Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Tao’s director of VIP services reaches nightlife nirvana

Bob Shindelar

Leila Navidi

Bob Shindelar, Tao’s director of VIP services

Click to enlarge photo

Tao Asian Bistro director of beverage Edward Allen recently added a series of new cocktails to the menu, including the health-conscious Geisha Girl, which employs the anti-oxidant-rich VeeV acai liqueur and Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice, and mixes it with agave nectar, fresh blueberries and lemon and a splash of Sierra Mist.

If an unassuming bartender comes up to you, the owner of a failing club (now-shuttered), and promises he can bring in more people than the usual 60 on a Saturday night and asks for half the take at the door for his troubles, don't take him lightly. He just might be Bob Shindelar, and he just might bring in 800 people. He also might be on his way to becoming a major player in your city's nightlife scene — like, say, director of VIP services at Tao nightclub at The Venetian.

"We've always done well at maintaining relationships," Shindelar said of his work at Tao, where he's applied those same principles he learned years ago at that now-closed club. "If somebody walks away with a bad taste in their mouth for whatever reason, we go above and beyond to make sure they come back in and we show them a good time."

The Las Vegas native has been a part of the Tao brand since the very beginning — he signed on in July 2005 for a September opening — and credits the mantra of owners Jason Strauss and Noah Tepperberg ("Hospitality, hospitality, hospitality") with making their club a frontrunner in Vegas' increasingly competitive nightlife scene.

"We have a definite regimen to our program. It's pretty strict and it's pretty intense," he said. "But the thing that I think separates us from a lot of other (nightlife) groups is that we still concentrate on having fun, because we realize if the VIP hosts aren't having fun, then their clients aren't having fun (either)."

— Originally published in Las Vegas Magazine

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