There’s no shortage of performance venues in Nashville — it is Music City, after all — but Michael Dorf, owner of the just-opened City Winery, says he feels his establishment will offer fans a unique opportunity when watching live entertainment that will keep them coming back for more.
The businessman opened the first City Winery in New York. The original location allowed him to pair a winery with a music venue and see how the two could smash up in a city like New York. “I had been putting on shows for a long time and have been on tour with a number of bands,” he said. “I’ve done that for about 30 years. There was a need and an obvious opportunity for a higher-end concert experience that combined the elements of a seated environment with food and beverages into the overall experience. People are looking for more than French fries and beer. People care where their food comes from.”
Since then, Dorf has opened two other locations, in Chicago and Napa Valley. What led him to Nashville? “We were looking at where we really wanted to start to grow and show off the model, and there were a host of them. Nashville has so many great ingredients that it was a no-brainer. Between the convention center and what is going on from a real estate perspective, it just made sense. Obviously, the music industry is very well entrenched in Nashville and has been for a long time. But there was a missing piece between the Ryman and the smaller tourist venues on Broadway. There are some great venues like Franklin Theater and 3rd and Lindsley, but no one was approaching the culinary side the same way we are.”
The menu offers such fare as duck tacos, pan-roasted flatiron and leg of lamb flatbread, while the wine list includes over 400 selections. Musically, the lineup is very diverse, with such performers as Sandra Bernhard, Lucinda Williams, Dr. Ralph Stanley, K.T. Oslin and Joan Osborne booked for the fall lineup. Dorf says he wants a visit to City Winery to be one his clientele doesn’t forget.
“We really try to look at the complete experience at City Winery,” he said. “Years ago, we started a policy of having all of our staff read the book Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, a restaurateur from New York. It’s a book about enlightened hospitality and that the customer experience starts from the first moment you plan a visit to a venue to the memories that you have after you leave. We pay a lot of attention to the ticketing process — how customers learn about the shows, and even how they pick their seat. We’ve built a proprietary ticketing program that allows the patron to pick the actual seat that they sit in. If you become a VinoFile member, our annual membership program, you get advance notice when we announce the concert. As a member, you don’t have to pay any service charges. We know what it’s like when you want to see a show, and it might cost $25 to $40, and there’s a $9 service fee added on top of that, which can really be frustrating.”
If his past successes are any indication, Dorf is betting that Tennesseans will make City Winery a favorite hotspot in The 615 by simply satisfying the senses. “We believe what you hear, what you smell and taste all come together to enhance the experience. We look at the holistic 360-degree experience that a customer is going to have to make the evening as memorable and special as possible. Time is a precious commodity, and we all have choices as to where we spend that time. We want to make those couple of hours as terrific as possible. It then becomes self-fulfilling. When the artist knows that their fans are enjoying themselves, they put on a better show. I think we’ve built a better mousetrap, and I think people will love it in a town where people love music, wine and food.”