By Michael Cho
Special to The Toronto Sun

Imagine opening you own bar, being part of the action, the centre of attention and having lots of 'friends'. Well all you have to do is get some capital, find a location and start renovating, right?

Clay Hunter, in repose at Fez Batik.

According to Clay Hunter, part-owner of Fez Batik located in the Toronto club district, opening a bar is rudimentary, staying open is the challenge.

"That's a common problem with people opening bars. You get these Bay street stock brokers with a bunch of cash, and all their friends show up at opening night, but then nobody shows up after that," says Hunter.

"You either have to cultivate a huge following from all your years in the business so you have that credibility, or you have to know those people and have them involved."

Hunter began his career in the bar business as a doorman at RPM a decade ago, the biggest nightclub in Toronto at the time. Since then, he has built his 'street credibility' as a head doorman and manager at popular nightclubs such as The Left Bank, The Velvet Underground and The Phoenix.

"But the bar industry is a young man's game," laments Hunter. Now in his late thirties and a father of two, he neither has the time nor the same rapport with the new generation of party-goers frequenting the club district.

"Promoting becomes harder and harder as you become older and older, and move out of the loop," says Hunter. "I used to be out every night of the week getting my face out there, meeting people and seeing what's going on. So now I increasingly have to hand that over to other people. I try to team up with the people who I think are hip and cool, and offer something different."

To keep his nightclub on the cutting edge and satisfy the fickle bar crowds, Hunter enlists popular party promoters and DJs such as Milk, Garage 416, Movement and CKLN's Denise Benson to host events at Fez. "This is how we raise our stature by attaching our branding to theirs," says Hunter.

In addition to choosing his outside associates carefully, Hunter says it's important to hire the right staff in order to keep everyone on the same page, and moving in the same direction. "I don't want to hire people who sit there and are just doing time," says Hunter.

Hunter doesn't have to worry about his staff for the most part considering most of them "cut their teeth" at RPM with him back in the day, and are fully aware of his mandate.

"Most employees are looking for the easy money fast, but I try to tell my staff to look in the long term. If you show you're a wicked employee, who knows what could happen? This is a business where you can meet so many instrumental people. That's what I did."

Although Hunter earned a law degree and still pays his annual dues, he doesn't have any formal training in the restaurant and bar industry. He admits there's a lot about operating a business that he still has to learn.

"I still wish to this day I knew more about business procedures and profit and loss statements. I'm learning it now, but there's not enough time in the day to learn more about it until you have to take charge of it," says Hunter.

"I hope to learn more about the nuts and bolts of the business so that my next step could be 'Clay's Place,' just 'Clay's Place.' But I don't know if I have the required knowledge to do that or if I have to team up with somebody who can take care of that end of the operation."

While Hunter ideally would like to put his own stamp on his own place someday, he says that having partners in an operation as big as Fez makes it easier financially.

"You want to spread your risk. If you put all your savings, all your credit and all your heart on the line and it doesn't work out, you're washed up. Then if it does go bad or you take a loss, that loss is spread out amongst you and your partners."

Hunter's modus operandi is not only based in aligning himself with skilled people, but with having good relationships with them. Whether dealing with customers, employees, or business partners, he truly believes there is always something that a person can offer.

"You have to think ahead," says Hunter. "You try to establish a good relationship with every person you meet. Then at some point in the future you can cash in those chips, because you have laid the groundwork for that goodwill."

In addition to taking some hospitality or restaurant management courses, Hunter recommends getting into the industry anyway you can, and from there work your way up. The industry has a high turnover rate thereby offering a lot of mobility within the organization. Of course you have to have the proper perspective and willing employers.

"The jobs in this industry are transient in nature so most people have no interest in promoting themselves. But if you make that extra effort and have a forward thinking management, they'll put you where you're best suited."

And if they don't? "Sometimes you have to get out to get ahead," shrugs Hunter.

(Michael Cho is a freelance writer for CANOE.ca, and can be reached at michael_cho@rogers.com.)



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