Every issue, GRAZIA USA highlights Game Changers, who inspire, educate, and celebrate individuality, beauty, and style. Meet Scott Sartiano, the architect of modern-day hospitality in N.Y.C., who’s once again pushing the culture forward with the private membership club, Zero Bond.
Opening a hospitality concept has always felt personal. These spaces are a reflection of your own tastes and frequencies, and you’re inviting the outside world in to experience and enjoy them. When piloting a new idea for a venue, I’ve always asked myself: “Is this a place where my closest friends would want to spend time? My wife? Week after week? Month after month?” The answer to that question determines as much for me as all the data we look at and all the market research we undertake. Whenever I’ve been able to deliver a clear “yes” for an answer, I’ve always gone all-in, and it’s always served as a successful barometer for how the space is going to resonate with a broader audience.
This was true of the original nightlife concepts I opened up in N.Y.C., like 1OAK, the buzzy supper clubs like Darby, and restaurants like Butter. Yes, they filled a gap in the market; they introduced an interesting innovation; but, at the end of the day they were just places where me and my friends wanted to hang out.
Before opening Zero Bond in 2020, I had been hunting for a concept that inspired this kind of all-in, personal reaction in me. It had been years since I’d felt passionate about nightlife — either as a patron or as an operator — but I still wanted to enjoy an evening out. I still wanted the opportunity to socialize and bring people together beyond the confines of just a dinner table. It was over the course of several trips to London that I was able to experience their culture’s answer to this dilemma: the private social club. These are vibrant, members-only spaces where like-minded people gather, eat, drink, mix and mingle. They were exactly where I wanted to spend my time. I knew I wanted to bring this concept home, and to help give it a distinctly American edge.
Zero Bond encapsulates a perfect evening out: a beautiful meal, nice wine, a lively atmosphere, and the comfort of knowing you’re surrounded by interesting, driven, passionate, like-minded people whose lives and careers run adjacent to yours. It is the answer to many people’s need for a low-key but elevated evening out, specifically catering to those who want more of an after-dinner experience, but also don’t want to go to a nightclub anymore. I’m confident that it will play across multiple markets. It found its perfect first home North of Houston (NoHo) in Manhattan, but I plan to expand the brand into other markets in the near future. This, along with a number of restaurant and hotel projects in the pipeline — like Darling, the rooftop lounge that we recently opened at the Park Lane Hotel — will keep me busy over the next five years. I’ll continue to do my research and due diligence around every opportunity, while always relying on this inner barometer, which has yet to fail me. — As told to Casey Brennan.
