STUDIO NOIR · Members’ Lounge and Café

Phase 1: no lounge or café. The physical space, staffing, kitchen equipment, ABC license, and F&B (food and beverage) operations required are Phase 2 flagship.

Phase 2: full lounge + café + evening bar service launch with the flagship.

What Phase 1 does have (concierge-scale hospitality)

Phase 1 delivers hospitality at concierge scale, not lounge scale.

At the concierge desk (Phase 1)

• Prosecco. Poured at the door for every member every visit. Signature. Never swapped for water or tea. Reserved from an in-desk champagne cooler.
• Chilled cucumber-and-citrus water. Refilled hourly.
• Signature scent. Diffused through the studio HVAC.
• Small seasonal snack tray at select events. Members-only quarterly socials get simple snacks (nuts, olives, small crudité). Nothing that requires a kitchen.
• Coffee (basic). A small espresso machine or French press option for morning classes only. Not a program.
• A curated reading corner (2 chairs). A small stack of magazines from Kinfolk, Cereal, The Gentlewoman, Wallpaper. Rotated weekly.

That’s it Phase 1. Deliberate.

Why Phase 1 does not run a real café

1. Space. A proper café takes 800 to 1,600 sqft of dedicated square footage. Phase 1 has 1,500 to 2,000 sqft total.
2. Kitchen equipment. La Marzocco espresso setup, prep counters, plating station, dishwasher, cold storage runs $30K to $80K.
3. Staffing. Two baristas peak + servers + kitchen team + host = $15K/month minimum in labor.
4. F&B licenses. Full ABC license (alcohol), health department food service permits, additional insurance.
5. Attention split. The core Phase 1 product is movement classes. Running a café halfway would compromise both.

Phase 2 flagship affords all of this at proper scale.

Phase 2 lounge + café (2029-2030 flagship)

Full spec to be built out in 2028. Preview here.

Space

1,600 sqft interior program plus 300 sqft adjacent outdoor terrace (weather-permitting).

Coffee program

• Espresso machine: La Marzocco Linea PB, custom Black Noir + Champagne Gold STUDIO NOIR livery
• Grinders: Mazzer Kony (espresso), Mahlkönig EK43 (single-origin batch)
• Roaster partner: Onyx Coffee Lab (Arkansas, direct-trade) with rotating single-origins from local partners
• Baristas: 2 peak, 1 off-peak. Trained on La Marzocco and Onyx protocols. Triangle hourly at premium ($22 to $26/hr + tip pool)
• Milk program: Homestead Creamery whole milk (glass bottle), oat (Oatly Barista), almond (Elmhurst), macadamia (Milkadamia)

Food menu

Three service windows: breakfast, lunch, evening. Weekend brunch replaces breakfast Saturday and Sunday.

Guiding principle: reads like a great neighborhood restaurant, not a gym café. Portions honest. Ingredients named. No “protein bites” or “power bowls.”

Full sample menu spec preserved for the Phase 2 build: - Sourdough toast varieties, overnight oats, Greek yogurt bowls, frittata slice, egg dishes ($6 to $14) - Salads, grain bowls, seasonal proteins, grass-fed burger, turkey club, soup ($14 to $22) - Marinated olives, whipped ricotta, charcuterie, tartare, half roast chicken, steak frites, cacio e pepe ($8 to $32) - Weekend brunch specials with buttermilk pancakes, French toast, eggs Benedict, steak and eggs, smoked salmon plate, Bloody Marys and mimosas

Bar program (Phase 2)

Full ABC license. Wine + cocktails + beer + zero-proof.

• Rotating list of 25 to 30 wine selections, skews natural and old world
• Cocktail program: 8 to 10 signatures plus full classics on request
• Signature cocktails including “The Studio Noir” (aged rum, Amaro Nonino, black walnut bitters, orange oil)
• Zero-proof program at full parity with alcoholic list
• Tight beer list: 4 taps + 8 bottle/can selections
• Wine glass pours $14 to $28; bottles $60 to $450 with a special-occasion cellar list up to $1,200

Programming Phase 2

Weekly and monthly event cadence in the lounge:

• Tuesday: Vinyl Night. Trill or a rotating DJ spins wax 6 to 9 PM.
• Wednesday: Member Mixer, 6 to 8 PM. Passed bites + member-price bar.
• Thursday: Salon Series monthly. Taj hosts a guest conversation (writer, designer, musician, founder, scholar).
• Friday: Live acoustic set, 6 to 8 PM.
• Saturday: Brunch, evening cocktail flight events monthly.
• Monthly Members’ Dinner (second Sunday): intimate seated dinner in a lounge partition. Rotating Triangle chef partner.
• Quarterly Founding Members’ Dinner: Founders charter cohort only, hosted by Taj.

Editorial + newspaper stand (Phase 2)

Standing subscriptions to editorial titles (Kinfolk, Cereal, Cabana, Wallpaper, The Face, Interview, The Gentlewoman, Fantastic Man, Monocle, plus WSJ Weekend, FT Weekend, NYT Sunday, The Economist, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Paris Review).

Members’ library with 60 to 80 curated books rotating quarterly. Honor-system checkout at concierge.

Outdoor terrace (Phase 2)

300 sqft with 3 to 4 seating clusters, gas fire pit, retractable shade. Full food and bar service extended when weather allows.

F&B revenue at Phase 2 maturity

Roughly $2.1M/year gross F&B revenue at 600+ member flagship (3.2 lounge visits per member per week × $16 average ticket). Contribution margin ~15% (~$315K/year to house). Small direct margin, enormous retention lift.

Phase 2 hours

• Monday: 6 AM to 8 PM (light day, no evening dinner)
• Tuesday to Thursday: 6 AM to 10 PM
• Friday: 6 AM to 11 PM
• Saturday: 7 AM to 11 PM
• Sunday: 7 AM to 6 PM

Full Phase 2 vendor list, staffing model, menu, and operating protocols get built out in 2028.

Related docs

• Floor plan (Phase 2 zones): 03_CONCEPT_PROGRAMMING/00
• Membership tiers: 03_CONCEPT_PROGRAMMING/01
• Ops and safety: 07_OPERATIONS
• Legal (ABC license Phase 2): 14_LEGAL_IP