nightclublog

Loyal Pennings Innovates With the Wickler

Loyal Pennings, the nightlife entrepreneur famous for his successful clubs like LAX, Las Palmas, Concorde, Deluxe and Garden of Eden, has translated his prodigious experience into a new invention called the Wickler. The Wickler - a Wireless head-count Clicker - is poised to bring the hospitality and security industries into the 21st Century.

Though it started out as a modern case of necessity being the mother of invention, the story of the Wickler is bound to spread far beyond the world of nightclubs once the Hospitality and Security industries see the nearly limitless applications possible with this state of the art device. The Wickler digitizes, centralizes and stores the traffic information from all of the entrances and exits of an establishment through a wireless network.  It also gathers demographic data and merges it with the Point of Sale data being gathered through the ordering system, and finally delivers it all to a main Wickler held by the club manager or owner.

In brief, the device will not only be able to tell a club manager/owner how many people are in the establishment at a given moment, but it can track the length of time spent there, the ratio of drinks ordered, the rate at which they are ordered, and even how sales are affected by the DJs set! The Wickler also surpasses traditional Point of Sale data by merging it with the headcount to give the club manager/owner a clear sense of how club capacity can affect the sales traffic. More is not always better, as an overcrowded club can actually hinder the guests' ability to get to the bar and result in a sales bottleneck. These usages and applications only scratch the surface of the potential of the Wickler, an invention that is sure to have a massive impact on other types of venues like casinos, sports arenas, museums and amusement parks, just to name a few.

Loyal Pennings began to formulate the idea for the Wickler when he opened Garden of Eden, his first club in Hollywood, in 1997. Garden of Eden was where he met his future partner, DJ AM, but was also the place he encountered the extraordinarily vigilant Hollywood Fire Department in the personage of the infamous Fire Marshal, Robert Gladden. Pennings found himself spending an inordinate amount of his time on many nights running from door to door checking the head count clickers held by security, and mentally subtracting the exit numbers from the entrance numbers in order to give the Marshal an ongoing, accurate, and current count of guests in the club. Failure to provide an accurate count could result in the club being shut down, but the time and effort needed to provide that count in a large club was quickly becoming a job unto itself.

In 2005, after years of developing the Wickler concept between club openings, Loyal Pennings partnered up with Eric Parmarter, entrepreneur and technologist, who immediately grasped the potential of the device. Together they created a prototype of the Wickler with a stunning set of features. They licensed a micro battery to avoid unnecessary bulk, created a custom casing smaller than a Blackberry, installed an enhanced data chip inside and put a digital display on all units. The also included an amber and black light luminator to check IDs. In addition to the external design and functionality they also tweaked the software to include multiple menu items. A user can hit a combination of buttons to process the incoming data in numerous ways. By far the most effective feature of the Wickler is that the information base is a web application, meaning that no installation is required for this incredible device. All the data and software is housed online, accessible through a web client for detailed reports. This centralization also means that the password-protected data can be accessed by the club owner or manager online or through a PDA from any location. The Wickler is the ultimate traffic-tracking device...as valuable to security at a political rally as it is to a nightclub.

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but originality, ingenuity and foresight are the father and the godparents! Pennings and Parmarter have thought it through thoroughly, but even they have only just begun to envision all the possible applications for their invention; the first wireless hand-held hospitality and security management tool.

Distributors Celebrate 75th Anniversary of Modern Beer Distribution System

April 7, 2008 marked 75 years of a legal, safe and regulated beer industry in America. 2008 marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition and on Monday, April 7, 1933, before Prohibition was officially repealed in December, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law, which legalized beer with an alcohol-by-volume percentage of 3.2, thus making beer the first alcohol beverage legally re-enter the marketplace legally.

“Americans now have access to nearly 13,000 labels of beer —all within the safest alcohol distribution system in the world because of the state-based regulatory system that was established 75 years ago,” said Craig Purser, president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA).

The repeal of Prohibition led to the development of an effective state-based regulatory system that continues to protect consumers from tainted or counterfeit alcohol — a problem that was prevalent during the Prohibition era and is still prevalent today in many countries around the world.

