Listen to the full interview with Brandon Steven and Seth Glassman on the “Inside the C-Suite” Podcast
After much anticipation, the inaugural outpost of the private club Gravitas has debuted in the heart of Beverly Hills.
Paramount to the ethos of the club is impeccable, personalized service and unparalleled culinary experiences. At Gravitas, unprecedented technological elements have been thoughtfully integrated to enhance every aspect of the member experience. The venue’s impressive open-air garden bar and dining room incorporate a weather-proof, retractable roof and heated floors for cooler weather. In The Vault, stylish, temperature-controlled customizable wine lockers offer members a place to store their private stock of wine. The lockers can be digitally managed and will use a biometric security system. Inspiration for its name is drawn from the Wells Fargo building next door, whose vault occupied the space prior to Gravitas taking over.
A central grand staircase guides members to the second level, The Loft, where amenities include a recording studio, spacious conference room, and private dining rooms. The Loft lounge area also boasts a state-of-the-art, 28’x7′ LED screen and a stage for live entertainment. Overlooking the luxe interior dining room are the G.E.M. (Gravitas Elite Member) booths, equipped with Bluetooth capabilities, private curtains, and a call button for service staff. Expect live entertainment nightly on the second floor, ranging from acoustic sets to DJ programming.
A nod to co-founder Brandon Steven’s history in the car industry, Gravitas will set itself apart with robust automotive offerings. For added comfort and convenience, the G-Car service will be a premier perk offering direct personal rides to and from the club. The Car Club will give members the opportunity to experience one-of-a-kind luxury cars, seamlessly facilitated through Gravitas’ dedicated concierge. Steven and his co-founder, Seth Glassman, are introducing these exclusive concepts in the interest of breathing new life into the membership club scene in Los Angeles.
“At Gravitas, our members will enjoy a stunning atmosphere, great food, and unparalleled service where every need is anticipated,” Glassman says. “We are working to offer something that simply has not been done before.”
Steven is a Kansas-born entrepreneur whose professional portfolio includes hundreds of companies across the United States in automotive, fitness, hospitality, real estate, and sports management. Gravitas is his latest endeavor, gathering connoisseurs of the rare and anticipators of excellence, and an iconic environment of sophistication for visionaries and strategists of unwavering standards.
Glassman is an accomplished restaurateur who has been working in the hospitality industry for 20 years. He served as director of operations for Takami Sushi Restaurant and Elevate Lounge in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, before recently relocating to Wichita, Kansas. He has operated multiple hot spots throughout the Los Angeles area, as well as Scottsdale and Las Vegas, including BOA Steakhouse, Sushi Roku, Palm Steakhouse, and The Belvedere at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. In 2013, he opened his own Italian steakhouse, Pistola.
David Wurth, CSQ founder and CEO, recently spoke to the co-founders about their vision for Gravitas.
Gravitas Co-Founder Brandon Steven
WURTH: YOU BOTH HAVE A TREMENDOUS ENTREPRENEURIAL BACKGROUND. BRANDON, TAKE US BACK A LITTLE BIT INTO YOUR BACKGROUND.
Steven: My kids and I—I have six kids—were talking the other day about how I started my first business. I was 11 years old. I started another business when I was 12 years old. I was collecting pigeons for money and selling them to dog trainers. I did that all the way until I was 17, and that moved into the SUV that I used for snow removal. It’s just so crazy how many businesses I started and still had at 17. I didn’t do it, really, because I just loved the money; I just loved the challenge. I loved thinking of something no one was doing or just doing it better. I still get myself in that same kind of trouble today. Like, how in the hell did I end up opening up this club in Beverly Hills? I mean, what the hell am I thinking?
WURTH: IN TERMS OF BUSINESSES, YOU’VE GOT AUTOMOTIVE, FITNESS, HOSPITALITY, REAL ESTATE, SPORTS MANAGEMENT, NOW I’VE LEARNED ABOUT THE PIGEON BUSINESS—YOU’VE BEEN VERY DIVERSE IN BUSINESS HOLDINGS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES. TELL US ABOUT SOME OF THOSE COMPANIES.
Steven: When I was young and I started, I was always hustling. I found the dealership world when I was 15 years old. I worked at my best friend’s dad’s Volvo dealership washing cars. I kept on moving up, just because I was so intrigued with the car business. I moved up to details. Then I started to sell cars there. And then I was 17 my senior year and there was no way I was going to college, right? I was making all this money, being a top salesman, 17 years old, making a ridiculous amount of money. My mom and dad were anti-me not going to college and staying home and selling cars. They won that battle and I went to college, which I’m glad I did, but I bought and sold cars all the way through college for myself. We’re talking about $300 cars I would fix up and sell for $700, and then I’d buy a car for $700. So I moved up the chain.
WURTH: WHO’S THE OPERATOR, OUT OF THE TWO OF YOU GUYS? OR IS THERE ONE?
