Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Navin Chatani. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Navin , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start on the operational side – do you spend more of your time/focus/energy on growing revenue or cutting costs?

In my opinion both are necessary. But for me growth slight outweighs spending or cutting costs. Not by much because both are necessary for success. Growth and revenue means traffic and bodies which in turn leads to more exposure to build yourself and your brands. It may also lead to more opportunities.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have been in the Nightclub business for almost 3 decades. I started off as a promoter in Miami Beach in the mid 90’s. It was a different world back then, No cell phones and no social media so being a promoter took a lot more than send out a mass text or email. Or direct messaging random people to come out. Being a promoter meant being more hands on and putting yourself out there 24/7. I was out networking 7 nights a week and out all day on the streets curating relationships. In the 90’s the modeling industry was thriving in Miami Beach. That was my forte. I had relationships with bookers, loads of models and clients. As the century turned and the business became more commercial and mainstream, I started working with the Opium Group promoting parties as well as taking the roll of celebrity liaison. I had a 7 year run with them before leaving to work in Las Vegas for Pure Management Group as their director of celebrity relations. They had 17 properties in Vegas at the time. Then I spent sometime in Los Angeles working with SBE. I was nightlife and marketing consultant. hadI returned to Miami in 2009 to join KNR Hospitality Group as Nightlife Director. We run all the food and beverage at W South Beach Hotel including the nightclub WALL. KNR also is responsible for Restaurants like Quattro Gastronomia, Sosta, Cavali, Solea, Dutch and RWSB. I also am co-founder and managing partner of Homecookin Hospitality. We have Foxhole Bar since 2011, Drunken Dragon since 2014, Racket in Wynwood since 2018 and our latest venture Casa Tiki in Calle Ocho. I feel that all of my businesses are special because of the fact that my partners and I are very hands on. We are always at our venues. We have personal relationships with our clients for years and we are curating new ones for the future and for our new venues to come. I have recently branched out into the Festival model partnering up with Hurry Up Slowly. Art Basel 2021 we did a 4 night event in Wynwood that was an eclectic mix of music, art and NFT’s. We are looking forward to producing several upcoming events for Miami Crypto Week and Formula 1.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

My Partners and I raised all of our moneys for our projects ourselves. In our first venture we invested our own personal funds as well as we had investors. We were extremely successful with that project and paid our investment back in a year a 3 quarters. This just paved the way for us with new leads for new investors. Just based off our track records and history we have been able to branch off and start other projects. .

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

My advise for managing a team is to always treat people with respect. I treat my bathroom attendants with the same respect I give my General Managers. Also presence is important. And not being too good or too proud to do the work myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.knrhospitality.com www.homecookinhg.com
• Instagram: @navinchatani @wallmiami @knrgroup @homecookinhg @drunkendragon @racketwynwood @hurryupslowly @casatiki

Image Credits
world red eye