The economic impact of Prohibition’s repeal is staggering.

America’s beer industry — made up of brewers, beer importers, beer distributors, brewer suppliers and retailers — directly and indirectly contributes nearly $190 billion annually to the U.S. economy. The beer industry supports more than 1.7 million jobs, provides almost $55 billion in wages, and pays more than $36 billion in federal, state, and local taxes, NBWA says.

For more information about NBWA, visit www.nbwa.org.

Taliera Completes Acquisition of Red Eye Brands

Taliera Holdings has announced that it has acquired Red Eye Brands of Bryan, Texas. Red Eye is Taliera’s first brand acquisition and provides entry into the global beverage, specialty, natural and organic food markets. Taliera is an acquisition holding company formed for the purpose of acquiring operating businesses and brands in the global beverage industry. “This acquisition for Taliera is our first step in creating value for our shareholders, our customers, and our team,” said J. Smoke Wallin, CEO (pictured).

“We intend to grow our company by acquiring strong, well-recognized brands from larger consumer products companies as well as smaller regional companies like Red Eye. Many non-core brands lack the focus of senior level management or strong brand support. Our strategy is to take full advantage of these opportunities by providing each acquired brand with the marketing support and senior level attention necessary to enhance the brand's market position, leverage our industry relationships to expand its distribution and successfully launch line extensions and new products.”

For more information, visit. www.taliera.com.   

Spirits Industry’s Historical Trade Magazines Preserved

As the 75th anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal nears, Brown-Forman honors the beverage alcohol world by preserving pieces of industry history. Through a contribution to the Louisville Free Public Library, Brown-Forman has preserved the only known collection of volumes of the Wine & Spirit Bulletin.

The 18 bound volumes of Wine & Spirit Bulletin, which are among the spirits industry’s first trade magazines, date from 1882 to 1915. They chronicle the industry during its “golden era” prior to Prohibition. The historic publications include early stories on Brown-Forman’s founding brand, Old Forester, as well as Jack Daniel’s, Early Times and The Old Oscar Pepper Distillery (the present-day Woodford Reserve Distillery).

Brown-Forman and the Louisville Free Public Library’s main branch will each maintain one full set of the reproduced volumes, and the original set will be donated to the Kentucky Historical Society. An additional set of the books will also be donated to the Library of Congress.

Brown-Forman’s position in the beverage industry has remained prominent since the company’s beginnings in 1870, and it played a key role in the development of Louisville’s Whiskey Row on present-day Main Street. Of the 89 whiskey companies located on Whiskey Row before Prohibition, Brown-Forman is the only distiller whose presence still remains.

“Brown-Forman is proud of its role in the pre-Prohibition development of the beverage alcohol industry, and we continue to shape the business moving into the future,” said Chris Morris, Brown-Forman master distiller and noted spirits historian. “We are honored to save a piece of history through preservation of these documents.”

Top Club Owners in America Party at TAO

During the last week of February, as tens of thousands of people descended upon Las Vegas for International Hospitality Week, which included the Nightclub & Bar Convention and Trade Show (“The Show”), TAO Nightclub played host to the trade show’s premier event, with the official Nightclub & Bar Top 100 Party. 

The event, sponsored by Dos Equis, and hosted by “the internet’s most downloaded woman” Cindy Margolis and former Miss USA Tara Conner, brought in more than 2,000 industry professionals, all there to pay honor to this year’s Nightclub & Bar Editors’ Choice Top 100 venues in America. Among the clubs of Top 100 who turned out were clubs such as Hollywood’s Key Club, Marquee NY and Boston’s Aria, as well as several newcomers such as Mokai in Miami and Chicago’s Stone Lotus.   

TAO’s catwalk was on fire, as is usually the case, surrounded on all sides by tables hosted by some of the industry’s biggest players: Jennifer Robinson, COO of Oxford Publishing Inc., producer of “The Show,” was front and center, working the crowd like only she can. Avalon co-owner and sound system pioneer John Lyons and his staff were holding down a prime table on the backside. Vicci Owner Mike Yassine and his staff were in attendance celebrating their third straight year of Top 100 honors.