Steven: We’re both operators. We’re both still very, very in the weeds of our business. I still do a three-day boot camp, training all of our new hires, in both businesses. It’s crazy how much we’re in the weeds every day.
Co-Founder Seth Glassman, photographed at Gravitas
WURTH: DID YOU ESTABLISH A BOOT CAMP AT GRAVITAS?
Glassman: Not just yet. But I got firsthand mentorship from him, which has been a dream.
WURTH: IT’S AMAZING WHAT YOU’VE BUILT. WHY DON’T WE BOUNCE OVER TO YOU, SETH? YOU’VE OPENED A LOT OF NAMESAKE PLACES WE RECOGNIZE HERE IN L.A. AND BEYOND. WHY DON’T YOU CATCH US UP ON YOUR BACKGROUND?
Glassman: Brandon is obviously a true entrepreneur and has had his hands in a lot of different things, predominantly cars, but for me, mine’s nowhere near as vast. It’s always been hospitality. I didn’t do pigeons, but I was a pizza boy, and I did a lot of things like bussing tables and washing dishes coming up. I was a finance major at Tulane and my father was a CPA. I think everyone expected me to do something in business, move back to New York, but I think going to school in New Orleans heightened my interest in the restaurant business, the culture, being around food and music. I genuinely loved taking care of people and got true satisfaction. I think it was by my junior year in college where I was like, “Maybe I could make this my profession.” The business background is beneficial no matter what you do. I was lucky. Not everyone knows what they want to do at an early age, which is fine. That’s one of my mantras: It’s never too late to change. If you want to do something different, go for it. But I knew—and I’m lucky because, 25 years later, I’m still doing it and still loving it, still learning each and every day.
WURTH: BOA, ROKU, PENINSULA, TAKAMI, ELEVATE—YOU CUT YOUR TEETH AT SOME OF THE BEST OF THE BEST. WE CERTAINLY RECOGNIZE IT HERE IN L.A., THAT’S NO QUESTION.
Glassman: I’ve had the opportunity to work for and alongside some really good companies. That knowledge has helped me along the way, and you’re learning as you go from each experience because they’re all a little bit different. But then the flip side: About eight years ago, meeting Brandon and learning how to look at the big picture, I’ve taken some of the skills and been more of an entrepreneur in the way I think and the way I go about things and building a team. He talks about retention in staff, too. That’s something we pride ourselves on, retention of our people. That’s tough in the restaurant industry; it’s tough in beverage and hospitality. But I would say 75% of the staff at Gravitas has worked for myself, the GM, or the chef in a previous place. It was a huge advantage going into this project because of the loyalty, and they know what we expect.
WURTH: ESPECIALLY IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, IT’S REALLY HARD TO RUN AN F&B HERE AND RETAIN PEOPLE, AND MAKE THEM RESPONSIBLE, MAKE SURE THEY SHOW UP ON TIME. HATS OFF TO THAT. HOW MANY EMPLOYEES DO YOU HAVE NOW? AND WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE OVER THE NEXT SIX TO 12 MONTHS?
Glassman: We have 105 employees at Gravitas. When we walked the space together, you saw all the different amenities we’re offering. It has to be that over-the-top service. You need the appropriate amount of staffing to give them that. They’re paying additional dues; they’re paying additional fees. It’s value. You have to keep showing them value. And the value is, yes, in some of our offerings, but it’s always in the service. Always.
Steven: On a monthly basis, there’s a lot of HR stuff we have to do, and the Gravitas staff put us over 9,000 people on our team now. We were at 8,800 and change the other day, and I just found out this morning that Gravitas put us over 9,000, which is a big deal for us. I know the first person I hired, the first two people. It’s amazing for us that Gravitas put us over that 9,000 number.
Gravitas interior and dining room
WURTH: EVERY BUSINESS THAT YOU’VE BUILT ALONG THE WAY, YOU’VE CREATED JOBS, AND NOW YOU’RE AT 9,000. THAT’S A REALLY BIG DEAL AND A STORY THAT WE LOVE TO HEAR. YOU TWO MET EIGHT YEARS AGO. HOW DID YOU MEET?
Steven: It’s interesting because the same way that Seth and I met is how I’ve met almost all the great people on my team in the car business, great leaders that get referred to me and referred to me and referred to me because of the culture that we have inside of our dealerships, inside of our health clubs, inside of our restaurants—the culture of our team is where I spend 20% of my time, focusing on creating the environment, the right energy, the right excitement. All of that does create the environment I’m talking about. That culture is rare. A lot of people know our team is our family, and that’s why they refer me to people and refer people to me. That’s how Seth and I met. A friend of ours knew me well, and knew that Seth was a stud and shared the same kind of culture values that I do and the family values that I do. He referred us to Seth. I was opening up a restaurant kind of similar to this. It was supposed to be a six-month project, a very small project, but ended up being three years and 10 times more in budget. Seth came in at the very end. After 20 minutes of talking, I didn’t tell Seth this, but I was like, “This is my guy. This is the guy that I want to be a partner with.”
