On King West, two Marketing alums are doing nightlife differently

The Calabrese brothers know a thing or two about Friday nights on King West. A cluster of bars, restaurants and clubs draw lineups, bottle service and stilettos every weekend. If you’ve been bar hopping in the area, chances are you’ve stumbled across Door Three (external link)  – a long-standing lounge on King and Bathurst that brothers Stefan and Conrad Calabrese took ownership of in 2018.

“We were working as promoters, which people look at as an easy job, but we saw it was a business,” explains Stefan (Marketing ‘16 ). “Many Ted Rogers students would come out with us when we started. We had students coming from Frosh Week (external link)  to our events.” 

“Over time, we built a strong relationship with the ownership team at Door Three,” he adds. 

Stefan had graduated, and Conrad (Marketing ‘19) was in his last year when they talked with the previous ownership team about taking over. “We’re both in ownership roles, but I handle admin and operations and Stefan deals with branding and promotions,” says Conrad. “We now have 33 direct employees, like bartenders and photographers, and about 20-30 subcontractors for security and promoters.” 

“Our strong suits are different, so it’s good that we fill each others’ gaps,” agrees Stefan. “My mind works more creatively – I’ve been trying to push experiences with themed nights, like a Christmas party, to draw in different crowds.” 

Both Ted Rogers alumni compare the buzzy, upstart culture of the city to the culture at Toronto Metropolitan (formerly Ryerson) University. Stefan even credits a fellow Ted Rogers School student with getting them into club promoting. In October, Stefan connected with Danny Su (external link) , President of TMARE (Toronto Metropolitan Alumni in Real Estate), to host TMARE’s Annual Alumni Networking Night (external link)  at Door Three. 

“By my final semester, I was taking my capstone course while promoting at Door Three. A lot of the times I had class, we had meetings with accountants or lawyers about taking over. I was above the threshold of classes to miss and was going to drop out,” admits Conrad. 

“During the last week of class, my professor, Steven Tissenbaum (external link)  wanted me to come by his office,” he continues, “I told him about the transaction we were doing, the work with operation policy, lease agreements, all that. He said the whole point of the class was what we were doing and put me through to pass the course.”

Competition can be stiff on King West, where it can feel like there’s a new TikTok-famous (external link)  hotspot on any given weekend. The Calabrese brothers doubled down on what they know to continue differentiating Door Three. “The consensus in this city is that nightclubs are not approachable. Every place is trying to be the coolest in the city, but I’ve never heard of anyone trying to be the most enjoyable place,” says Conrad. 

“We’re very hands-on. There are not a lot of places where the owners greet customers and pick garbage off the floor. We set a precedent as ownership, and that differentiates us,” adds Stefan. 

The pandemic hit less than two years after assuming ownership of Door Three. Still, the Calabrese brothers quickly jumped on an opportunity to revamp the establishment to their liking. 

“It was tough to lay off employees, but we didn’t have the big bank account as a young ownership team. We booked photoshoots and sent care packages with our liquor sponsors to people's houses to make sure we remained relevant, but [lockdown] gave us a chance to re-evaluate and re-structure,” explains Conrad. 

Door Three qualified for government relief during the lockdown, and the brothers were banking on the funding to come in during lockdown for some planned renovations. The funding came a few weeks after re-opening, and they did not want to lose the momentum.

“We had a ten-week plan. We renovated Monday-Thursday and had a clean-up crew come in before we opened up Thursday night through Sunday.” 

With the renovations and pandemic in the rearview, the Calabrese brothers are focused on integrating and elevating the Door Three experience for both new and repeat guests. 

“There are places that are their own demise because they get too lazy or comfortable with the customer experience,” explains Stefan. 

“We have multiple hours when this venue is empty, so looking at how else we can use this space functionally for activations and events – that’s what differentiates a good operator and owner, by going the extra mile,” says Conrad. 

“How can we build a community that’s not just bottle service girls and liquor on King West?,” smiles Stefan, “There’s more we can do with our platform.”