Building a hospitality group in NYC

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Michael Beaumont Bray, owner of establishments in the New York City nightlife and restaurant scene moved to the lower east side at 22 from the Australian Outback in pursuit of a punk rock writing career. Like a lot of us, he spent his 20s in restaurants and bars. Aside from leisurely enjoying time there, he was supplementing his music career by working in hospitality, which is where he discovered something special about the industry - culture moves forward in these environments. Thoughts eventually became a dream, and that dream, a reality in 2016 when he opened Kind Regards. He’d go on to open two other spots along the city’s east side: Ding-A-Ling’s and Bar Valentina. Places a lot of New Yorkers have memories in - maybe you had your first dance floor make out at Kind Regards or bantered with friends in the buzzing patio at Bar Valentina’s. He’s built environments we define our experiences by. In a city with more cut throat competition in nightlife and restaurants than anywhere else in the world, people have endless choices when it comes to where they want to live their lives. I sat down with Michael and to learn how he started from scratch, how he pivoted from failure, and his approach to creative placemaking.

Starting a hospitality business in NYC is notoriously hard. How did you build it all from scratch as an Australian new to the city?

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