Glassman: Brandon’s, again, showing a little humility in his sales capabilities, though, because the steak house is in Wichita, Kansas. So the kid from New York, schooled in New Orleans, lived in L.A., Vegas, and Scottsdale—there was something in the back of his mind that said, “This kid may not move to Kansas.” But you know what? He flew me out there and he showed me his vision. I got to meet his family and I got to see what he was trying to get accomplished there. It turned out to be the best decision of my life. I got to experience a part of the country that I probably wouldn’t have experienced otherwise. I think my time there was invaluable. And I did not know that it would lead to future ventures together, but obviously we had success together in the steak house in Kansas and people responded very well to it and they liked what we accomplished there, and then when this project came along in L.A., Brandon came back around to me and I was very excited for this opportunity.
WURTH: LET’S TALK GRAVITAS. THREE YEARS YOU’VE BEEN WORKING ON IT. BRANDON, TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHERE THINGS STARTED, HOW THE IDEA CAME TO BE, THE RELATIONSHIP, THE SPACE—AN AMAZING SPACE IN THE MIDDLE OF BEVERLY HILLS ON LITTLE SANTA MONICA AND CAMDEN.
Steven: Seth says he didn’t know that we’d work together again; I did. I had no doubt about it. When he came to Wichita, he literally integrated himself inside my family. He saw my mom more than I saw my mom and dad. My mom cried when he left, and my mom is not a crier. I knew for certain that we would work together again in some space. I swear to you, I wouldn’t even have thought of doing Gravitas if I didn’t know I had Seth in my back pocket. I’m not saying that in an arrogant way. I just knew that Seth and I would work together. We share so many of the same values that are very rare, to treat people like you want to be treated. It’s easy to say that, but I don’t say that much; I just let my actions speak, and so did Seth. Everybody loves Seth. They love Seth because of the way he treats them, not because of what he says. When I saw the opportunity of this amazing space, it was an ugly patio with a water fountain on it, being wasted in this amazing corner. I told my buddy who manages the building and owns a minority stake of it, “This is so underwhelming. This needs to be a bar.” And he said, “You’re not going to get a bar approved on the corner of Camden and Santa Monica in the golden triangle.” Of course, you tell me I can’t do something, that’s just going to push me to do it. I just started drawing. It started out to be 12,000 square feet. The deal was if I got the bar outside of the 8,000 square feet, then he would give me the 4,000 at full price and I would get a major discount on the rest, because the 8,000 was just not being used. I got turned down quite a bit, and I kept on drawing and drawing. We finally found a formula that worked for Beverly Hills—that was a win-win, and they’ve been incredible to work with. So many people say otherwise, but Beverly Hills has been absolutely a great partner for us. You know, it started out to be a restaurant when Seth and I first talked. For a year or so, we drew a restaurant, a 12,000-square-foot restaurant, 4,000 feet inside and 8,000 outside.
A look at Gravitas’ fine dining options
WURTH: PLUG US IN ON WHAT IT IS THAT DIFFERENTIATES YOU. HOW DO YOU ENVISION THIS BEING A STAND-ALONE, MEMBERS-ONLY CLUB?
Steven: We’re not going to be snooty; we’re not going to be snobs. We’re going to say we’ll find a way to appease our members. That’s all we can focus on is trying to get them what they want, like entertainment, all kinds of different programming they never even thought they wanted. And maybe they only use 10% of it, but we’re going to have enough where 10% covers almost everybody. And then we’re going to have movers and shakers. We don’t have groups. We don’t want just artists, or just creative people, or just bankers. We want everybody. We want movers and shakers. I want powerful women entrepreneurs. We’re inspiring people that just want to connect with the same type of like-minded, inspiring, aspirational people. That’s what we want to build our base from. We’ve had more applications come in just recently. We’re like, “Let’s just slow down. Let’s find out who we are.” We have a good base of members right now. We have friends and referrals. We have plenty of time to find out the personality that we’re going to delve into, but our members are going to do that for us.
WURTH: WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE FOR YOU FIVE YEARS DOWN THE LINE?
Glassman: Three more Gravitases.
WURTH: YOU SEE THIS AS THE OPPORTUNITY, THIS BEING THE ANCHOR PROOF OF CONCEPT, AND THEN EXPANDING GRAVITAS TO OTHER MARKETS AROUND THE COUNTRY, AROUND THE WORLD.
Steven: It’s scalable. But I can’t look past making this one work. I can’t look past them making every single member, Thursday night, their dinner; they loved, loved their experience. And then Friday night, 10 more people came because of the 150 people that came Thursday night and told people to come. Then on Saturday, we got to perform. I know that’s not the answer you’re looking for, but I can’t even think about location number two yet. Yes, we’ve had those conversations and, yes, we’ve conceptualized, but this has to work first. That’s all I can focus on.