One Global Event’s front man Marc Jay, professional poker player Antonio Esfandiari, and Cy Waits and the staff of Tryst Las Vegas were among some of the local industry who came, as did TAO’s own Jason Strauss and Noah Tepperberg, bringing the owners’ table to life like the seasoned pros they are.

DJ Kris P kick-started the energy in the room, deliberately building the tempo up to the moment that Isaiah Martin came out with his own conga and horn ensemble and brought the house down with an electrifying performance. That, coupled with the overwhelming industry turnout, sealed the night as an event that will have those who attended talking about it until next year’s Top 100 Party.

For more information about “The Show” and for the full Top 100 list, visit www.nightclub.com.

Oxford Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of Questex Media Group, Inc., publishes Nightclub & Bar magazine, produces the Nightclub & Bar Convention & Trade Show, also known as “The Show” — along with the International Las Vegas Restaurant Show in Las Vegas annually, as well as a secondary East Coast event held in Atlantic City and in June 2008 will launch its first expo in Mexico City. 

Questex Media Group, Inc. is a global, diversified business-to-business integrated media provider, headquartered in Newton, Mass. Questex Media serves multiple industries including technology, travel, beauty, home entertainment, landscaping and industrial and specialty markets through a range of well established, market-leading products and services. The company’s properties include 23 trade publications, 25 conferences and tradeshows, as well as a host of databases and online media brands. Questex has more than 400 employees in offices throughout North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Bacardi, Brown-Forman and Remy Cointreau Expand Distribution Alliance

Louisville KY, February 12, 2008 – Bacardi U.S.A., Inc., Brown-Forman Corporation,
and Rémy Cointreau USA, Inc. announced today that the companies are expanding their
distribution alliance to include California and Texas. This expansion comes on the heels of
the three companies’ successful collaboration in New York with Empire Merchants, which
began in May of 2007.

The alliance will enable its members to access dedicated distributor resources to assist in
building their highly-complementary portfolios of leading brands while continuing to
enable each company to pursue their respective brand-building activities in these three key
markets.

The expansion process will begin with Republic National Distributing Company in
Texas this month. Discussions have already begun in California with Young’s Market
Company and additional markets will be announced in the coming months.

John P. Esposito, president and chief executive officer of Bacardi U.S.A., Inc., said,
“These dedicated selling divisions in these two key U.S. markets will provide an excellent
platform for our world class brands. We will improve our efficiency and effectiveness and
present an attractive portfolio of category leading products for our customers.”

“Our experience in New York has demonstrated that the combined appeal of our three
portfolios, coupled with distributor resources focused on our companies’ brands, provides better execution of brand-building programs, both on- and off-premise, in these
vitally important markets,” stated James L. Bareuther, chief operating officer of Brown-
Forman.

Thomas F. Jensen, president and chief executive officer of Rémy Cointreau USA, Inc.
said, “This expanding distribution alliance gives our three companies the breadth of a
combined portfolio that includes outstanding leaders in every category, while allowing
each company to uphold its respective commitment to remaining independent.”

Nightclub & Bar Redesigned!

Hi everyone. You may have noticed that the Nightclub & Bar logo and style of our cover changed with the January issue. Well, the February issue is redesigned front to back. We still deliver the same style of great content for bar owners, but with our first new "look" in several years. We hope the cleanness of the new design will make it even more inviting to read. Thanks for reading, and we'll see you at International Hospitality Week in Las Vegas!

TeleWebinars Announced

Nightclub & Bar, the International Restaurant Show and the National Bar & Restaurant Management Association have joined forces with RestaurantMarketingGroup.org to provide a series of extremely useful TeleWebinars. All you need to participate is your telephone.

No one else in the foodservice, nightclub, and bar industry is offering this powerful opportunity: Your choice of FREE nuts and bolts educational TeleWebinars, complete with free tools and manuals to make sure you put this valuable information to work, RIGHT AWAY!

Learn the secrets and techniques that have been used and proven successful in restaurants, nightclubs, and bars all across North America - techniques that will dramatically increase your bottom line and help you dominate your market area.

