How the company behind the bar Death & Co is becoming a global brand

That’s what led to the creation of Gin & Luck, the umbrella company of the bar that launched in 2018. According to David Kaplan, who started Death & Co in 2006 and is now CEO of Gin & Luck, the idea is “to create a unified hospitality landscape where we could have all of these entrepreneurial pursuits — all of our Death & Co growth — under one company.”

That includes more Death & Co locations opening up over the next year, as well as a new cocktail bar brand called Close Company. It also means retail opportunities like an online marketplace, a book business and an e-learning platform.

Kaplan joined this week’s Modern Retail Podcast and spoke about how he’s approaching transforming a popular bar into a global business.

While there are many different parts of the business, the bars are still core. “Our primary economic engines — and the focus points of our business — really are our brick and mortars,” he said.

Still, the other areas are integral to Gin & Luck’s growth. “Everything else that we do — our marketplace, even our social, the books, the ready-to-drink cocktails, we’re working on a new education platform — all of those things, for the most part, we view as a true standalone business,” he said. “So it can’t just be a loss leader for us.”

Here are a few highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity.

Expanding beyond Death & Co
“Our primary economic engines — and the focus points of our business — really are our brick and mortars. And today, we have four Death & Co doors… Next year, we’ll be adding a new brand called Close Company. We’ll be opening up Close Company in Nashville, Atlanta [and] a great and exciting licensing deal in Las Vegas for Close Company. And then Death & Co Seattle will also be opening up a new hotel in partnership with Ryan Diggins, who owns the Ramble Hotel, where Death & Co Denver is. In full partnership in that hotel, we’ll be leading the F&B but really participating in the entire hotel ecosystem. That said, all of those things that I just listed — even though there are a lot — it’s still cocktail-focused, cocktail-anchored hospitality. Its operations. Everything else that we do — our marketplace, even our social, the books, the ready-to-drink cocktails, we’re working on a new education platform — all of those things, for the most part, we view as a true standalone business. So it can’t just be a loss leader for us.”

How all the brands work together
“We’re not going to create a whole crazy disparate world of brands. We try to be really focused within it. So we’re creating one new brand that we will completely kind of own and control, which is Close Company. So Close Company is differentiated from Death & Co in a number of different ways. We see the opportunity for Close Company to grow into a host of different markets that aren’t quite right for Death & Co. We believe Death & Co lives in what I call marquee cities, marquee markets. So, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, potentially Boston. There are a handful of other cities that we want to grow into in the U.S., Toronto, potentially Mexico City. [It’s] a larger number, obviously, when you look internationally. But these are kind of flagship-esque cities. Close Company is a little bit more of a riff off of a couple spots that we’ve done previously… It’s little bit more of a fun neighborhood cocktail bar, super approachable; and a little bit more maximizing efficiencies. I don’t want to say a high volume bar — nothing like that, because it still feels like a fun, relaxing space to be in. But [it’s] just a little bit more approachable in a lot of ways than Death & Co.”

The thesis behind the e-learning platform
“We are really excited about this education platform. I see it as the next step for the books, bringing the books to life in a multi-dimensional way. At its core, it’s an online e-learning platform. However, we’re building some other aspects of it. How does this education space come to life through events? Through in-person classes? We’re also excited to be working on what I think will be a very cool sort of AI piece of it. And that’s not the cornerstone of it — we’re not trying to jump into the trend or the future of AI…I should say: A part of that e-learning platform that I’m really excited about is the community aspect of it. So, the online digital community — we don’t have a gathering space for people right now. Right now, the relationship with Death & Co, if a customer has one, is pretty one-sided. You follow us on Instagram, you go to the bars. And so there’s not a great reciprocal relationship. And so we’re looking at ways where we can change that, where we’re giving more content out there and creating more community spaces. And I think the education platform is going to be a really exciting one.”