Hey folks, I'm Matt from Growth Mode Content,
and if you haven't noticed, this is a very special
Good News York. We are not in our studio, as
fancy as it is. I wish this was our studio. We
can't make it look like this. We are at the coolest
new spot in downtown Syracuse. It's called the
Society Social Club. It just opened. We love
it, it's gorgeous, and we're joined... by the
founder? What's your official title? I mean,
I think I am the founder, right? Yeah, you found
it. Tammy Lee. Go ahead and tell us a little
bit about yourself and in this place, if you
wouldn't mind. OK. Hi, guys. I'm Tammy Lee. Born
and raised in Syracuse. I now am based in Los
Angeles, but I am a real estate agent. I sell
real estate here in Syracuse, in Florida, and
also in LA. I'm also an insurance broker, and
now I own the society. So that's a wide -ranging
resume. Yeah. You also sort of left off TV star,
but we'll set that part aside for a moment. I
hate saying that. I hear you. I understand. You
can say it. It's fine. Why, out of all those
things, did you make your latest venture a club
like this, a place like this? It's because I'm
insane. That's why. Because I didn't have enough
on my plate, I decided to add another something
into the mix. And honestly, it's just something
that I'm really passionate about. Traveling all
over the world and being in these big cities
like Los Angeles, Chicago, Manhattan, I felt
like people really were loving this concept of
a third space. So what is that, right? That's
what the social club is. And I feel like it's
very new to our city. But I know it's a demand
that needs to be met because all of... the people
that I talk to and the clients that I sell houses
to are yearning for this kind of connection.
So let me explain to you what a third space is.
A third space is not your house, not your office.
Where can you congregate with your people and
still be in public, you know? So I can still
be here and hang out with you guys, but everyone
is still also here. If you happen to meet someone
along the way and connect to people, that's the
beauty of this space. You're kind of met with
a higher caliber of person in a space like this.
And listen, I think I love, we all love to get
a drink and go to the club and go to the bar
sometimes, but it's hard to build those really
meaningful relationships in that kind of environment.
There's a time and place for everything, you
know? So I created this space. We are a luxury
coffee shop and juice bar on a day -to -day basis,
but what I really love and passion about are
the connections and the events that we're gonna
be having here. Our logo is subtly all throughout
the club. It's actually a Venn diagram. So as
you can see, I wanted that to really represent
that there's two different ideas, two different
types of people, two whole beings that could
be so different, but still find common ground
somewhere. And that's that little sliver in the
middle. That's why my little slogan is, let's
meet in the middle. How is it that you and I
can be so different in the way we grew up, your
upbringing, your job, and still have some sort
of common ground somewhere. And let's build on
that. I think humans are so cool. I think it's
really beautiful that we live in this lifetime
at the same time. And I think we lost, somewhere
in translation after COVID, that connection.
100%. You know, I'm a people person. I'm a certified
Yapper, OK? I need to be around people all the
time. And I just meet so many cool people in
LA. And we just are given those opportunities
to meet cool, new people. So I brought that idea
here and I think that it's going to do well.
I really want that for my community. And on top
of that, I'm going to be helping small businesses
as well with partnerships with us. I really want
to host like events here to just bring their
brand forward and let me help them with the marketing.
I got my marketing degree at SUNY Oswego business
marketing. And that's what I love to do. So I
have so many partnerships lined up here with
other small businesses to kind of elevate the
middle ground of our consumer the same person
who likes my product will most likely like their
products So let's try to push both of our businesses
up, you know, I love that So it's I'm so excited
for it. Let me ask you you you touched on this
a little bit Talk about going to the club and
things like that. Could you talk about a little
bit? Why? There's no alcohol here. Why is this
not a bar, so to speak? And why did you choose
to go this route? So the design looks like a
bar. So the round -shaped bars, it looks like
a cocktail bar. But I've been super self, like,
super health -conscious lately, especially living
in LA. The drinking habits honestly have shifted.
All of my friends that work at the clubs in Vegas,
like they said, this last two years has been
the lowest they've ever seen people in Vegas.
Now, are there still people going to Vegas? Absolutely.
Sure. But I think, you know... I'm a millennial,
and we used to drink heavier in our early 20s.
The Gen Z is just, one, can't really afford to
do that anymore in this economy, and two, don't
really want to. So listen, I love a drink, I
love to shake my ass at a club sometimes, but
again, there's a time and place for everything,
and I think I really wanted to be very conscious
of what we're all putting in our bodies. I'm
not gonna lie to you guys. I've been away now
for four years from Syracuse. The food here is
heavy on oils. I am not big on oils. I'm not
big on gums and high refined sugars. Wait, are
you saying there's nothing deep fried here? We
can get you a deep fried coffee if you'd like,
right? I'll do anything for you. But it's just,
it makes you feel good. And the reason why everyone
in California is happy, hot, and sexy is because
of the lifestyle that they live. I can throw
a rock from my house and 10 different juice bars
and coffee bars are around. You know, if you
notice, I like to brag about my products. I took
a whole entire year traveling all over California
and New York City to try to find the best ingredients
of what we put in our drinks. All of our syrups
on the coffee side are natural, has to be refrigerated.