It's time to stop losing money through ineffective controls, expensive employee turnover and training, and stop wasting money on marketing that just doesn't work. Over the next year, as you participate in additional TeleWebinars, you will add a minimum of 5 percent and perhaps 12 percent or more to your bottom-line profits. When you apply only a small part of what you learn, you will see immediate improvements in sales, profits, efficiency, and reduced stress within your operation. Invite your entire management team to attend the TeleWebinars.

Marketing wizards Ron Wilkinson and Terry Morey of Restaurant Marketing Group are putting their reputations on the line and promise results.

Find out much, much more about these TeleWebinars — and register — by going to www.telewebinar.us/ncb or call toll free (888) 776-3484.

Allen Joins NCB Advisory Board

The Nightclub & Bar magazine Advisory Board welcomes Aaron Allen.

A third generation restaurateur, Aaron Allen, the Founder/CEO of Quantified Marketing Group, is quickly becoming known as the nation’s fresh new voice of strategic marketing and restaurant brand innovation.  Representing thousands of restaurants on five continents, Allen has grown QMG from a one man operation in a two bedroom apartment to the worlds largest restaurant consulting company in just 7 short years.

His deliberate guidance has been sought after by companies such as Morton’s of Chicago, Mexico’s largest and second largest restaurant companies, Dos Equis, Cheesecake Factory and countless other restaurant organizations that utilize his firm as a secret ingredient in brand innovation initiatives. 

Aaron was a 2000 Inductee into the International Who’s Who of Business Professionals, 2003 chairman of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association’s Allied Member Council, an Advisory Board Member of Oxford Publishing, and a member of Standard & Poor’s Society of Industry Leaders.  He has already achieved some of the highest honors bestowed to marketing practitioners.  He has a consistent track record of double-digit sales improvements for a diverse range of clients, often while simultaneously reducing their overall ad spending.

He has recently been featured in the Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Nation’s Restaurant News, Chain Leader, USA Today and Entrepreneur Magazine.  Aaron has been the highest drawing speaker at several leading national foodservice conferences, including the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association Show, ATME Think Tank, and Restaurant Business’ Healthy Customers, Healthy Profits Seminar and others both foreign and domestic.  He is also a frequent guest lecturer for the University of Central Florida’s Rosen School of Hospitality – the nation’s second largest hospitality school.

Allen remains adamant that he will be taken out of the restaurant industry feet-first, and as such he dives head first into the most challenging assignments he can find – regardless of continent, industry segment or budget, what inspires him most is working with the industries brightest on projects aspiring to truly innovate, evolve and positively impact his life’s passion – the restaurant industry.   

Knorr Joins Nightclub & Bar Advisory Board

The Nightclub & Bar magazine Advisory Board welcomes John Knorr.

Knorr, Senior Vice President of Phillips Foods, Inc., oversees all aspects of  development for national accounts, restaurants and franchise operations of the privately owned, global company.  Following a company restructure in 2007, Knorr was tasked with strategically managing and growing the national account division of Phillips Foods, Inc. in addition to his restaurant and franchise development responsibilities. 

Spearheading company development, Knorr’s success lies in strategic planning for acquiring new markets and building strong partnerships.   

Currently an eight unit, company-owned restaurant group, Phillips Seafood Restaurants has two locations consistently ranking in the top 100 highest grossing independent restaurants nationally.  Under John’s direction in 2006, Phillips opened two new restaurants in Atlantic City; Phillips Seafood and Souzai Sushi and Sake.  In addition through a strategic partnership with HMS Host, Knorr leads the company’s franchise venture, opening five airport locations in Baltimore, Savannah, Charlotte, Atlanta and Norfolk with more expected to open in 2008. 

The recent growth was also punctuated in May of 2007 as Knorr opened the first Phillips  Seafood with Columbia Sussex in Philadelphia’s Center City Sheraton Hotel.    John Knorr is a graduate from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland with a degree in political science.  In 2007, John was honored by the Restaurant Association of Maryland with the prestigious Schellhase Award, recognizing an individual of outstanding character whose numerous contributions to the association, industry and community.