By Matthew Halverson
Photograph by Katherine Bish
You have to be a risk-taker to open a nightclub. Party people will love you and leave you quicker than you can say “appletini,” and, before you know it, you’ll be just another casualty of the war on temperance.
To open three nightclubs in four years in the same market, well, you have to be a lunatic.
Pete Ferretti and Buddy Coy are used to having their sanity questioned. When the former owners of a “quick service” sandwich shop dared to cross Grand and open The Pepper Lounge in 2002, their West County neighbors and friends thought they’d officially checked out. “They couldn’t believe it,” Coy says. “People at church were saying, ‘Your bar is where? Oh sure, we’ll come down and check it out.’”
People came. Money was made. Straitjackets and shock treatment were delayed.
Just as soon as they’d disembarked from the crazy train, though, they boarded it again last summer, partnering with Kitchen K owner Pablo Weiss to open Nectar right next door. “It was one of those things where the opportunity presented itself, and you had to take it,” Coy says. “We just knew we had to make it different.”
You’d think they’d be flirting with a trip to the funny farm again this summer as they put the finishing touches on Mandarin, their new Asian-themed lounge in the Central West End, but they aren’t. They seem more concerned with picking out the right stemware and lighting than with how the concept will be received.
There’s not the slightest hint of mania from Ferretti and Coy. In fact, they’re pretty calm—it’s the kind of demeanor you need to extinguish booze-fueled flare-ups on any given Friday. “You’ve got someone in your face, a little drunk, upset and dropping F-bombs, and his friends are saying, ‘He really is a nice guy most of the time,’” Ferretti says. “I’m sure he is.”
It’s enough to drive one to drink, but you won’t catch either of them imbibing in their own establishments. They say they’re not in it for the glitzy lifestyle—they’re family men who spend more time in the office than on the floor—but it sure must beat slinging subs, right? “It’s a lot easier to put something right,” Ferretti says. “Before, if someone was upset that they got pickles on their sandwich, your only option was to drive another one out to them. Here, if someone doesn’t like their drink, you can pour it out and give them a new one.”
