Hakkasan Takes Majority Slice of h.wood Group

Brian Toll and John Terzian. [Photo of Hooray Henry's by Elizabeth Daniels]

It's a measure of faith put into L.A.'s nightlife scene. Hakkasan Group, which owns a slew of clubs and restaurants around the world, including an expansive namesake eatery in Beverly Hills as well as Brian Malarkey's Herringbone in West Hollywood, has acquired a majority stake in The h.wood Group. Founded by John Terzian and Brian Toll, the budding nightlife impresarios have established Bootsy Bellows (which also has an outlet in Aspen), Hooray Henry's, and SHOREbar, with Blind Dragon and The Nice Guy currently in the works.

With Hakkasan's investment, this means h.wood now has the ability to expedite their expansion in L.A. and other markets. Says Hakkasan Group president Nick McCabe: "With the acquisition now complete, we look forward to providing capital resources to The h.wood Group as they pursue significant growth both in LA and beyond." Because h.wood has been able to develop homegrown concepts that have done well in L.A., Hakkasan feels they can translate well into Vegas. It makes sense, since L.A. is the biggest feeder market into Sin City, especially on crowded weekends.

It's not unlike the move that Umami made when it joined forces with SBE, which had a stronger infrastructure to grow into other markets, which Umami and its various concepts such as 800 Degrees have done in the past few years. Terzian and Toll will continue to run h.wood based in L.A., reporting directly to McCabe.
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