Group, the world-renowned luxury hospitality company best known for its restaurant/nightclub brands: Tao, Lavo, Marquee and Avenue. Strauss talks to Rich (they've been friends since high school) about launching a nightlife business with long-time business partner, Noah Tepperberg. In 2003, the duo launched Marquee, the Manhattan restaurant/nightclub famous for its endless stream of celebrities and world-class hospitality. The club's success became the subject of a 2009 Harvard Business School case study, and led the duo to expand to Las Vegas where they opened Tao at the Venetian hotel, one of the country's highest-grossing restaurants and nightclubs. In 2017, the Madison Square Garden Company acquired a majority stake in Tao Group. Strauss talks about staying relevant in a youth-driven industry, his bullish expectations for post-covid nightlife, and the MSG Sphere, his group's upcoming music and entertainment arena in Vegas, one he believes will set a new bar for the nightlife experience.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up everybody and welcome to another boardroom out of office podcast.
0:09.1	I know I said Gianni, I wasn't going to do the jersey numbers anymore, but this is
0:14.9	podcast 23.
0:16.6	So obviously this podcast is in honor of the great Michael Jordan.
0:22.7	And I guess that means that our guest is so lucky to be rocking for the 23rd podcast with us.
0:30.0	And today, Gianni, we have somebody that I think you're going to love talking to similarly
0:34.9	to when we talk to Dave Grutman, but let Jason tell you what seniority
0:40.0	he has over that conversation. But without further ado, please welcome hospitality, mogul,
0:47.5	and a very dear friend and long-standing friend of mine, Jason Strauss. Jason, what's up?
0:52.5	Thanks for bringing me on. I know it was your first
0:55.5	choice before Grubman, but he's much more available, but we were able to get this in. And I'm
1:01.1	really happy that I'm here to, I've been listening to the podcast. You're doing some great stuff.
1:06.8	And great to be on. Thank you, bro. Thank you. So Gianni and I work very closely together, but Gianni is like living.
1:13.8	I live vicariously through him now because pre-COVID at least, he is a man on the scene in the nightlife.
1:21.0	And that is something that I did, obviously, as you know, as part of my 20s and 30s, I lived in your clubs and I lived in your restaurants and even in high school.
1:33.0	I have images of you sitting on the front stoop of Crane Club on the Upper West Side.
1:40.3	We need to get into a club that we were doing in high school.
1:43.4	That's how far we go back and that's your history in that life.
1:46.9	See, so, Johnny, I told you, man.
1:49.2	I was a club kid, bro.
1:50.4	I really was.
1:51.0	Listen, I understand.
	...

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