There's no additive sugars. It comes from real
ingredients. And if you notice when you taste
it, it's high, deep in flavor, but it's not as
sweet as like a Monen or a Tarani, you know?
Same with our smoothie side, I love superfoods.
So we have L -glutamine, we have really high
quality protein, we also have collagen in there,
sea moss, all these things that I've been gaining
from being in LA. I'm bringing it here because
it's winter and gloomy, seven months out of the
year here. And when you're eating these like
high oil foods and like this lifestyle, it kind
of just weighs you down. That's why we feel so
gloomy in the winter. And listen, the snow is
going to be snow. That's not going to stop, right?
But I think if we can boost our health and serotonin
and dopamine a little bit for when that time
does come, I think it'll just make the winters
a little bit more palatable. I think you're onto
something there, and I love to see it. It's so
cool. One of the questions I've really wanted
to ask you, and especially as you talk about,
you know, you're in all these different cities,
you're selling real estate, which means you're
tied into that community, right? You can't sell
real estate in any town you don't know. So why
at all these places did you decide Syracuse is
the spot for this venture? I just felt a need
for it selfishly. So I work for Acropolis Realty
Group here. I run a team of two wonderful girls
and we manage the apartments upstairs. I was
showing this commercial space to actually another
client of mine who wanted to put a Mexican restaurant
in here, because we need more of those, right?
But it didn't work out because they wouldn't
subdivide the space. It's almost 3 ,000 square
feet. Gotcha. So when I was showing the space,
I was looking at the lobby, all over the lobby
table, Uber Eats from Starbucks, McDonald's,
you know, everything. And people want to get...
food and coffee, but they are getting it delivered.
And delivery is expensive, you know? So I'm like,
let me put this here. Again, it's obviously for,
I know that there's a demand for it in this building
alone. And I want really good coffee, and there's
no juice bars in here. There's no juice bars
in Syracuse. There's no place that juices everything
per cup, every drink, every single time. Yeah
you know business 101 is like if there's five
steak houses in the town don't open up a sixth
you know and there was a hole in the market clearly
for this kind of business and so you're you're
kind of uh paved in the way for for this uh this
kind of this industry and i think it's wonderful
it's a really change of lifestyle and i really
hope that Again, we all can kind of hop on this
bandwagon because it's just good for us. I want
I'm trying to be hot forever. I'd like to be
hot once. That's the goal. That's the goal. Absolutely.
This is such an incredible space. I read, you
know, in some of your other interviews you talked
about, it took a long time to come together,
and I know you just spoke about finding the ingredients
and things, but what were some of the pieces
that you had to manage for this whole thing?
What did I not run into, guys? I am never doing
this ever again, okay? This was great and this
will be my baby forever, but it's a lot to build
a brick and mortar business from the opposite
end of the country. I was trying to do this from
California, flying back and forth as needed to
check on my real estate and do this at the same
time. The heaps and valleys that I had to go
through and the hurdles. were some things you
wouldn't even believe. One of the bigger things,
unfortunately, we lost our dear friend and our
builder, John, from Trademark Construction halfway
through this project and we didn't know where
to go and where to pivot to as we were also grieving
this. friend of ours so it was it was a very
very heavy time and that kind of set us back
a year but i came up with this idea back in 2022
and then we started our LLC in 2023 and it's
just been an ongoing process from there and honestly
i i'm religious i believe in god is always right
on his timing and yes this took three years but
i feel like it couldn't come at a more perfect
time sure well said I think it's phenomenal.
Talk to us about, you mentioned a little bit
about some events that you plan to have. Can
you talk a little bit more about what those might
be? I know that everyone's like, what is a social
club? It is gonna be members only for the really
good events that we have. Think of like your
favorite influencers. We go to really curated
events. Like these are down to the nines of branding,
activations, getting people to talk to each other.
It's really nice. I want that for our community
on just like a little bit of a smaller scale
with local businesses and other brands that I
have relationships with. Those will be for our
VIP members. And then we also have a community
membership that they'll get discounts to the
tickets for these events. And then the public
will be able to purchase it if it's not full
at that time. We also have public events like
book club, run club. I also have something like
a Bible study. We also have a silent coffee club
as well. Some of our VIP. will be like coffee
omakase. I want like a coffee club to come in.
