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Venue is as critical as the pitch to in deal making
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
It used to be that Broad Street, with its multitude of law firms and small financial enterprises, was the center of the deal-making universe in Charleston.
Back in its heyday, twenty years ago or more, one could come to a meeting of the minds with a potential business partner, supplier or customer in one of the intimate eateries that dotted the street, and within minutes stroll over to his or her attorney’s office and have a handshake deal formalized.
That is, of course, if the attorney didn’t happen to be in the same restaurant or another along the way.
But just as those law firms have grown and dispersed throughout the city over the years, and brokers like J.C. Bradford have chosen Calhoun Street over Broad for the location of their offices, the venues that serve as the all-important setting for business meetings and negotiations have also migrated far and wide.
Today a great business deal is as likely to come to fruition at Queen Anne’s Revenge on Daniel Island, the Sunfire Grill in West Ashley or Embassy Suites Convention Center in North Charleston as it is amidst what Mark Condon, vice president of the Trade Center Development Corp., described as the “great atmosphere and food” of High Cotton and
Slightly North of Broad downtown.
But that’s not to say there isn’t a constant that binds the venues, and it’s this—wherever the meals and deals are partaken, the ritual and the right setting remain all-important.
“Oh, it’s extremely important to go out and, particularly, get out of the office or work environment,” said attorney Bobby Pearce, a partner of Nelson, Mullins, Riley & Scarborough in Charleston.
“If you’re trying to generate business for your firm or company, trying to be a rainmaker and heavy hitter for your employer, you have to prove that you’re three things: A business consultant, a strategic orchestrator and someone who is going to be a long-term ally to the prospect you’re trying to make a client,” he said.
“Now that’s not an original notion, and I guess what I’m saying is that no matter how much things change, business is still about personal relationships and personal experiences.”
Asked for his take on the current hot venues for forging deals, Pearce quickly mentioned High Cotton, saying attorneys at Nelson Mullins take a lot of clients there; the Oak Steakhouse, which he said continues Broad Street’s tradition as a deal-making center; and the Harbour Club, which has an important membership base.
But his surprising pick was the Marina Variety Store and Restaurant on Lockwood Drive in Charleston.
“You haven’t heard about the variety store?” he asked. “I think breakfast at the Variety Store would rate as one of the must-dos in the business community,” he said. “Go over a couple of mornings and you’re bound to see a host of the city’s movers and shakers.”
Karen Mylin, who was hired by Variety Store owner Mike Altine Sr. 28 years ago to work as a server, said its growing importance to the business community can probably be traced back to an expansion of the dining area about 10 years ago.
“It’s so funny how it’s happened, but yes, I would agree that a lot of business takes place here, and we’ve got a lot of regulars who are powerful people around town,” Mylin said.
On Thursdays, for instance, two lawyers, a judge and a former state Department of Transportation official meet for breakfast, and then there is a rotating selection of groups that use the restaurant’s back room for morning meetings.
“On Mondays there are a lot of defense and homeland security folks in here—I affectionately call them the power heads—then on Tuesdays we’ve got the Optimists’ Club, on Wednesdays a group from the Second Presbyterian Church, on Thursdays the Orthopedic
Specialists of Charleston and one Friday a month, Ferguson Enterprises brings their new hires in,” she said.
“So you get a real mix of the business community in here, and I think the thing that makes it so conducive to easy conversation and making connections is the atmosphere,” Mylin said.
“In large part I think that’s due to the fact the restaurant has always been family owned and operated.”
Given his long affiliation with the S.C. World Trade Center, for which he served as executive director before moving on to the trade center development group, Condon’s picks were a bit more dispersed, both geographically and in terms of ambience.
“It’s amazing how many big dogs are having meetings at the Embassy Suites in North Charleston these days; I think in part that’s by virtue of its centralized location,” he said.
“In addition to High Cotton and SNOB, which is particularly big with the business community at lunchtime, I think the Roof at Market Pavilion has become a significant venue for business deals, Cypress, McCrady’s and the Peninsula Grill are huge for dinner, and of course, Fleet Landing has always been a center of port and maritime-related discussions.”
For more informal networking, many of those quizzed mentioned happy hour at Rue de Jean downtown, but Rebecca Marriott, director of public relations at the S.C. World Trade Center and an attendee of scores of business-related events, said increasingly, venues are being supplanted by events.
“There really does seem to be a trend, especially when it comes to networking fostered by a group, like us or the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, to get away from gathering in one place all the time, and instead to keep business conversations moving,” she said.
“For instance, the Charleston Young Professionals group has had events downtown, and also at places like the Carriage House at Magnolia Plantation. I’ve gone and have gotten 20 to 30 business cards in a single night.”
While networking events are a new trend, Pearce believes some old networking trends are enjoying a re-emergence.
“I find more and more people are actually choosing to get away from town for a day of offshore fishing or hunting,” he said. “I know of a lot of younger professionals who have had get-togethers on charter boats, and also many bankers and lawyers who’ve gone off to Oak Plantation up toward McClellanville to do some quail hunting. And of course, the golf course continues to be the place to forge business relationships. I guess it always will be.”
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@setcommedia.com.
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