The business strategy of the members-only club is more suited to the private market.
Soho House & Co. made it official Monday: Its ownership will now match its membership, which is to say that both will be private. It may well be for the best, as the members-only business model may not be well suited for public markets — but the timing could be awkward.
Let me explain. Soho House, where I am a member, has always aspired to be a little edgy. Don’t even try wearing a suit and tie there; it once purged its membership of people who worked in finance. In 2021, in those hazy, heady days coming out of the pandemic, Soho embarked on a major expansion. After starting out as a members-only club in London in 1995, by the 2020s it was opening in cities across the world — even in places like Portland, Oregon.
It had a business rationale: As people emerged from the pandemic, they craved social spaces that felt safer and more curated. People who weren’t going into the office wanted compelling spaces that would allow them to at least get out of the house and meet clients and coworkers. To fund this expansion, Soho House turned to the public markets.
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
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