Lucia Penrod opened the first ‘barefoot luxury’ club in South Beach nearly 30 years ago with her late husband as a tribute to his daughter. Today, she runs the $400 million hospitality brand that stretches from Saint Tropez to Saint Barth—and has a plan to reinvent it in her own image. On any given sunny day at one of the 12 Nikki Beach clubs around the world, there are rows of day beds overflowing with models and a steady stream of rosé, and lots of chic resort wear, which is not coincidentally for sale at the gift shop. Oh, and dancing on tables is not only encouraged, the management endorses it. “You go to Nikki's and you go there at two o'clock for lunch,” says Lucia Penrod, the cofounder, owner and CEO of Nikki Beach Hospitality Group. “You might stay till seven, eight o'clock. You drink. You dance on the tables. But then you go home and you have enough time to rest, recover and be ready the next day.” Penrod’s recipe for success at Nikki Beach has changed little in the past three decades: Serve up overpriced food and drinks—with an emphasis on bottle service—and a sprinkle of celebrity in glamorous destinations along the global party belt, stretching from Ibiza to St. Barth. Penrod has run the $150 million (estimated annual revenue) beach club business for the past 8 years, after founding it with her late husband, Jack, in 1998. The Penrods built the original Café Nikki on South Beach as a tribute to his 18-year-old daughter, Nicole, who was killed by a drunk driver in 1997. They wanted the garden spot to inspire customers to “celebrate life every day because we don't know when we're not going to be here.” The following year, the expanded the café to the beach, renamed it, and the first Nikki Beach was born. Read the full story on Forbes: ByChloe Sorvino,Forbes Staff. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2026/03/14/famed-miami-dayclub-nikki-beach-may-be-closing-but-the-party-continues-around-the-world/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices