After 39 years in the hospitality industry, Nick Di Donato has perfected his restaurant recipe.
Start with a heritage property along a busy commuter corridor near an arena. Add an elegant design by his award-winning decorator and wife, Nadia. Stir in an innovative dining concept with a battle-tested chef at the helm and a top-shelf bar. Finish with a members-only VIP section. Voila!
Di Donato鈥檚 latest 海角社区官网landmark, Blue Bovine, checks all the ingredient boxes.聽
The high-end steak and sushi restaurant that sits street level in聽Union Station, features a members-only wine club across the hall and has direct access to both the Scotiabank Arena and a soon-to-be-opened bridge to CIBC Square.
Though it鈥檚 a far cry from the small sports bar, P.M. Toronto, that he opened next to Maple Leaf Gardens with his brother Pat in 1986, it features many of the same flavours.
鈥淚t was a first of its kind, because sports bars didn鈥檛 exist in 1986,鈥 recalls Di Donato, who pursued this first venture while working聽part-time for Imperial Oil. 鈥淲e had those big box TVs that weighed hundreds of pounds that you had to anchor to the ceiling.鈥
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Di Donato says that experience taught him about the value of leveraging celebrity to attract customers 鈥 and in Toronto, there鈥檚 nobody more famous than a professional hockey player.聽
鈥淲e had a basement space in the restaurant, so we created a lounge just for the Maple Leafs,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he Leafs had a key; they would have their own team meetings off-site when they didn鈥檛 want the coach involved 鈥 it was their home away from Maple Leaf Gardens.鈥
When it came time to open a second location in 1989, Di Donato left his day job to start Liberty Entertainment Group. Since then, the hospitality company has helped reshape the city with its night clubs, music venues, event spaces and two Michelin-starred restaurants, Don Alfonso 1890 and DaNico.
Today, the organization operates聽11 venues totalling half a million square feet, from Casa Loma to the Liberty Grand 鈥 with four more projects in development 鈥 employing a total staff of 1,500. Last month, Di Donato was appointed to the聽 for 鈥渞estoring Ontario鈥檚 iconic heritage properties into world-renowned venues.鈥
With Blue Bovine, Di Donato is again offering sports fans a pit-stop between the office and the arena, in partnership with businessman and Shark Tank star, Kevin O鈥橪eary, and Leafs superstar, Mitch Marner. Later this year, Liberty Entertainment Group will move its operations inside the arena walls as the exclusive food and beverage partner of the new Rogers Stadium聽in Downsview.
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The Star spoke with Di Donato at Blue Bovine 鈥 over a tower of sushi 鈥 about the venues he鈥檚 built or restored over the years, how the company survived COVID, and a new partnership that will further cement his place atop the city鈥檚 entertainment industry.
What gave you the push to quit your job and start Liberty Entertainment Group?
My dad had the town bar in Naples, and people were moving away, so he decided to come over with his brother, and they started one of the first authentic Italian restaurants in Canada, San Marco on St. Clair. My parents wanted their son to get a university degree and work in a tower, not a restaurant, but growing up, all I knew was restaurants.
I got my education, I got a job with Imperial Oil, and I was doing very well as a construction co-ordinator. I just opened a restaurant with my brother as a side project. I tell aspiring entrepreneurs, if you don鈥檛 have a passion for what you鈥檙e doing, you鈥檙e never going to be successful, and I didn鈥檛 have a passion for building towers for large oil companies.
My parents weren鈥檛 happy, but eventually it became a monetary decision, because when we were designing our second restaurant, the cost of the engineering, design, planning and construction would have cost me more than my salary, so I quit.
Where was the second location?
The second, P.M. Toronto, which only lasted a few years, was right by the SkyDome.聽Both are now condos.
When did you pivot into night clubs?
P.M. 海角社区官网was a hybrid restaurant-club; we always had a DJ, music and dancing. We found that the club and beverage side of the business was not only easier but generated more revenue.
Around that time,聽 had closed down, and in 1992 we opened a nightclub, the Phoenix Concert Theatre, which I believe was the most iconic club of the time. Some will say it was the El Mocambo. I鈥檇 challenge that. If you look at the bands that have been there 鈥 the Tragically Hip, the Rolling Stones, Metallica 鈥 I think it鈥檚 more iconic.
