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David Grutman’s Nightlife Formula Is Simple: Nurture Every Relationship and Embrace the Morning Grind

After building LIV into one of America’s most famous clubs and adding a string of buzzy restaurants, the hospitality impresario is expanding beyond Miami and Las Vegas into the Middle East.

At 22, Groot Hospitality founder David Grutman was tending bar. Real estate developer, investor and philanthropist Don Soffer would come in after golf, and Grutman committed his drink order to memory, tuned in to his natural rhythms and helped make the bar Soffer’s personal retreat. Years later, when Soffer’s son Jeffrey needed someone to run the club at Fontainebleau Miami Beach, the choice was obvious. LIV opened in 2008 and still anchors the hospitality company Grutman built around it.

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Groot now runs nine restaurants and clubs in two cities. In Miami, LIV was followed by Komodo in 2015, Papi Steak in 2019, Gekkō in 2022 and Casadonna in 2023. In 2023 and 2024, Grutman brought Komodo, Papi Steak, LIV and the LIV Beach dayclub to Fontainebleau Las Vegas, and his team says two Middle East venues will open within the year.

He credits his success not only........

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