Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Cohen.
Hi Brian, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I first started in business at the age of ten selling Baseball Cards in front of my parent’s house while they were holding a garage sale. I would make $500, and they would make $50. That progressed to buying & selling Baseball Cards at Card Shows all over Long Island until the age of 18. Through my Senior year of High School, I was also a Bookie and in the Sports Betting business. Besides Baseball, what was my passion at age 18? Nightclubs & of course Girls! In college, I found a club flyer on the floor promoting a casting call for a Nightclub on Long Island where I lived. I got a Bartending job at a Nightclub and then started working all the hot clubs on Long Island as a Bartender. The promoter who brought me in forced me to promote at local colleges handing flyers out in classrooms and networking to all my college friends. After watching the promoters walk out with shoe boxes of money, I said, “I can do that” So my quest to not only be a Promoter but the best promoter started at the early age of 19. I figured it out. I was the guy who could take a dead club night and pack it out.
It was then Nightlife Empire began! I started packing Clubs all over Nassau County, Long Island. Then the Big New York City Promoters started noticing me, as well as the big promoters from out East in The Hamptons. They wanted me to bring my Long Island crowd to the City or Hamptons in the Summer. At a young age, I was getting envelopes of cash from Manhattan to the Hamptons and everywhere in between. I would have days that all I did was collections and collect cash. A bunch of my friends went away to colleges a few hours from Long Island in every direction. They all wanted me to bring my DJs and crew and pack Nightclubs and Theatres in their college towns. The Movement party was created, and I started packing events all over the Tri-State area.
Soon to follow were Holiday Weekend events in Miami, Las Vegas, Cancun. Business was thriving & nothing could stop my expansion. Wrong! On September 11th, 2001, New York City & the United States was hit with a Terrorist attack. That day changed everything for the World and my business. Although I finished out 2001 strong, everything changed. 2002 was my worst year in business. Accounts were lost, and the same marketing strategies that worked just were not working. Knowing I had to either change my strategies in New York, start a different business or try something new was not an easy pill to swallow. I didn’t want to do anything else. I wanted to continue building my Nightlife Empire. I chose to bring my talents down to Paradise City, which is Tampa, Florida. Why Tampa? The weather, the beaches, the ripe nightlife market, and of course, being a New Yorker, Yankees Spring Training!
While negotiating with a Nightclub Owner to be a promoter at his 15,000 Square Foot Nightclub and Bar, he offered me the GM job. I did not even know what GM stood for let alone what I needed to do to be one. His answer was you are smart; you will figure it out. That I did. In a Nightclub that had a bad reputation and doing $8000 a week, I turned this venue into a $55,000 a week cash cow. I learned each aspect of how to operate a venue. One year later, I opened my first Nightclub called Surf Club in Ybor City, Tampa, while simultaneously putting on large-scale events and becoming the biggest Promoter in the State of Florida.
From there, I learned how to be a Club Owner, how to build and flip clubs and earn revenue from different streams. I started a clothing line called NY Ego which I spread around to all my Club Owner, Promoter, DJ, Model, and Celebrity friends. I built a marketing company which marketed non-nightlife clients such as dating websites, apps, stockbrokers, realtors, and more.
The next step in continuing my Nightlife Empire was expansion to the West Coast. I set myself up with 2 Homes 2 Luxury Cars, 1 in Florida and 1 in Vegas. Now I own, consult, market, operate & promote Nightclubs & Bars from coast to coast. Bottles were poppin, Models everywhere, Celebrities attended, epic nights were created, and life was good.
After spending more time on the West Coast, I gravitated towards Los Angeles. In fact, my slogan, “Los Angeles is my Motha F*ckin Destiny,” started to stick. I rescued a failing lounge in Beverly Hills, I created Made Mondays the biggest Monday Night Weekly party in Hollywood, with no-name rappers who become famous from this party after performing to a crowd filled with important Music industry executives and A-List Celebrities. I was involved in 20 Los Angeles venues. I then created my masterpiece brand; Mob Bar, a 1920s Speakeasy with Burlesque, Prohibition Cocktails, Sinatra Music, Gangster Movies, Criminal Lineups, and more. My concept was opening its first location on Valentine’s Day 2020. The plan was to open a 2nd in New York within six months, then Chicago, Miami, Vegas, London, and all over the World. I opened my first Mob Bar, and it was a huge hit! Well, except for one thing… Within 30 days, the Governor of California shut down all businesses due to The Covid 19 Pandemic. I opted out of my Mob Bar lease & all 20 venues were closed.
All I worked for was gone. While many Club Owners & Promoters were throwing underground illegal events in Los Angeles, I just didn’t want to be involved in that. I brainstormed and projected a long shutdown in California but short shutdown in other States. I ended up being spot on. So, the plan was to go to Texas, get some businesses up and running, and come back to California once the State reopened. I opened up a Mob Bar in a Historic, Haunted, Old Brothel in Galveston, Texas & 2 other Nightclubs which are still operating & thriving to this day. I came back to LA, and now I have over 25 Nightclubs I am involved with. Only one of them is the same from pre-pandemic, meaning I had to BUILD BACK BETTER. I recently opened another Mob Bar in Pomona & Vice Ultra Lounge a 1000-person Dance Cub also in Pomona.
I am in negotiations to open a Mob Bar in both Los Angeles as well as San Diego within the next 8-12 months.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I cannot think of an industry with more struggles and challenges than the Nightlife Industry. I have been on top and with a blink of an eye, lost everything. In my career, I have experienced A terrorist attack, Hurricanes, Snowstorms, Tropical Storms, Wildfires, An Economic crisis, & a Pandemic. These disasters are just extras to your regular potential Nightlife issues such as Theft, Underage Drinking, General Liability, overpouring, violence, competition, and 100 other things.
When you get knocked down, get up and fight. If you get knocked down 100 times, keep getting up until you knock what’s in your way to succeed out. Never give up!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Based in West Hollywood, California, Nightlife Empire is one of the nation’s leading nightlife ownership, management, consulting, entertainment, marketing, event, concert, & festival promotions companies in the hospitality business. The executive’s diverse range of leadership skills and knowledge has allowed the company to develop a superior team of experienced industry professionals with an unparalleled knowledge of the marketplace. Nightlife Empire can deliver state-of-the-art, innovative venues and events that exceed customer expectations and maximize brand value. The company’s key to growth has been an ability to design award-winning venues, create new and original concepts to adapt to market segments, and consistently run highly creative and successful operational, marketing, and promotional campaigns.
Nightlife Empire currently has 25 venues they Own, Consult, Operate, or put on events at. We are proud to have started so many DJs, Promoters, Club Owners, Club Managers, Models, Rappers, Singers, careers. It is very fulfilling to see an intern become a GM, a $10 per hour kid handing out flyers become a Director of Marketing, or a no-name rapper become one of the most known names in the industry performing to 50,000 people in Stadiums.
It is also great to host so many amazing events that our customers will never forget. We have had memorable birthday parties, private events, engagements, and more.
My favorite thing to do in the Hospitality business is to take a really ugly venue and turn it into the coolest spot in town.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happy in business is watching employees & customers smile & their positive reactions when I build something amazing. When I say build something I mean take a real crappy bar and make it beautiful on a shoestring budget.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.nightlifeempire.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bosscohen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brianbosscohen
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bosscohen/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/realbosscohen
- Other: http://www.mobbarinc.com/