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How did that lead to fine dining?
After I had my first two restaurants, I wanted to diversify my business, with high-end, casual, midmarket and catering, because all of those fluctuate.
So, when we opened the Left Bank, a hybrid nightclub-restaurant on Queen West 鈥 which you see a lot of now but was unique then 鈥斅爓e hired one of the top chefs at the time, Michael Potter. That was very important to me, from a business perspective.
Was that pursuit of diversification also what inspired the Liberty Grand?
The base components are similar 鈥 quality food, quality service, and the ambience 鈥 those are critical, and I said if we can achieve those things, we can achieve it in any area of hospitality.
The Liberty Grand, I drove by that building thousands of times, because I lived in the west end and worked downtown. It was a magnificent building that sat empty, which was beyond me. So, we called the city and introduced the concept of turning it into something permanent. The city had to do an open RFP (request for proposal), but fortunately we went through that process and won.
Now it鈥檚 one of the most spectacular buildings in Canada. Since then, we鈥檝e gravitated toward heritage sites, because you can鈥檛 replace that building with a condo; there鈥檚 a sense of permanence and uniqueness. Anybody can build a banquet hall 鈥 or a castle 鈥斅燽ut it wouldn鈥檛 be the same.
Speaking of castles, how did you end up taking over Casa Loma?
All credit goes to Kiwanis Club for saving Casa Loma, because back in the 鈥30s the city was considering demolition after they acquired it from Henry Pellatt for not paying his taxes. The Kiwanis Club made it a tourist site and they managed the property for 75 years, but over time it became less relevant.
It wasn鈥檛 in line with what you expect from an event space today, much less what a castle deserved. They didn鈥檛 even have air conditioning, and they were struggling to pay the nominal rent the city charged.
So, the city did not renew their lease, but it was a massive risk for us. We spent $12 million just on the interior 鈥斅爈ike any landlord, the city was responsible for repairing the exterior 鈥 but we had certain criteria from the city, like that it must remain open to the public.
Now there鈥檚 a restaurant, Blue Blood, a , Legends of Horror for Halloween, we do all of that, and it gives people a reason to visit; not just tourists, but Torontonians.
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Is that preference for heritage cites why you chose this location for Blue Bovine?
We can find 10,000 square feet at the bottom of any building in the financial district, but it doesn鈥檛 have the same importance as Blue Bovine in Union Station.
This came to us during COVID, which was a difficult time. We laid off 1,400 people for almost a year, but instead of collapsing I said let鈥檚 jump at the opportunity. The deals at the Westin Harbour Castle for Don Alfonso and the deal here at Union Station wouldn鈥檛 have come to fruition without COVID.
How were you able to afford them?
We had two properties in Florida, and I couldn鈥檛 even get across the border, but they were only closed for two weeks, so they were still viable in terms of being able to sell. You couldn鈥檛 sell a restaurant in 海角社区官网during COVID, so I sold those. We鈥檙e developing a new restaurant in Miami now, Martucci 鈥 with Francesco Martucci, one of the best pizza makers in the world 鈥斅爏o I鈥檓 back in the Florida market.
What else is on the horizon?
Our vision for the future is high-end restaurants and experiences within stadiums, and we鈥檝e just finalized a joint venture with the Oak View Group to bring premium hospitality to Rogers Stadium.
We will be the provider for all food and beverage at the new stadium at Downsview. People are spending good money on concerts, and there鈥檚 no reason why they can鈥檛 have quality food while they鈥檙e there.
Sticking by major venues seems like a recurring pattern.
It鈥檚 really come full circle for me. Blue Bovine is almost what I had in mind for P.M. Toronto, 40 years later. In fact, Doug Gilmour was supposed to be a partner at P.M. Toronto. That didn鈥檛 work out, but now I鈥檓 working with Mitch Marner.
The difference is opportunities now come to us. We鈥檙e the only operator in Canada with two Michelin restaurants in their portfolio, we have one of the busiest night clubs in the city, Paris Texas, and we have so many things coming at us that it鈥檚 more about how much we can take on.
In fact, my son Luca, who was a real estate lawyer, just left his practice to help me grow the business, because I need the help. Unlike my parents, we鈥檙e very happy he鈥檚 leaving Bay Street for the restaurant business.
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