Profile Ultra Supper Club
Ultra image, ultra performance These days maximizing your success can mean doing double duty. Supper club owner Brenda Lowes mixes fine dining and bottle service to create the stylish Ultra Words by Christine Otsuka
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Photos by Nicola Betts
etween a homemade soap store and a women’s clothier on Toronto’s trendy Queen Street West, is an internationally known supper club. During the day, the tall Indian-carved entrance doors go
Brenda Lowes
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unnoticed. There’s no sign, no address numbers. Unlike most of the businesses on the strip, this establishment isn’t advertising its location with bright lights and in-your-face signage. Ultra Supper Club doesn’t need the gloss. It’s a well-known secret. A lack of signage adds to the mystique, however unintentional. “We opened in 2003 without a sign, and we never bothered after that. We thought it gave us more of an exclusive feel,” says Brenda Lowes, co-owner of Ultra Supper Club. The building is set back from the street, prompting patrons to walk through the doors, down a narrow lit laneway and into a large fine dining room that transforms into a nightclub on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Fifteen-foot ceilings give Ultra a sense of grandeur and allow for multipurpose use. Today, special events like fashion shows, private corporate events and parties make up 25 per cent of Ultra’s business. The bamboo rooftop patio, done in white linens has a South Beach (Florida) feel and is a popular spot. Although it seats less than the dining room, it makes up half of Ultra’s business in the summer. “I start getting calls in February to book events in June,” she says.
The concept was the brainchild of Lowes and her business partner, Charles Khabouth, who has a reputation of success in the industry as the owner of such establishments as the Guvernment and Kool Haus Entertainment Complex, Pantages Hotel Suites & Spa, This is London, and his latest project, Dragonfly; the entertainment complex on the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort grounds. It’s proven a complementary business pairing. She had success in catering, events and bar management, while he had expertise in nightclub operations, business savvy and a strong reputation in the industry. Their combined experience made partnering to open a supper club a natural fit. Together they took on a $3-million renovation project and successfully converted the space previously known as The Bamboo into a New York-inspired supper club that includes Toronto’s most sought-after rooftop patio. “It was a success from the moment we opened the door,” says Lowes. “From the dining perspective, we were busy all the time. Charles has a big strong reputation so people are always curious to see what he’s going to do next,” she says. Although Lowes says they didn’t do any promotion or advertising, Ultra was an instant hit based on her partner’s reputation, word of mouth, exquisite design and landmark location. For the first three years, Lowes put her heart and soul into the business,
Business Building Case Study
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It was hard at the beginning because people couldn’t really understand the fact that they had just spent a gazillion dollars on dinner and now had to leave their seats
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Top tips • Maximize your venue by holding events or private parties working non-stop. Today, she’s just as committed and hands-on but works from home Monday through Wednesday on special events and is on-site Thursday through Saturday. Aesthetically pleasing When we meet, Lowes is on her iPhone speaking to a fabric company. She wants to stick to the current colour scheme – shades of burgundy and black, but she finds white satin appealing. “The design was the kick-start for us,” says Lowes. “We didn’t spare anything to ensure we gave Ultra that grand feeling.” Lowes credits the design, by Munge// Leung Design Associates, for giving Ultra an international appeal and upscale perception, which in turn, attracts an upscale clientele. “We’ve been really lucky. Our clientele is a bit older, somewhere between 27
and 55,” she says. It’s also cultivated a celebrity following. Stars like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Tommy Lee and Kevin Costner have all made appearances at Ultra during after-parties for the Toronto International Film Festival, during fashion week or when Lowes has recruited such international DJs as DJ AM. Despite the posh look and feel, Lowes keeps her prices reasonable. “Three courses, a really good bottle of wine and a cocktail will run you about $125 per person.” Mains are generally $30 to $40 plates. While three-ounce martinis sell for $12 taxes included. While Ultra seats 120 for dining, the capacity is closer to 400. Thirteen booths can be booked separately on Thursday, Friday or Saturday nights around midnight for bottle service. While Lowes says bottle service was an afterthought, today, it accounts for 25 per cent of their sales.
• Seek out bartenders and service staff that have a long history in the industry. They’re likely to bring clients with them • Ensure customers are aware of anything that might impact their experience at the time of reservation booking. Then, again at the time they arrive • Strive to give customers a sense of belonging in your establishment • Rejuvenate your menu and design to keep things fresh While Ultra may seem like two different worlds – fine dining and nightclub – depending on the day and time you arrive, the clientele isn’t completely different. “A lot of people will book here for www.liquorcanadamagazine.com
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Profile Ultra Supper Club
dinner and then book a table for bottle service as well. Others come in early when they’ve booked for bottle service and they’re shocked to see we’re a dining room,” she says. It’s a transition that has proven challenging from day one. The switchover “The biggest challenge with operating a supper club is definitely the switchover,” says Lowes. “We try to – as much as we can – strategically ensure that dinner reservations for specific tables are booked at 8:30pm, 9pm at the latest so that they’re finished by 11pm or 11:30pm. That way parties booked for bottle service in those booths can come in after that.” Her staff will remove the two-seaters as they free-up room for dancing. “It was hard at the beginning, because people couldn’t really understand the fact that they had just spent a gazillion dollars on dinner and now had to leave their seats,” she says. To help the process along, Lowes offers this advice. “What we do in order to ensure that is from the moment we take a reservation we advise them it’s two-and-a-half-hour seating with a possible third seating for bottle service. When they come in the door, they’re told again that it’s two-and-halfhour seating.” In addition, “I would ask on the phone if they’re coming in to enjoy the dinner aspect of it. If so, I’d suggest they have 7pm dining reservation so that by the time they leave, it’s not yet kicking in.” “I don’t think there’s a hard-and-fast rule as to how to evict people from their tables, outside of being polite and courteous and suggesting they come to the bar where we’ll buy them a drink,” she says. She commends her staff for ensuring the process is next to flawless. “The staff works really long hours – they start at 4pm and sometimes they’re 56
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here until 4am. They’re clearing tables out, changing the mood, the vibe, everything. And it’s always catching it at the right time.” Lowes says her turnover is relatively low. She still employs some of the original staff and the chef has been with them for the past four years. However, she admits it takes a specific person to work in the dining room because it can be crazy and chaotic at times. “I’ve had people leave within 24 hours saying, ‘Whoa, this is not for me.’” “When I first hired our initial staff, I hand-picked a lot of them, especially the bartenders and some of the service staff because I knew they were known in the industry and I knew some of the dining room staff, had been in the business long enough that diners would recognize them. So when you open your doors, if it’s a new door, people come in and go, ‘Oh my God, Manny how are you?’ Successful nightclubs and restaurants give people a sense of belonging.” New year, new look In the New Year, Ultra will undergo a facelift. “It’s been five years and I’m sure people are ready for a new look,” she says. For Lowes and her partner, Khabouth, it’s about giving new life to their establishment, reinvention and creating new buzz. “I think before you allow your environment to become stale, you move forward and you change it.” Besides the interior design, one-anda-half hour seating and $22-$27 shared plates will replace the current system. Lowes takes into account the changing economy, but says Ultra’s reinvention is more about giving their supper club “a shot of adrenaline.” “It’s time for a change. We could keep Ultra the same for another five years and it would still be chugging along. Times are changing and you have to change with the times.”
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Successful nightclubs and restaurants give people a sense of belonging
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