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Located in the heart of Miami, R House Wynwood hosts a drag brunch that is so fun you may be clapping, dancing and laughing throughout your meal. What’s more, you may love the food as much as the entertainment. Owners Owen Bale and Rocco Carulli pride themselves on creating high-quality dishes that customers don’t typically associate with drag queen performances.
Yelta Elite Farah A in her review she raved about this nice surprise. “The queens were fierce, funny and kept us on our toes… [R House] They somehow managed to balance an amazing performance with top-notch food, which is a difficult combination to master, but they managed it.”
Although it’s now Miami’s hottest drag brunch spot, R House was originally intended to be a superb dining restaurant that showcased local art when it opened in 2014. In fact, the art gallery was a key income for the company, as Miami was a popular destination for art collectors at the time.
As the R House grew in popularity, the owners wanted to contemplate it modern ways to scale operations while continuing to advertise local artists. As they began developing a brunch menu, Carulli heard about neighboring businesses hosting drag brunches. Since there weren’t many drag brunches in Miami, the owners decided to take a risk and start one.
“I thought, ‘Well, we could try that,’ but I had no idea how or what to do,” Carulli says. The owners have partnered with local experts who understand the drag issue and what makes it appealing to viewers.
Connecting with their community helped the owners create a unbelievable show. “The response was amazing,” says Bale. “So we reacted. We followed the demand.”
Pulling shows once a month turned into twice a month. Now the programs are broadcast every Sunday and Saturday morning and even in the evening.
During this exciting enterprise, the owners worked diligently to make sure all facets were met customer experience were at the highest level. “It’s very important to us that the food, drinks, service and everything is of good quality,” says Carulli. “If any of them are bad, you could not come back. We are consistently training, we are consistently instilling in our employees how essential it is that every part goes perfectly, because we won’t just rely on the program to make us popular.
First-class service combined with an engaging drag queen performance increased their popularity. Nevertheless, Bale and Carulli never overpassed their ultimate mission: encouraging the community to have a good time local talent. The primary host and producer of the drag brunch is Athena Dion from South Florida. But to the staff at R House, he is much greater than that.
According to Owen, “She is a mentor; she’s not just [the queens’] boss. She is them. He tutors them in all aspects of performance and is always trying to improve their performance.”
Elite Yelp Reviewer Diandra L says this dedication to local talent also resonates throughout the community. “[R House] invests in this local talent – queens. Athena Dion is a pioneer in the drag queen community and has created a culture of contributing to the corporations and people around them. When you think about the individuals who contribute to the lifetime of their city, which paved the way for certain things – these are corporations that local people work hard for.”
But locals don’t just “commute” for you when business is booming. Farah said they are going to enable you to keep what you are promoting afloat in difficult times. “Covid has taught us a lot about loyalty, realizing that tourists come and go, but locals stay forever. Thanks to R House, they managed to achieve this. We are constantly reaching out to locals and making sure that locals are their bread and butter. That’s what makes them shine bright.”
This enthusiasm resonates throughout our company and online as positive reviews flow in every week. Because the owners really value customer opinions browse Yelp reviews at weekly management meetings. Bale says every review is an opportunity for growth, whether it’s positive or critical.
“It’s great to have outside eyes looking at your business in a way you might not have noticed,” he says. “Of course, no one wants to get 1 or 2 stars [review] on Yelp. Fortunately, we don’t score too many goals, but when we do, we don’t get defensive. We treat, draw conclusions and implement changes based on them.”
Bale and Carulli value customer feedback and, as business partners, prioritize open communication and mutual feedback. While there are moments of bewilderment, there is a kinship in knowing that they are the only people in the world who can understand and work through it. Bale says they support each other, are in the “trenches” together and vent together.
“There is total loyalty and trust… It’s a great feeling to always know that we support each other and that we are in this together,” he says. “And we built this thing from scratch, just the two of us. It was a huge learning experience, but we couldn’t have done it without each other.”
Since 2014, R House has been on track with the following core principles for success:
- Respond to customer reviews. Recognition matters, whether or not publicly or privately. Responding to reviews shows that you simply value customer input and care about improvement.
- Make the entire customer experience exceptional. Find your area of interestbut don’t rely on it to run what you are promoting on your individual. Make sure every aspect of the customer journey is consistently exceptional. This is what builds a customer for life.
- Cultivate relationships with loyal residents. These customers will support you in difficult times and have a good time your successes, providing a stable foundation for what you are promoting.
- Present business offers that can move your mission forward. Align recent products or services with your core values to take care of consistency and purpose as what you are promoting grows.
Listen to the episode below to listen to Owen, Rocco, Farah and Diandra directly, then subscribe Behind the review for more information from recent business owners and reviewers every Thursday. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora AND Soundcloud.
Editorial contributions by Erin Palmero and Kristi Lindahl