They do like a coffee omakase class and then
we, they choose the beans that we carry for the
drip for the season. I just want the involvement
of the community. It feels nice to be like, you
know what, I had a little bit of a say of everyone's
morning today in their drip coffee. You know,
it just feels good. It brings people together
and it's just something so small, but it just
makes a huge, huge reach and difference. You
know, I have to say, as I'm listening to you
speak, you know, you hear a lot about reality
TV stars that go on to open businesses or go
on to do other endeavors. And the main focus
is, look at me, I'm a reality star, so I'm gonna
try to open something up. It sounds like you're
an entrepreneur and a really smart business woman
who happened to be on reality TV, and that's
a compliment. I mean that as a compliment. You
have put so much thought into not only the space,
the vibe, but when you're talking about letting
people choose the ingredients, this is... This
is a time when, as you said, things are going
inward. People aren't socializing enough, so
not only is it a unique space in Syracuse, but
I think there's a huge need for it in society
in general, so it's awesome. Listen, let's call
the big elephant in the room here. I get it.
I've been on three TV shows. I'm working on another
one. I get the facade of the TV, the Hollywood
lifestyle, especially with people who are from
a small college town. This brand is not about
me. And I get people come in here. They come
to see me. They want to see me. But this brand
is not about me at all. And I wanted to make
sure that was extremely present, that this is
for the community. And yes, it's really pretty,
really nice. And I am here. But I hired a GM.
She's going to probably be the face of this and
as I'm doing the background stuff but I'm here
all the time so I'm always popping in and I want
to make sure that I'm always as involved as I
am now. You're doing it right. I love that and
I'll tell you what I wouldn't I'm sure it's a
game that you have to play all the time with
that balance you know but I think it's an incredible
credit and it's something that you should be
incredibly proud of. Thank you. There's a lot
of folks that aspire to do things like that and
like you say they just keep lining up these projects
for you because you're great at it so that's
That's awesome. We really love to see that. Tell
us a little bit about just the basics. So what
are the hours of the place? Our hours are gonna
be 7 a .m. to 6 p .m. every day, and then we
are gonna slowly roll out a mocktail and kappa
menu. Kappa's really popular in California. It's
a Pacific Island root that mimics a wine drunk
feel, and that'll be kind of like our socializing
hour. There's kappa bars all over Los Angeles.
They're packed, guys. I know it's a new concept
to us on the East Coast, too, but I'm telling
you, No hangover, it's not alcohol, you're not
withering away your body, and it's still that
social part that everyone really wants out of
drinking. We had one in Ithaca. Sign me up for
that. It's always packed. Always. I'm telling
you. I'm going to fly in my partner from Santa
Monica, and she's going to help me kind of launch
it, because I need to educate people of what
it is. Sure. You know? So there's lots of plans
for this. I'm very excited. Let me ask you, just
as an entrepreneur, I'm always thinking about
kind of the logistics of some of these things.
And as you talk about these incredible ingredients,
How challenging is it for you to get those things
and keep them fresh and have them in stock for
all these different places? I'm learning the
inventory thing right now, guys, as we speak.
We're on day four of opening. And the way that
I have had to order multiple things and try to
get them delivered overnight and running to different
vendors here, it's... a goose chase, but we are
actually trying to get in the motion of it now,
and I feel like we're doing pretty well. We just
got a shipment of fresh produce today. We use
a local farmer, so I just want to make sure that
we're always getting the best. Like, there's
not pre -frozen things here. Like, we cut everything,
we freeze it. So it's just supporting local farmers,
because we have really good farms here in New
York, and just keeping it fresh. We have the
best. That's one of the things that... I think
we're sort of underrated for is, you know, even
our wine, everybody, you know, some people in
California might not think highly of the Finger
Lakes wine. Not our red wine. Some of it's incredible.
You guys need white wine. You know, all of these
fresh things that we have so close. You know
what's funny? I thought in LA, the... The regular
drink is like standard oat milk or almond milk.
So I'm like, wait, I got to get a ton of that.
Here, I am running through whole milk like I've
never seen before. But I forget our farms here
are really good. We love our cows. If you tell
anyone that you're drinking whole milk in LA,
they would throw up. I was going to ask, I know
it's early, but you've obviously spent enough
time on the West Coast and here growing up. What
is the biggest difference you see in the clientele
as compared to LA to upstate New York? That's
a great question. Have you noticed one yet? California
people are very different breeds, guys. We're
New Yorkers. We have grit. We're straight to
the point. You never have to second guess with
us, you know? It's a lot for them over there.
They're very easygoing. You know, we're like,
we'll get to it. And we're, like, trying to go
100 miles an hour over here. Yeah. I'm not going
to lie to you guys. The one thing I miss the
most about the East Coast is the people. East
Coast people. I'm trying to get shit done. And
everyone in California is like, we'll get to
it. Lunch for three hours? Sure. I'm like, it's
a Tuesday. I have things to do. That's right,
right? That's well said. That's incredible. You
would think there'd be so many transplants at
this point. But they get used to it. They get
into that vibe, and it's just the way to go,
huh? It's the California way, yeah. That's incredible.
