🔒Dinner & A Dossier: NYC transplant brings semiprivate membership model to CT’s restaurant industry

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Like many people who fled the cramped confines of New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic, Josh Mesnik found relief in bucolic Connecticut.

Now, he has turned his passion for upscale dining with big-city flair into a new concept for the Nutmeg State: a semiprivate membership restaurant in the heart of booming South Norwalk.

South Norwalk is home to chic restaurants, luxury condos and the newly opened SoNo Collection shopping mall. Often called SoNo, it’s a high-end section of Norwalk, offering an hour-and-15-minute train ride to New York City and a 20-minute drive to Stamford.

Mesnik felt at home in this less densely populated enclave, and wanted to use his expertise as a sommelier and manager at upscale eateries in New York City and south Florida to create a restaurant focused on customer experience here.

“I looked around at the market, and while there are some great restaurants, there was a niche that I thought could be filled in what I call the ‘luxury party arena,’” Mesnik said. “A place that’s fun, offering you all of the fine things you want, but also can feel like a good time out.”

Last December, Mesnik opened Josie & Tony’s, a cozy Italian restaurant in a mixed-use building at 20 North Main St.

He researched the membership-based business model and connected with supper club owners in and outside of New York City. He crafted his terms of service after theirs.

With support from 50 “founding members,” Mesnik said he invested a total of about $750,000 to renovate the space, which previously contained a restaurant and has a large, modern kitchen.

He assumed the previous restaurant’s lease and purchased its assets. He made aesthetic improvements, including top-of-the-line chairs, elegant curtains, an antique mirror along the bar and a mural.

After eight months in business, the eatery is showing promising signs. With all the “founding member” slots taken, the restaurant has attracted 25 new members, who pay a one-time $3,500 initiation fee, and $1,500 in annual dues.

A membership entitles customers to discounts, member-only events — from monthly wine classes to caviar tastings — and a plaque with their name on the wall.

Members also get exclusive access to a basement lounge, which houses the restaurant’s well-stocked wine cellar. In July, Josie & Tony’s wine program received national recognition when it was honored in Wine Spectator’s 2024 Restaurant Awards.

The restaurant maintains a dossier on each member, with information about their preferences — from the artichoke cheese to the Maine steamers.

“Because we use only the finest fresh products, things do run out,” Mesnik said. “So, if I see down the books that we’re low on zucchini flowers, and Mr. X usually has three portions of them, I’ll hold them away, for example.”

Josie & Tony’s is open to the public, but members receive preferential seating and guaranteed reservations with 24 hours’ notice.

That means prime-time weekend reservations might not open to the public until the same day; some nights, the restaurant might be entirely booked by members.

“A lot of times, especially as we head into the fall and winter, I have to hold Saturday nights quite a bit back for my members until the day of, but there’s usually still some reservation times (for non-members),” he said.

Members also enjoy separate bathrooms, with luxurious fragrances and creams.

Mesnik believes his semiprivate membership restaurant concept is the first of its kind in Connecticut. He said it has attracted customers from Fairfield County and beyond, with some driving more than an hour from Hartford and New Haven to experience it.

He said members love “having a place to call their own” and “the extra experiences that they get to enjoy.” It’s part clubhouse, part fine-dining and part show business.

“I’m an old-school maître d’ who works the floor, and it’s a bit of a show every night,” Mesnik said.

Brand loyalty

Subscription-based businesses, particularly restaurants, are growing in popularity, said Richard R. Colloca, a partner with national accounting firm EisnerAmper LLP.

“I think one of the factors that has really driven it is that the pandemic created opportunities for restaurants to reengineer themselves,” Colloca said. “Restaurants are trying to increase their brand loyalty, increase foot traffic, and come up with innovative ways to enhance the customer experience.”

He said memberships engender brand loyalty, as members gain an affinity for a product or service, and in turn, spend more money on it.

The restaurant industry’s move toward subscriptions harkens back to the explosion of supper clubs in the 1940s and 1950s. But their popularity dwindled from the 1970s to 1990s, as the restaurant space became more competitive.

“Over time, more often than not, you see retro concepts come back and blend with current culture,” Colloca said.

Bespoke experience

Attorney Ryan O’Donnell, chair of Bridgeport-based law firm Pullman & Comley’s hospitality practice, said patrons who are drawn to membership-based restaurants are seeking a more traditional, customized experience — contrary to the impersonal transaction of a fast-food drive-thru or drop-off delivery.

“These private or semiprivate type concepts really appeal to the hospitality traditionalists,” O’Donnell said. “I think these folks want the host, or the hostess, to know their names, they want the bartender to know their drinks. They’re for people who want a little bit more bespoke experience. And I think that’s a really cool idea to engage guests who want the opposite of automation.”

Most of the membership-based restaurants that have opened recently are in densely populated cities like New York City and Boston. O’Donnell said he’ll be interested to see how Josie & Tony’s plays out in Connecticut because the concept is untested here.

There are social benefits to membership programs, which can create a sense of common identity among participants, making a restaurant feel like a second home.

“You feel like it is your go-to place, where you’ll have a really good cultural experience,” said Colloca, the accountant.

Recurring revenue

Not all subscription models are for luxury goods. Colloca said subscriptions have been gaining traction for a long time because they help engage and retain customers.

Over the last 11 years, subscription-based businesses grew 3.7 times faster than the companies in the S&P 500, according to research by enterprise software company Zuora, which Colloca cited in an article he co-authored.

“Across the board, subscription businesses have grown substantially, and you know they’re going to continue,” Colloca said. “When you look at Sam’s Club and Costco, they have similar models, where they want you to continue to come back. You pay a fee to be a member of that club. And because it’s creating brand loyalty, you continue to go there. On the restaurant side, it is very innovative to tap into that model.”

However, while demand for dining out remains strong — Americans spent 34.1% of their total food spending at restaurants in 2022, a 16% increase from 2021 — many restaurants are struggling.

In an industry where competition is tight and margins are thin — exacerbated by inflation and the workforce shortage — membership fee structures can give restaurants a new stream of recurring revenue.

“That is a great way of adding some certainty to a very uncertain, unpredictable industry,” said O’Donnell, the attorney. “Bad weather, snow, another event in the area — all things you can’t predict — eat into profits because when you’re staffing the restaurant and you’re ordering food, you don’t know how many folks are going to show up. There’s always a risk involved there. So, week-to-week, it’s very difficult.”

With revenue and accessibility in mind, Mesnik recently added an Arthur Avenue-style sandwich shop and deli to the front of Josie & Tony’s, which offers high-quality products using the same ingredients as the supper club.

“It was important to me to have some sort of accessible, quick-service option attached to this fine-dining restaurant, in giving myself as many chances to succeed as possible, because a lot of restaurants fail,” Mesnik said.

As membership grows, it may become more difficult for non-members to secure reservations on Friday and Saturday nights, but he doesn’t want to turn people away.

Mesnik said he wants Josie & Tony’s to be inclusive, despite its aura of exclusivity.

“I want it to be accessible, but I also want people to be able to have this ultra-luxury product at the same time, if they choose it,” he said.