That's incredible. How does that, last couple
questions for you quick. I'm just interested
in so much of the other things that you have
going on. In the real estate market, how does
that vary in terms of do you have different approaches
in these cities and things to move properties?
Every market is so different. Here, it's a little
bit coming to, it was going so high for a minute.
I couldn't keep a house on for more than 24 hours
without people like calling me trying to get
in. And now it's kind of like leveling out, you
know, just the time of the year as well is going
to come natural with that. In Los Angeles, I
mean, our team does only luxury, so five million
and up. It's you're not selling a house within
six months. It's going to be longer, like just
that kind of. you know, market. And then in Florida,
I mean, it's a hit or miss. We have a new one
in Jacksonville now. We mainly sell in Tampa,
but Tampa's growing really fast. Yeah. These
young people are picking up these things really
quickly. So it's just different. It just depends.
And that's just being on your toes and like,
you know, having the right team to work with
you and just knowing the market very well. Yeah.
So I've been doing it for almost 10 years now.
So that's great. That's amazing. That's it's
incredible. You know, we've got. the big micron
boom occurring here. And I think that was that
big ramp like you're talking about. And because
they haven't necessarily started yet, I think
that might be part of that chilling. Come November
the 2nd to shovel those in the ground. They think
everybody's confidence and you're going to see
that. That's my prediction and I'm not a real
estate guy but let me tell you something. I know
we're from here so it's hard to like be like
is this growing because we've only ever seen
it our whole lives. It's growing guys. There's
people on different podcasts that are saying
Syracuse is going to be the most rapid growing
city. in the next five years. Micron's coming
in, which is huge for us. That's going to bring
so many new people and jobs. The highway project.
I know the highway project is really annoying.
I had the highway my entire life. And to see
it gone is so crazy to me. The same thing happened
in San Francisco. It is going to boom this economy
so much. I really don't think we're prepared
for it. That's awesome. It's really exciting
for us. It's a good problem to have. Yeah. And
it's cool that we have a nice place to come hang
out and talk about it as we're watching them
do the construction and everything all the way
around. This has been incredible. We really,
really appreciate you taking a few minutes of
time to show us your incredible place. Anytime
that you have something going on, we'd love you
to come on Good News York. That's what our podcast
is all about. Every day we talk about good things
in New York and try to share that very community
minded mindset. And we love that that's something
that you're all about. Yeah. And I've got to
finish on this. So it's our first time here.
What's your favorite item on the menu? And what
is your advice for two first timers? That's a
great question. You got to try both something
from the coffee and the juice. And honestly,
without even me saying it, that's what people
have been ordering. Really? Because they want
to try both. Sure. So I like the baklava latte.
That one's my favorite one. If you just love
a good black coffee, our cold brew is absolutely
killer. Wow. It's amazing. And our juice and
coffee or juice and smoothie side. The strawberry
cloud is the most popular one. I personally like
the green thumb. I think that one's a silent
killer. People don't like it because it's green,
but it doesn't taste like you're eating a salad.
That's key. All of these things I tested out
on my boyfriend, who's a venture capital attorney.
Have you tried arguing with an attorney? No.
It's impossible, so you have to really impress
him for him to be like, this is good. I went
through so many different variations of recipes
in my kitchen in LA to try to find the best ratios
and recipes for the smoothies that I have here.
The juices are going to be rotating. As you notice,
we only have two juices on the menu right now.
sure I'm always in taking fresh produce for the
season. So you're not drinking just like disgusting
vegetable water. You know, I want it to be like
good. I want to be fresh. I want to feel like
this is nourishing my body. I love it. I love
it. Any other questions my friend? I mean, I
think she covered it all. Yeah. This is this
is amazing. And she's got me thinking about coffee
now. That's why I want to end it. I want to get
over that. Our coffee is really good. I would
like to just do a humble brag about our coffee
parlor. When I went to go search for the best
roaster, I found this small roastery in Brooklyn,
and they were so educational and just welcomed
me in through everything. I did a full tasting
with them on all their beans and learned their
machine and their ways. We have a non -compute
with them, so no one in the area is allowed to
sell their coffee. I'm telling you, it is the
best coffee. It is so smooth. And even if you
aren't a black coffee drinker, I suggest you
try it, because it's good. I will. I'm not a
black coffee drinker, but I will. It's good.
I am. I'm going to give it the full test. And
I'm looking forward to that. Thank you so much.
Mike, Matt, live in downtown Syracuse. Good News
York, sponsored by Ads on the Go. Get ads on
the go .com. Tammy, thank you so much. Thank
you guys for having me. This is incredible. I
appreciate it. Thank you so much. I'm excited.